Boy George Popular In Prison

Boy George hasn't had a hit in years, but he's proven to be one in prison — and not just because he enjoys having sex with men.

The singer, whose real name is George O'Dowd, was sentenced to 15 months in London, England's HMP Pentonville prison earlier this month after he was convicted of falsely imprisoning male escort Audun Carlsen in April 2007.

The 47-year-old was earning six pounds (about $10 Canadian) a week serving food at Pentonville, but has been moved from the Category B prison to the apparently less stringent Category C Edmunds Hills facility in Newmarket, England because he was too popular with murderers and rapists.

Other inmates were lining up for autographs and a guard was stationed outside O'Dowd's cell because so many convicts wanted to hang out with the former New York City sanitation worker.

"The governors were taken aback by how popular he was," a supposed prison insider told the U.K.'s Daily Mirror tabloid. "A lot of the guys are of the age when they remember what a big star he was and how good the Culture Club songs were. But some officers were being too kind and giving him smokes.

"It's ironic that he was worried about getting beaten up in Pentonville, but all that happened was people showered him with so much attention and kindness that they had to move him anyway."

O'Dowd could possibly be released on a tag-and-curfew order in April to help ease overcrowding in the jail, according to Britain's The Sun tabloid. A prison service spokesperson told the newspaper it's "normal practice" to move prisoners and the celebrity wasn't receiving special treatment. O'Dowd is eligible for parole in August.