W.Va. Town, Prison Await Martha

As soon as Betty Alderson heard Martha Stewart was coming to town, she got the ball rolling on a money-making deal.

Alderson, who runs a clothing store and gift shop, ordered dozens of shirts with the slogan, "West Virginia Living, it's a good thing," a reference to Stewart's catch phrase. Another style says, "Alderson, West Virginia. A great place to visit."

"It's bringing light to our town and people are coming in to see it and see West Virginia," Alderson, whose great-great-great-great grandfather-in-law founded the town in 1777, said on CBS News' The Early Show.

At the nearest Kmart, two young women weren't happy about all the fuss.

"It's going to be a big ordeal," said one.

"It's drawing people who would never come to Alderson, as well as every other town in the area," said the other.

"It" is the arrival of Stewart, the decorating diva who will spend the next five months in the Alderson Federal Prison Camp after she and her broker were convicted in March of lying about a stock sale.

Stewart had asked to serve her five-month sentence in Danbury, Conn., close to her home in Westport, or as a second choice in Coleman, Fla.

Alderson is a minimum-security facility that houses 1,000 inmates. CBS News Correspondent Cami McCormick reports 61 percent of the inmates are serving time for narcotics offenses, another 15 percent for bribery, fraud or extortion, and 4 percent are serving time for white collar offenses. Another 70 percent are serving 5 years or more.

One prison official says Stewart will likely share a cottage with up to 60 other inmates and only two showers. She will have a 6 o'clock wakeup call each morning, and she will be given chores like any other inmate.

CBS News Correspondent Joie Chen reports there are dozens of reporters and camera crews awaiting Stewart's arrival.

Former Alderson inmate Clare Hanrahan says that upon checking in, Stewart will be greeted by a female officer.

"It's then where your real prison experience begins and you realize that you no longer are in control of your life," she said on The Early Show. "You relinquish all of your personal assets, all your jewelry, except maybe a simple wedding band. And you're stripped of your clothing and issued army clothing to wear. You're fingerprinted and photographed and given an I.D. card with your prison number."

Hanrahan, a 55-year-old grandmother jailed for trespassing at a military base during a political protest, says if Stewart is willing to listen to the other inmates, she will learn quite a lot from them.

"I think Martha has lived in a world quite different from that, the women of color in prison mostly, the women who have struggled all of their lives. Many are single mothers before they came to prison. They're usually there on petty drug offenses. The big dealers don't usually go down. It's the women who they maim," she told co-anchor Julie Chen. "I found the women to be generous kind and caring individuals, bearing up with great courage."

Stewart will be eligible for jobs that pay only 12 to 40 cents an hour while in prison. But Jef Harris, who runs a lumber company down the road from the prison gate, said he expects Stewart to profit from the experience.

"She's Martha and she has the ability to turn things into gold," Harris said. "She will turn this whole experience into money. It will be a good thing for her."

Most Alderson townspeople agree the attention is good for businesses and the state.

"The response has been surprising," said Annette Kellison, who manages the Dinner Bell restaurant. "This has been a great experience."

Kellison has spent the past week delivering food to reporters and photographers camped out at the prison entrance and had several buffet requests for Friday. Stewart was expected to arrive by the 2 p.m. Friday deadline.

Jim Whitlock, who manages the only motel in Alderson, said, "We've had a few media people stay here, but it's always busy on the weekends."

While some are profiting from the experience, others are inconvenienced and don't understand why Stewart is such big news.

"We do a lot of deliveries at the prison, and it has been hectic," said hardware store worker Skip Thompson. "The town is just not used to that.

Becky Pence, who lives on the road where television trucks are lined up, said she nearly hit one newsperson who was standing in the road Thursday.

"It's getting out of hand when you can't get to your own home," said Pence, who does not plan to watch for Stewart's arrival. "It's more interesting watching the newspeople instead of her."