Word: simpson
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During the past two weeks, while his preliminary hearing was in progress, Simpson left the jail at 8:15 on most mornings. After exchanging his dark blue, loose-fitting inmate outfit with LA COUNTY JAIL stenciled on the back for his street clothes, he was escorted into the back seat of a black-and- white sheriff's van with tinted windows, bound for the criminal-courts building three-quarters of a mile away. Following close behind was an unmarked Chevy Caprice chase car with two armed plainclothesmen...
...however, as Simpson awaits his arraignment, he faces long, tedious days in his cell, a beige, windowless room measuring 9 ft. by 7 ft. and furnished only with an iron bunk and a stainless-steel toilet next to a sink. A cardboard box on the floor, containing papers and letters, and the odd apple or orange complete the decor. As a protective-custody inmate, Simpson is denied access to mess halls, rooftop exercise areas or even the chapel. His only breaks are two hour-long periods of activity in the "freeway" of the corridor. There he can use the public...
...Over the years we've housed Sirhan-Sirhan, the Manson family, major organized-crime figures, the individuals involved in the Reginald Denny case and numerous other people with celebrity status," says Sheriff Sherman Block, Simpson's chief jailer, "but I've never seen anything like this. Behind the courthouse this morning I couldn't believe what I saw in the way of electronic-media equipment. You could probably cook a huge steak with all the microwaves there -- or become sterile...
...Though Simpson resides in the most populated jail in the country (about 6,200 prisoners, with more than 1,000 newcomers a day), he lives, paradoxically, in complete, not-so-splendid isolation. He is assigned to "7000," the second-floor ward of the hospital section, reserved for severe mental cases who require "behavior observation," defendants who would be at risk among other prisoners, or notable figures like Simpson, who need "special handling" for their own safety. "There are inmates who would ! attack him just because he is a celebrity," says Sheriff Block. "You know the kind: 'Hey, look...
...after his incarceration, Simpson's next-cell neighbor was Erik Menendez, the younger of the Beverly Hills brothers who murdered their parents. To ensure that Simpson and Menendez would not overhear each other's telephone conversations, Block ordered Menendez moved to another part of 7000. (Brother Lyle is in a different, equally high-security block of the jail.) That left Simpson alone in an isolated row, or module, of seven cells...