You asked how Diana Ross was able to serve her Arizona DUI sentence in a Greenwich jail. Specifically, you wanted to know what legal authority Greenwich had and whether there was a formal agreement between Arizona and Greenwich.

We spoke to Greenwich Police Chief James Walters. He stated there was no specific agreement between Arizona and Greenwich. According to Walters, the Greenwich police allow citizens to serve sentences imposed by other courts on a regular basis. He further noted that Arizona often imposes “long distance sentencing. ” Under this system, the offender must find somewhere to serve his sentence. In the Ross case, the Greenwich police granted Ross and her attorney’s request to serve her Arizona sentence in the Greenwich jail. The Greenwich police did not interact with the Arizona court in establishing this arrangement.

Under long distance sentencing, the offender must provide the sentencing court proof of completion. Ross had further legal troubles providing sufficient proof of completion. The Greenwich department’s records showed 47 rather than 48 hours served. She also failed to serve at least 24 of those hours consecutively, as Arizona requires (see Proof of Completion Orders of the Court, a copy of which is attached). Although initially ordered to serve an additional 48 hours in Tucson’s jail, a judge later ruled that Ross’ detention in Greenwich was sufficient.

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