The singer pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion last year
Lauryn Hill has checked into the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury to serve a three month sentence for tax evasion, according to the latest reports.
The singer made an appearance in Connecticut earlier today and has now begun her jail sentence, after pleading guilty last year to three counts of tax evasion, for failing to file returns on earnings from 2005 to 2007, totalling a whopping $1.8 million.
According to TMZ, the New Jersey native reported to the “minimum security type facility” where she will allegedly live among the general population in “barracks type” housing. The site also states that after her three month stint behind bars, she’ll then serve an additional three months under house arrest.
The 37-year-old had a statement read out in court previously on her behalf, in which she defended her tax evasion claiming she needed to take time off from her music career to raise her six children, meaning she was unable to pay the large sums owed.
“I needed to be able to earn so I could pay my taxes, without compromising the health and welfare of my children, and I was being denied that,” Lauryn said in a statement.
Despite the jail sentence, Lauryn’s attorney claimed she had already paid $970,000 of the full amount owed. Lauryn has not released any new music since 2001’s critically-acclaimed ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,’ but she recently announced that she will be recording her second album.
In a statement released by the star posted on her official Tumblr page, Lauryn previously wrote: “It has been reported that I signed a new record deal and that I did this to pay taxes. “Yes, I have recently entered into an agreement with Sony Worldwide Entertainment to launch a new label, on which my new music will be released. And yes, I am working on new music.”
“I’ve remained silent, after an extensive healing process. This has been a 10+ year battle, for a long time played out behind closed doors, but now in front of the public eye.”
