NY Corrections Officers Resign in Wake of Foxy Brown Photo Scandal

Three New York Department of Corrections officials have resigned amid allegations that Foxy Brown was accorded special treatment while incarcerated in the city's Rikers Island facility in late 2007 and early 2008. Among the improprieties is the approval of a photo shoot and an interview in the prison, both of which were conducted in order to promote a new album.

Leading the pack of resignations handed in on October 16 was Chief of Department Carolyn Thomas, who alongside assistant chief of special operations Frank Squillante will both call it quits effective October 31. The third official, Warden George Okada, will not step down until the middle of November.

"I'm sincerely happy to see [Thomas] go," said Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of the Correction Captains' Association, in the New York Daily News. "I don't believe she did a good job. We need a strong leader."Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, served nine months at Rikers for a probation violation stemming from a previous attack on two nail salon technicians. While in lock-up, Brown was to allowed to do an interview with a hip-hop magazine from behind bars, as well as pose for photos intended to promote her album, 'Brooklyn's Don Diva.'

According to reports, the Brooklyn-bred rapper was given additional special treatment, including being allowed to wear designer clothing while behind bars, an allegation her spokesperson Stephen Morello denies. "Inmates were entitled to wear their own clothing," said Morello, who added, "The interviews were approved by the [Department of Correction's] Department of Media Services."

After leaving Rikers, Brown angrily responded to the claims via a blog entry. "All I could do was laugh after reading those erroneous a-- allegations," she wrote. "A year-and-a-half after I left Rikers Island, it's breaking news whether I got 'special treatment' during my incarceration? Boy oh boy, sounds like some disgruntled, hating a-- corrections employee concocted this fabricated story! I NEVER GOT ANY SPECIAL TREATMENT. NO 'valet' service, meals from Mr. Chow's [restaurant] or [corrections officers] gatherings in my cell. Actually, on many occasions I was denied basic privileges and rules were over enforced. The audacity of a newspaper to even print this s---!'

Brown rose to fame with her 1996 debut, 'Ill Nana,' and has worked with Jay-Z, Nas and Method Man. She is said to be working on new music.