Lori Loughlin ‘chooses’ prison with yoga, saxophone and calligraphy lessons

Basketball star LeBron James criticises the fact the US actress has been placed in a correctional facility likened to a wellness retreat

Actress Lori Loughlin was permitted to serve her prison sentence at her choice of facilities. Reuters

After being handed a two-month sentence for her role in the US college admissions scandal, Full House actress Lori Loughlin "requested" to be sent to the Victorville Federal Correctional Institution in California, where inmates can choose from an array of lifestyle and vocational pursuits.

The institution offers inmates classes in yoga, Pilates, painting, calligraphy, crochet, origami, ceramics and cartoon drawing, while music lessons are available for instruments including the saxophone, accordion and ukulele. Inmates can also take vocational training in areas such as bicycle repair, forklift operations, dental assistance and waste management.

Judge Nathaniel Gorton has granted the actress's request to serve her time at the prison, which is two hours from her California home. The September 9 order requested that Loughlin "be designated to a facility closest to her home in CA, preferably the camp at FCI Victorville, if commensurate with the appropriate security level".

The actress, 56, was sentenced to two months behind bars on August 21 for paying $500,000 (Dh1.8 million) in bribes to ensure her two daughters were admitted to the University of Southern California as rowing crew team recruits, even though neither Olivia, 20, nor Isabella, 22, were involved in the sport.

Loughlin’s prison 'request' met with outrage

Loughlin's request to choose the facility that was closest to her Hidden Hills, California, home drew a dismayed reaction from LA Lakers star LeBron James.

The basketball player took to Instagram and wrote: “I’m laughing cause sometimes you have to just to stop from crying!

"Don't make no ... sense to me. We just want the same treatment if committed of same crime that's all. Is that asking for to much??? Let me guess, it is huh. Yeah I know!! We'll just keep pushing forward and not expecting the handouts! Strong, black and powerful!"

The actress, who played Aunt Becky in long-running US TV show Full House and the recent Netflix reboot, Fuller House, follows in the footsteps of Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller, who was also sent to Victorville in 2017 after pleading guilty to bankruptcy fraud charges.

Loughlin's husband, Mossimo Giannulli, has been ordered to surrender to the US Bureau of Prisons on November 19, requesting to serve his five-month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California, which offers music and language classes, crochet, leatherwork, oil painting and ceramics.