EXCLUSIVE DETAILS: Balloon Boy Dad Richard Heene's 'Smooth' First Night In Jail
Jan. 12 2010, Published 2:14 p.m. ET
Balloon Boy dad Richard Heene had a 'smooth' and 'peaceful' first night in jail, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
The notorious reality star began his 30-day stretch at Larimer County Detention Center in Fort Collins, Colorado on Monday for masterminding the elaborate balloon hoax involving his son Falcon.
Heene will serve his time in a cramped 12ft by 5ft jail cell with another inmate.
The facility – which was originally constructed in 1983 – now has 557 beds which house over 10,000 inmates on average per year.
But although the deputies have been instructed to keep an eye on the flamboyant former actor, there were no hitches with other inmates.
The Detention Center's Lt. Pat McCosh exclusively told RadarOnline.com: "Everything went well and it would appear that he had a peaceful night as there was no negative feedback from the overnight log.
"All the staff will treat Mr Heene with respect - just like the other inmates - although we are aware that his notoriety could cause some friction, so, we are definitely keeping an eye on him.
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"At the moment Mr Heene is in what we call our intake pod where he will remain for the first 72 hours of his processing period.
"This will give our medical, mental and prison staff time to evaluate him and to observe if he requires any special needs.
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"We do this for every inmate who enters our facility and Mr Heene is not going through anything different during this process.
"The staff are just trying to get a read-on an inmate at this stage and will do various interviews and make observational notes.
"It is likely that he will share a cell during this period before he is released into the general prison population if all goes well.
"At that point he will be allocated to another cell and possibly another cell mate as at the moment the detention center's population is quite high.
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"At this point things seem to be going smoothly with Mr Heene."
Richard Heene, whose flying saucer balloon received national attention when it was thought his six-year-old son was inside, had been sentenced to 30 days in jail and another 60 days on a work release program.
Richard's wife Mayumi received four years probation last Wednesday and was sentenced to 20 days in jail. Their son, Falcon, was in their home while his parents told police and others he was missing, leading everyone to think the child was in the runaway balloon.
The husband and wife have already been hit with a $42,000 bill from local, state and federal agencies for their October stunt when they claimed their six-year-old son had crawled into a hot air balloon in their back yard and been whisked away into the sky.
Heene was tight-lipped when he arrived at the facility at 8:30am on Monday morning - he had driven himself in the family's mini-van.
His wife Mayumi and their three sons were also inside the vehicle as they watched him dash away from reporters and run into the facility to begin his sentence.