Joe Francis Gone Suicidal?

MAY 14--'Girls Gone Wild' boss Joe Francis has been having such a rough time in a Florida jail that he recently told a psychiatrist that suicide was a possibility if his imprisonment was prolonged. The porn impresario, who this week finishes a 45-day sentence for criminal contempt, also told Dr. Ronald Markman that he was being housed with 'all murderers' in his section of the Bay County lockup. 'I started freaking out and screaming, I couldn't breathe,' said Francis. 'I don't think I can handle this on a long-term thing--I'm not a criminal.' Markman, hired by Francis's defense team, interviewed the 34-year-old late last month and drafted the below report, which was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Nevada. Markman concluded that while Francis was 'clinically stable,' he demonstrated 'significant psychiatric issues' for which he has shunned treatment due to embarrassment. During a two-hour interview, the inmate appeared to minimize his drug and alcohol use, Markman concluded. Francis denied using pot, claimed to have tried cocaine only a few times, and said he had one drink per week. He also copped to trying mushrooms. The psychiatric report was included in a defense filing seeking to have Francis expeditiously transferred from the Florida jail to Reno, Nevada, where he is to soon be arraigned on a federal indictment charging him with tax evasion. While Francis petitioned to be allowed to travel from Florida to Nevada via commercial airliner, that request was rejected last week by a federal magistrate judge. Instead, Francis, who usually travels via Lear jet, will fly cross-country on 'ConAir', the no-frills (and often circuitous) prisoner transport service operated by the U.S. Marshals Service. (3 page)