Actress Felicity Huffman, the first
parent in the US college admissions cheating scandal to go to
prison, was released from a California facility on Friday,
before the end of her 14-day sentence, a prison spokeswoman
said.
The "Desperate Housewives" star was scheduled to be let out
on Sunday, but the spokeswoman cited a policy that allows for
the early release of inmates whose release day is on a weekend.
Huffman, 56, an Academy Award nominee, turned herself in to
authorities at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin,
California, on Oct. 15.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani had sentenced her to
serve two weeks behind bars after Huffman pleaded guilty to
conspiracy related to her payment of $15,000 to have someone
secretly correct answers on her daughter Sophia's SAT college
entrance test.
She is among 52 people charged with participating in a
wide-ranging scheme in which wealthy parents engaged in a
bribery and fraud scheme with a California college admissions
consultant to get their children into top colleges, including
Yale, Stanford and the University of Southern California.
Huffman, who won an Emmy award for television's "Desperate
Housewives" and was nominated for an Oscar as best actress for
her role in the 2005 film "Transamerica," said her daughter was
unaware of the scheme until the actress was arrested on March
12. In the days after Huffman's arrest, her daughter's top
choice college rescinded her acceptance.