Lane Garrison on his prison hell after killing a teen when driving drunk (update)

Lane Garrison is the former Prison Break star who spent 11 months in prison after a teen passenger in his car died from a December, 2006 accident Lane had while driving drunk. Lane, 27, had just met the boy that night, along with two other teen passengers in the car, both of whom were injured in the crash. They were leaving a high school party to go out to buy more alcohol when Lane’s SUV jumped a curb and hit a tree, killing Vahagn Setian, 17. Lane was sentenced to 40 months in prison and he was released last April after serving a little over half of his sentence.

Now Lane is telling In Touch about what he went through in prison, including three weeks in solitary confinement. It sounds hellish, but Lane killed a young kid. He should know when to keep his damn mouth shut. Maybe taken in context with the rest of the article it’s not as bad as it sounds, because he does say “I will never forget what I did,” and it’s possible he admits that he had it coming.

“I was in solitary confinement for three weeks in a 104-degree cell infested with rats and roaches,” Lane tells In Touch exclusively.

After overcoming a tough childhood to pursue a promising acting career, Lane Garrison landed his first big role on the hit show Prison Break and was living the Hollywood dream. Then in one night, everything came crashing down. On December 2, 2006, after drinking too much at a party, he got behind the wheel of his car and hit a tree, killing one of his three passengers. “I will never forget what I did,” Lane tells In Touch in an exclusive interview. Although Lane only ended up serving 22 months behind bars, he endured the horrors of eight different prisons, starting with an LA county jail, where he was strip-searched and chained to a metal chair before being tossed into an area called “the snake pit.” “That was one of the roughest places. You’re in survival mode from sunup to sundown,” Lane says. He insists he was never physically assaulted — but the mental torture was traumatic for Lane. “In Chino prison in Northern California, I was in solitary confinement for three weeks in a 104-degree cell infested with rats and roaches,” he recalls. “The only time I had contact with the outside world was when I got my meals through a slot. I didn’t do anything to warrant solitary, but that’s just where they put me.”

For more of Lane’s exclusive interview, check out this week’s issue of In Touch, on newsstands tomorrow.

[From In Touch Weekly, received via e-mail]

I followed this case closely and I truly believe that Garrison was incredibly distraught and genuinely remorseful for what he did. He issued a tearful statement in court, he recorded a public service announcement admitting what he’d done, and he wrote a letter to the judge that was both heartfelt and really sad. I believe the guy will be affected by what he did for the rest of his life. His sister wrote a note, too, detailing their horrific childhood. None of that excuses what he did or gives him a pass to bitch and moan about jail, though. I know it was probably awful for him, but again he got out of there and now he’s free and alive. If he’s trying to earn some work by talking about what he went through it could backfire. As I said we’ll see, though, and it’s possible that In Touch is just excerpting the sensational part and that Garrison apologizes up and down in the rest of the interview. According to IMDB he has one film in development, which is the only listing for him since 2007.

Update: I read the full In Touch piece in and in the print article, Lane is much more contrite and makes several pretty grave statements both about what he did and how he understands that he deserved to go to jail. At the beginning Lane says “I will never forget what I did. I go to bed and wake up thinking of the pain I’ve caused.” After talking about some of his prison experiences, he sums up with “It’s prison. It’s supposed to be bad. I caused this by choosing to drink and drive. If talking about what happened to me prevents one person from drinking and driving, then this whole tragedy wouldn’t have been in vain.”