Joe Francis, the brash young man who created "Girls Gone Wild" became a multi-millionaire by talking young women, many who have been drinking, into taking their clothes off for his cameras. He's accustomed to traveling on his own private jet, driving fancy cars and socializing with celebrities.
But now life is much different for Francis, who is currently being held on income tax evasion charges in Reno, Nevada. His life of luxury is gone and he now lives in a cramped 5'x8' prison cell.
INSIDE EDITION sat down with Joe Francis for a jailhouse interview and found that seven months in jail has not humbled him one bit.
Francis's problems began in Panama City Beach, Florida when he had to sue the city to shoot "Girls Gone Wild" there during spring break of 2003.
Lee Sullivan was the city's mayor at the time. He says Francis came to town looking for a fight and officials were happy to oblige. Francis and three of his crew members were arrested after two underage girls were taped in a sexually explicit shower scene at a local motel. According to Francis, "The girls misrepresented their age. They misrepresented it in writing on written releases."
Four years later, Francis still faces six criminal charges in Florida.
Francis was also sued by the parents of the underage girls who were videotaped in that motel room. When Francis started to tangle with the federal judge in that case, Richard Smoak, things got worse.
"He told the federal judge you know you're just really not that important in my life, and I pretty much come and go as I want to because I am Joe Francis," Sullivan tells INSIDE EDITION.
Judge Smoak ordered Francis to negotiate in good faith to settle the lawsuit. But after showing up to a hearing in shorts and a t-shirt, he was accused of being vulgar, rude and threatening to the opposing attorneys. Fed up, the judge found him in contempt and ordered him to report to jail.
When asked by INSIDE EDITION Senior Investigative Correspondent, Matt Meagher how much of the problem was created by Francis's attitude, which some have described as cocky, egotistical and arrogant, the ever-confident Francis says, "Arrogance. Describe arrogance. Do you think it was arrogant of me to assert my first amendment rights, is that arrogant? Was that arrogant of Rosa Parks not to give up her seat on that bus and stand up for her civil rights? Was that arrogant of her? Or was she just standing up for what was right?"
Meagher then questioned Franciss comparison between himself and Rosa Parks. Indignant, Francis says, "I did not compare myself to Rosa Parks! I compared your comment and I'm not half the person Rosa Parks is, okay?"
But the judge really hit the roof when Francis showed up late after being ordered to turn himself in. Not just late, Francis showed up four days late, to what he calls "an illegal order" by the judge.
Francis spent 35 days in a Florida county jail for contempt and says he was continuously abused by a judicial system that is out to get him. "Shackled, belly chained, handcuffed in the shower, naked in the shower," Francis says of his time in the Florida jail. It was awful.
Responding to the suggestion that he could garner little sympathy from the public due to the nature of his business, Francis tells INSIDE EDITION, "What I do is not illegal. I dont break the law."
Joe Francis has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him, and has settled the lawsuit with the girls at the Florida motel. Ironically, Francis could easily post the $1.5 million bail and get out of jail in Nevada, but he chooses not to because he'd be sent right back to the jail he's so fearful of in Florida.
Francis says he expects to get out of jail soon and he and his lawyers are ready for the big fight ahead to clear his name. "The people who have done this to me will pay for what they've done," says Francis.