Melrose Place Star Amy Locane Talks First Days Back in Prison

Amy Locane opened up about the being sent back to prison for her fatal 2010 DUI after a judge ruled her initial conviction was too lenient last month.

On Monday, the former “Melrose Place” star began her new eight-year sentence at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey for killing Helene Seeman and critically wounding her husband, Fred, in an automobile collision outside the couple’s New Jersey home. She will be eligible for parole after four years.

During an interview with ET on Wednesday, Locane, 48, said she survived being quarantined alone for the past two weeks in jail before being transferred to prison by focusing on her two daughters, Paige, 13, and Avery, 11.

“I’m thinking about how my children are going through this pandemic and having to do remote learning,” she recalled of went through her mind at the time. “They do alternate days and I’m just thinking about which day they’re on and which day they are off. What could possibly be going on in their minds? The first week was really, really hard because we only had two phone calls. It was just very difficult to get in touch with them. It was very hard to process all of this from inside.”

She said she “can’t even fathom” how her girls will grow up during her time away behind bars.

“I have a huge fear right now that my kids are gonna forget me. I won’t be home until my oldest is 18 and my youngest is 16. I cannot even think about that.”

Locane had already served two and a half years of a three-year sentence when she went to prison in February 2013 on charges of vehicular homicide and assault. As the most recent sentencing was her fourth so far, Locane said her daughters are confused about the legal process.

“Yeah. They didn’t understand it,” the actress claimed. “One was like, ‘Why are they pushing you so hard?’ I don’t know. I’m not minimizing what happened in 2010. It was serious and devastating.”

Landing in the same facility she previously served time at, Locane said she recognizes faces there, which she calls a “surreal” experience.

“Some of the girls I knew are still there, so there’s a little bit of comfort in that. It’s funny — some of the officers just look at me and they’re like, ‘Huh.’ They remember me from before.”

But the past stint has provided some insight for Locane.

“I definitely know what’s going on. When I came in last time, I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t really know how things worked and how you can ask certain officers for things. Prison prepared me for my second go-around.”

As her lawyer prepares to appeal the sentence, Locane said she hopes “common sense will prevail.”

“It’s kind of corny, but my youngest daughter’s middle name is Hope. I’m just clinging to hope right now. God has a plan, so I’ll just try to hang in there, you know? I kinda keep thinking of that and Hope.”

Back in 2017, Locane said she feared going back to prison after an appeals court claimed her most recent sentencing was too lenient.

“I had worked so hard since 2010 on my sobriety, on adjusting to life in prison, on being released from prison, on acclimating to my children’s lives, and to parole that having to go back would seriously interrupt, if not destroy, any progress I had made in becoming human again,” the “School Ties” star told New Jersey Advance Media.

“There hasn’t been a day that has gone by that I don’t think of Helene Seeman,” she continued. “I feel terrible for her family. I know that they are hurting. I know that they are grieving. I have said that I’m sorry over and over to them, but I feel like it falls on deaf ears.”