Prison denies Foxy got special treatment

NEW YORK, June 22 (UPI) -- New York's Correction Department is denying a report rapper Foxy Brown received special treatment at Rikers Island prison while serving a nine-month sentence.

Brown finished her jail term for a parole violation in April 2008.

Although department spokesman Stephen Morello confirmed to The New York Post that Brown was allowed to wear designer clothes and grant media interviews behind bars, he insisted the hip-hop artist's treatment fell within normal guidelines.

"Inmates were entitled to wear their own clothing. That's her choice," Morello said. "The interviews were approved by the (Department of Correction's) Department of Media Services. We do it as a matter of routine."

Morello's comments were made in response to a recent Post story citing an unnamed department source as saying Brown lived a privileged life in prison that was "just out of control."

Another insider told the newspaper, "There's a total lack of leadership at the top."