Lithuania Has Inmate Beauty Contest

VILNIUS, Lithuania - Move over Miss Universe, make room for Miss Captivity, a contest to pick the most attractive female inmate serving jail time in Lithuania.

The organizer of the event, television producer Arunas Valinskas, announced this week that he finalized a deal with the Baltic country's sole female prison and already had accepted applications from 36 contestants.

"We'll attempt to find beauty where you might think there is none," he said at a news conference on Monday. "The prisoners are, after all, women first and foremost."

The prison, the Panevezys Penal Labor Colony, holds more than 1,000 inmates, including convicted murders. It's in the city of Panevezys, some 90 miles north of Vilnius, the capital of this nation of 3.5 million people.

The competition, which organizers said was the first of its kind in Europe, will be shown live on the private LNK TV. Valinskas said the likely contest date was Nov. 15.

Top Lithuanian fashion designers will make the contestants' clothes and local dignitaries would serve as the judges, selecting a winner based on "beauty and elegance," Valinskas said.

In addition to what many might see as the dubious honor of being crowned Miss Captivity, the winner and runners-up will qualify for 10,000 litas ($2,500) in prizes — though they'd only receive them after completing their jail terms.

Prison officials said participating detainees would be excused from working in the penitentiary's sewing factory during the week of the contest.

Photos of Ex-Miss N.C. Turned Over
LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) - The former fiance of Rebekah Revels, the Miss North Carolina who resigned after the Miss America pageant learned about nude photos of her, turned over the pictures Tuesday, her lawyer said.
Attorney Barry Nakell said in Robeson County court that Tosh Welch handed in the photographs just before his contempt hearing was to begin. Nakell would not describe the pictures in detail.
Welch, an officer with the Cherokee Police Department, left the courtroom without comment.
Revels won the crown in June but resigned in July after the Miss America pageant received an e-mail indicating there were nude photos of her. Revels told pageant officials the e-mail came from Welch.
Miss America pageant officials received the e-mail July 19, prompting questions about whether Revels had ever lived with her boyfriend, and whether nude photos of her existed.
"Would you want to be represented by someone with a past?" the message said. "Nude pics of Miss America bring in big bucks nowadays."
Revels has said she was changing clothes when Welch surprised her by snapping a picture of her topless. She has sued Welch, accusing him of invasion of privacy, interference in her contracts and inflicting emotional distress.
After Revels resigned, she sought to reclaim her crown after the Miss North Carolina Organization signed a contract with runner-up Misty Clymer.
The 24-year-old Revels won a state judge's order last month that restored her title, meaning the state had two Miss North Carolinas. But the judge ruled last week that neither woman could represent the state while Revels' claim against the state pageant for breach of contract is heard.