Lane Garrison: The Real Kid Chino

Fri., Aug. 24, 2007 4:26 PM PDT by Gina Serpe

Lane Garrison is behind bars. And he's going to stay there for a lot longer than 82 minutes.

The former Prison Break actor was admitted to the California Institute for Men, the rough-and-tumble all-male state prison in Chino, California, early Friday to carry out the remainder of his court-ordered diagnostic stay of 90 days, according to his lawyer, Harland Braun.

The 27-year-old actor has been caged since Aug. 2, as Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox mulls over a final sentence. Garrison faces a maximum penalty of six years and eight months after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter, drunken driving and providing alcohol to a minor.

Garrison arrived at the Chino facility at 9:51 a.m. Friday morning after being transferred from the L.A.'s Men's Central Jail, where he has been held since Aug. 2, when he was sentenced for the December car crash that left a 17-year-old boy dead.

The prison, known simply as "Chino," houses approximately 6,500 minimum- and medium-security inmates and is southern California's largest penitentiary.

Last December, around the time of Garrison's accident, the prison was under lockdown while security guards used everything from tear gas to foam projectiles to quell a major race riot that left 50 inmates injured. In March, two more prisoners were injured when more inmates kicked off another round of rioting.

While behind bars, Garrison must undergo a psychological evaluation to determine whether he's a candidate for straight probation—meaning, he's qualified to be a free man—or whether he will be sentenced to serve more time in prison to atone for the fatal accident.

Garrison's initial 90-day stint in lockup will be up on Oct. 31, at which point Fox will hold a hearing to determine the actor's fate.

On Dec. 2, 2006, Garrison was at the wheel of his SUV when he lost control and jumped a curb in Beverly Hills, killing 17-year-old passenger Vahagn Setian and injuring two 15-year-old girls who were also in the vehicle. Garrison and the girls were hospitalized, with one confined to a wheelchair for two months.

Garrison had met the teens at a supermarket earlier in the evening and went with them to a party, providing his own vodka for the festivities.

At the time of the crash, Garrison's blood-alcohol level was clocked at 0.20 percent, more than double the state's legal limit . He also tested positive for cocaine.