Prison Break star Lane Garrison is serving 40 months in prison for a drunken car crash in which a 17 year-old passenger in his car was killed. He plead guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter and DUI and could get out in a year and half on good behavior.

Jessica Simpson knows Garrison well and he is said to be like a brother to her. They are the same age and grew up near each other in Texas. Garrison even lived with Jessica’s family for a year when he was 17. Her father, Joe, was his minister and he was a troubled teen when he was sent to live with the Simpsons.

Jessica was said to be devastated when she learned that Garrison caused a car crash which resulted in a teen’s death. Her terrible performance at the Dolly Parton tribute at the Kennedy Center is rumored to be due to her heartache at learning of Garrison’s accident right before she went on stage.

Jessica has tried to make Garrison’s stay behind bars a little more bearable. She sent him 12 inch color TV to keep him company in the slammer. Former TV star Garrison is supposedly broke after lawyer’s fees and must have appreciated the gesture:

Christmas came early for former Prison Break star Lane Garrison – his good pal Jessica Simpson bought him a 12 inch color TV!… Permission to get a TV was granted to Lane, 27, for good behavior and Jessica… was happy to make is happen. “Lane’s broke,” his pal explains. “He didn’t have enough money to buy a TV, so Jessica was nice enough to send him one for the holidays.”

[From In Touch, print edition, January 7, 2008]

Doesn’t a 12 inch television sound small? Flat panels go for around $120 so Garrison must be really scrapped if he can’t afford one. Maybe Simpson thought that anything bigger than a 12 inch would have drawn attention to Garrison, or it’s possible he didn’t have permission to get a bigger TV.

After his drunk and drug-fueled accident Garrison recorded a tearful public service announcement to warn of the dangers of driving drunk, wrote a long letter to the court apologizing and taking responsibility for his actions, and personally apologized in court to the family of the 17 year-old teen who was killed in the accident he caused, Vahagn Setian. His sister also wrote a letter to the judge in which she described a very difficult childhood in which their father was either absent or abusive towards them. She said that her brother was “near suicidal” and “despondent” after the fatal car crash. Jail time is more than warranted in this case, but Garrison also seems genuinely affected and remorseful. He’ll have to live with his actions for the rest of his life.