“She has connected with them in a real way and you can feel it. I think that is because they know she’s experienced in a small way what they have gone through being incarcerated.”
Felicity has been very hands-on with the inmates, helping them get ready for a gala in December. “Felicity has been helping the women pick out dresses for the gala [and] she’ll be helping us set up the event,” says Burton.
“She’s been cooking for the women, cleaning the homes, shopping and answering the phone. We love having her here.”
A source told ET that “conditions at the prison were very difficult” and that there were no real programs or initiatives to help the incarcerated women who were there.
“Felicity felt like the women in that facility were being discarded and left behind; they were forgotten,” the source said. “She loved the women there and bonded with them. When she left she felt guilty leaving them behind.
“She would like for her next community service work to be helping women who were recently incarcerated and need help re-entering society,” the source says.
“This work will be a long-term commitment for her [and] well beyond her community service hours.
“Currently, she’s working as a tutor at The Teen Project, which rescues girls who are trafficked on the streets. She’s been doing that for two years well before this case happened,” the source adds.
“She’s been tutoring those girls two times a week for two years and this has been an amazing experience for her and her daughter. Felicity is not your average Hollywood actress.”
In May, Felicity pleaded guilty to paying Rick Singer $15,000 to have a proctor change her daughter Sophia’s SAT answers, after she took the test.
She was then sentenced to 14 days in prison, 250 hours community service and fined over $43,000.
After sentencing, Felicity released a statement: “My goal now is to serve the sentence that the court has given me. I look forward to doing my community service hours and making
a positive impact on my community.
“I also plan to continue making contributions wherever I can, well after those service hours are completed,” read the statement.
“I can promise you that in the months and years to come that I will try and live a more honest life, serve as a better role model for my daughters and family and continue to contribute my time and energies wherever I am needed.
“My hope now is that my family, my friends and my community will forgive me for my actions,” the statement read.
For more, see this week’s New Idea – out now!
