News

Jailed Record Producer Bemoans Surroundings

• 24th Aug 2009

Phil Spector has admitted he fears for his personal safety on a daily basis. He is currently serving a prison sentence for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

The record producer, who was convicted in April of shooting Clarkson, spoke of his worries in a letter to his friend and music journalist Steve Escobar. Spector also expressed a desire to move to a different jail, claiming that his legal team were working “to get a better prison with people more like myself in it … instead of all these lowlife scumbags, gangsters and Manson types”.

The 69-year-old is serving a minimum of 19 years at Corcoran State Prison in California. As well as describing the place as a “snake pit” he also complained about having been sent to the same prison as notorious criminals such as cult leader Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan, who murdered Bobby Kennedy in 1968.

Spector remained upbeat on some issues, however, including the weekly visits from his wife Rachelle. “She's a real trouper,” Spector said of her 800-mile round-trips. “It's like a dream come true having her by my side again.” He also mentioned how Rachelle brought him packages of food, which enabled him to avoid the prison dining rooms. “The less I see of the inmates, the better and safer I feel.”

Clarkson, 40, was found shot through the mouth at Spector's mansion in February 2003. Spector was sentenced in May 2009.