July 14, 2010

For the first time, we're getting an inside look at how the man suspected of murdering Yeardley Love is spending his days behind bars.

Accused murderer George Huguely lives just miles from his former classmates, but his life could not be more different.

Mid-July is known as mid-summers at the University of Virginia. Students return to Charlottesville to their favorite corner hangouts and reunite with friends. A four by eight foot cell is Huguely's home, and the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail is his only hangout.

"We usually segregate them from the rest of the population," says Jail Superintendent Col. Ronald Matthews.

Huguely's amenities? A concrete bench for a bed, and a metal toilet and sink. Huguely does almost everything alone including eating meals and exercising. He's under 24-hour watch from guards, interrupted by lawyer visits.

It's a minimal existence and a lonely one for the former lacrosse player accused of brutally beating and killing his former girlfriend, Yeardley Love. Officials keep him separated for his own safety.

"Because of the notoriety they may draw attention to themselves," says Col. Matthews. "Somebody might decide they want to do something to him to get their name in the paper."

High-profile inmates put additional pressure on a jail that has twice as many inmates as it was designed to hold.

"Whatever comes our way we deal with it, and by experience we know what to do. And sometimes it may be a first, and whatever it may be we adapt to it," says Col. Matthews.

It's mid-summer now, and it won't be until October 7th, when the leaves start to turn, and football season is well underway that George Huguely is scheduled to leave the jail for his next court appearance.

Until then, he waits. Alone.