Abby Lee Miller: Imprisoned ‘Dance Moms’ Star Posting Halloween Messages On Social Media From Behind Bars?
Abby Lee Miller sent her fans two Halloween messages from prison! Or did she? As International Business Times reports, two of the imprisoned Dance Moms star’s official social media sites offered Halloween messages, although Abby Lee herself almost certainly wasn’t behind them.
As fans of Abby Lee are undoubtedly aware, she’s currently serving a one-year-plus-one-day prison sentence at California’s FCI Victorville, the minimum-security prison where she’s been since July. Being behind bars, you’d think she wouldn’t be able to access social media. And you’d be right: in general, prisoners can’t legally access social media from behind bars, although in a few paragraphs we’ll talk about how that actually pans out in a real-world situation.
However, just because you’re behind bars doesn’t necessarily mean that your social media accounts get deactivated. What’s more, there’s nothing stopping a friend, business associate, or loved one from managing your social media account while you’re on the inside. Also, some celebrities often have little to do with their social media accounts even when they’re not imprisoned, pawning off the job to a publicist or paid social media manager.
And so it appears that whoever is managing Abby Lee’s social media accounts while she (Abby) is in the clink posted a couple of cute Halloween messages. Here’s a post from her Instagram account, featuring the star with a severed head.
And then here’s one from Facebook, ironically showing her former Dance Moms costars, in a “throwback” pic.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAbbyLeeMiller/posts/965571433592031:0
As mentioned above, unless Abby is breaking a major prison rule, and in the process, publicly putting out evidence of her rule-breaking for everyone in the world to see, she probably doesn’t have access to social media behind bars. But also as mentioned above, prison rules don’t always stop inmates from using social media.
Writing in Vice in 2015, Seth Ferranti, who himself had done time, says that prisoners using contraband cell phones to tweet, update on Facebook, and watch YouTube videos is a regular occurrence (raising the question, how do they get the prison’s WiFi password?).
And in case you were wondering: yes, prisoners do celebrate Halloween, in their own way. Once again, Vice comes to the rescue (clearly Vice is the go-to source for all things prison-related). Crystal, a 29-year-old woman who served an 18-month sentence in New Mexico for a DUI, says that Halloween was actually a pretty popular holiday on the inside.
“We’d paint our faces and play games like charades on Halloween. We’d all pitch in and cook a big meal for everyone in the unit. After we ate, we’d pass out candy to each other and watch scary movies on TV.”
Clearly, being behind bars hasn’t stopped Abby Lee Miller from enjoying some Halloween shenanigans.
[Featured Image by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP]
