Free George Michael

Please sign my petition and help free this great pop star. He woz framed.

Cheering broke out round Pentonville jail when prisoners found out pop star George Michael was being locked up with them.

But their joy was not shared by the traumatised singer yesterday after he was strip-searched, put in the sex offenders' block and mocked by inmates screaming out twisted versions of his hits.

In the most harrowing 12 minutes of his first full day, Michael - aka prisoner A8365AW - was escorted to the shower block to the relentless chants of "Guilty George has got no Freedom".

The disgraced former Wham! star - jailed for eight weeks the day before for his second drugdriving offence - was apparently "in pieces". As the terrified singer hid in his cell yesterday, one inmate revealed: "As soon as he arrived some of the prisoners burst into a rendition of Freedom.

"And when he was taken to shower they sang 'Guilty George has got no freedom' to the tune of Careless Whisper. He is sulking. He's wearing prison-issue tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt but doesn't have any shoes on.

"When the cells were unlocked in the morning he just sat there and refused to come out.

"Everyone was peering out of their windows overlooking the exercise yard expecting to see him but he didn't show."

Troubled cannabis addict Michael, 47, was whisked straight into the G Wing vulnerable prisoners unit when he arrived at tough Pentonville in North London on Tuesday night.

It was thought he would be safer among the paedophiles and sex offenders, who are targeted by other inmates in the main jail. Michael had to endure a strip-search to make sure he was not bringing any banned goods into the prison.

A source said: "He was not happy about being strip-searched at all. He told the guards, 'God, is this really necessary? It's degrading'."

He was given a "welcome pack" - consisting of cornflakes, milk, sugar and tea bags.

A doctor then evaluated Michael's mental health - standard procedure for all new arrivals.

The star was asked if he wanted to be given Subutex, a medication offered to inmates with a known history of drug misuse.

Finally he was ordered to swap his designer pin-stripe suit for prison-regulation maroon tracksuit bottoms.

Michael was distraught when guards told him he was not allowed any visitors for his first 48 hours behind bars. His only contact with the outside world has been a three-minute phone call to boyfriend Kenny Goss. A prison insider revealed: "George wants to see Kenny but he can't have any visitors until Friday. He spoke to him on the phone at reception for three minutes and asked for him to bring some of his clothes in." Inmate Chris Smith, who was released yesterday, added: "He was in bits. The guards said he was crying in his cell."


Michael is expected to spend just four days at Pentonville before being moved to an open prison.

It will upset the jail's cons - who were delighted at having a pop legend in their midst.

Convicted shoplifter Joao Sena, also released yesterday, said: "We were shouting 'George Michael's coming, bring him on!'."

"He was where the paedophiles, grasses and sex offenders are all kept. It's not a nice place but because George is a celebrity the prison bosses must have thought he's vulnerable."

The singer was locked up alone in cell 35 - known among other inmates as "The Ritz" because it's the cushiest in the jail. One former inmate said: "It's the best cell in the whole prison. It has duvets, cushions, even its own digital TV box.

"He's being treated like a king and has guards swarming all over him. The last thing they want is something to happen to him.

"Pentonville is really tough and some people just can't cope with being locked up.

"He's used to all life's luxuries so it'll be extra-hard for him. He'll be counting down the days."

Michael is serving eight weeks' jail for smashing his Range Rover into a Snappy Snaps shop in Hampstead, North London, while stoned in July.

In his second drug-driving offence in three years, he was found slumped at the wheel in a daze and soaked in sweat with two cannabis joints on him. When police officers told him he had crashed into a shop, he said: "No I didn't. I didn't crash into anything."

They then had to steady him as he staggered around spaced out and breathing profusely.

Blood tests later showed he had chemicals linked to cannabis in his system.

He was devastated when he was jailed on Tuesday by Judge John Perkins at Highbury Corner magistrates court. He was also banned from driving for five years.

The star, from Highgate, North London, has been open about his heavy use of cannabis and said he was trying to cut down.

He was also convicted of drugdriving in October 2006 when he was found collapsed in his Mercedes. He has been convicted of two other drug offences including taking crack cocaine.