E!It's been less than a month since Teresa Giudice was sentenced to 15 months in prison on fraud charges, and yet there is another new development when it comes to where she'll be serving her time.
E! News has learned that the Real Housewives of New Jersey star's new attorney Stacy Ann Biancamo filed a letter to Judge Salas with the Federal Court today asking that they reconsider letting Teresa spend some of her sentence in a halfway house.
In the letter obtained by E! News, Biancamo states that she and her client "respectfully disagree" with the government's decision to object their request that Giudice serve her time in home confinement because it's a "substantive change to her sentence."
"By way of clarification, we are not asking the Court to recommend, let alone to order, a direct RRC [Residential Reentry Center or halfway house] designation in lieu of incarceration," Biancamo states. "Rather, we are merely asking that the Court recommend that the BOP [Federal Bureau of Prisons] consider applying the Second Chance Act's maximum RRC placement period when it transitions Ms. Giudice from a BOP facility to a RRC during the 15-month custodial sentence imposed by the Court."
According to the official governmental website, RRCs, or halfway houses, "provide a safe, structured, supervised environment, as well as employment counseling, job placement, financial management assistance, and other programs and services. RRCs help inmates gradually rebuild their ties to the community and facilitate supervising ex-offenders' activities during this readjustment phase."
Additionally, the website states that an RRC referral recommendation made by the unit team is done "17-19 months prior to an inmate's release...at a scheduled program review meeting," and notes that an inmate can stay in a halfway house for up to one year.
"In Ms. Giudice's case, we respectfully submit that the maximum RRC placement, as determined by the BOP, would also facilitate her return to her four young children, elderly parents, community and charitable endeavors without reducing her 15-month custodial sentence," the letter states.
Teresa is due to surrender by Jan. 5, 2015. Her husband Joe Giudice's 41-month sentence will not begin until his wife's is finished so that one parent can remain at home to care for the children at all times.
E! News recently broke the news that Giudice parted ways with her legal crisis manager Wendy Feldman, after the reality star requested that she spend her incarceration at Danbury Federal Prison in Connecticut, the same prison that inspired Orange Is the New Black.
"Sadly, my time with Teresa and has come to an end. My client relationships are very important to me, however today's filing regarding Teresa's Bureau of Prisons designation request was not done with my knowledge or input," Feldman exclusively told E! News.
"I am not the consultant referred to in filing. This is clearly not the first time my advice has not been followed, but this is the time where the stakes are the highest," Feldman continued.
"My ultimate responsibility is to all of my clients, not just to Teresa. I'm hopeful that, at some point, a change occurs and rehabilitation begins. My thought and wishes will always be with her children."
Meanwhile, fellow Real Housewife Kyle Richards shared her support for Giudice, telling E! News last night during Nicky Hilton's 365 Style book launch, "I sent her a text with a personal message telling her that I hope she's doing OK and that my heart went out to her."
—Reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum and Sara Kitnick