The Michigan Department of Corrections received the request
last Thursday by Los Angeles-based production company Boulevard
Industries to film the video at the Huron Valley Correctional
Facility in Ypsilanti, agency spokesman Chris Gautz said on
Thursday.
The company had offered to stage a concert in the prison, which
is the only women's prison in the state and has a capacity to
house 2,000 inmates, he said.
The request was rejected early this week for a number of
reasons, including concerns about the added security that would
have been required and an inability to mix low, medium and
maximum security prisoners together, Gautz said. Building a
stage also would have been problematic because everything
brought into the prison has to be documented.
"It didn't have to be a very long discussion," Gautz said. "We
knew that it wasn't something we were going to be able to do."
It is also against policy to film inside a prison, he said.
The video may still be filmed in a shuttered Michigan prison.
The sides are talking about a vacant maximum security facility
in Standish, Michigan, that has been used for filming before,
Gautz said.
According to Boulevard Industries' website, it has filmed music
videos for such musicians as Bruno Mars, Colbie Callait and Rod
Stewart.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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