"Survivor" Hatch Cast Away

Original Survivor winner transferred to Oklahoma federal prison while serving out his 51-month sentence for tax evasion

By Sarah Hall Jul 24, 2006 4:45 PMTags

Richard Hatch's survival skills are being tested in a new setting.

The 45-year-old original Survivor winner has been transferred to a federal prison in Oklahoma while he serves out his 51-month sentence for failing to pay taxes on his reality show winnings and other sources of income.

Hatch was found guilty of tax evasion in January. He received a harsher sentence than originally expected because a judge determined that he had perjured himself repeatedly on the stand.

The Rhode Island native arrived at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City last week. It was unclear why he was moved, or whether he would remain at the center, which acts as a hub for transferring prisoners through the federal system, for the duration of his sentence.

Hatch was previously being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts where he was kept in solitary confinement away from his fellow inmates.

According to Hatch's attorney, Michael Minns, his client would prefer to do his time in Rhode Island or Florida, where he could be near family.

Hatch's current digs, Minns said, are "bad for Richard, who is an outdoor person."

"He should be in a camp," Minns told the Associated Press. "The camps are the most comfortable of the uncomfortable. They are still jails, but they get to see the sky and be outside."

Had Hatch been a tax-paying person, as well as an "outdoor person," we imagine it would be easier to generate sympathy for his plight.