Martha's new neighbors
From Mary Snow
CNN
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Bedford, New York, estate where Martha Stewart will be staying is bigger than the 95 acres in Alderson, West Virginia, where she's been imprisoned for the past five months.
She's been sharing close quarters with inmates, most of whom are there on drug convictions.
Now, she's going home to her neighbors like Ralph Lauren, billionaire George Soros and actress Glenn Close.
Martha Stewart's return to Westchester County doesn't seem to phase residents used to fame.
"We respect their privacy. I mean, the Clintons live in Chappaqua, so I don't think anybody is going to be star struck to see her walking on the street or see her in these shops that we go to every day," says Katonah resident Cheryl Fisher.
But Stewart isn't allowed to roam free.
A gourmet grocery store said to be one of her favorites is one place she could go since grocery shopping is on the list of approved activities under probation rules.
She is allowed to leave her home for 48 hours a week to go to work, attend church services and medical appointments and do grocery shopping.
There will be one day a week of "lockdown" where she can't leave her home.
Going anywhere must first be approved by her probation officer, who will be making unscheduled trips to her home and work.
Stewart must wear an electronic ankle bracelet for the next five months.
That monitor will let her parole officer know when she enters and leaves her house.
Probation officers who've had to monitor high-profile people like Martha Stewart say home confinement could prove challenging, imposing limits on her marathon work hours.
"It's not a piece of cake. It can be frustrating. It is not as easy as it's conceived from the common public and I do think she will have some interesting challenges as will the probation officer supervising her with the employment situation," says former federal probation officer Lisa Kuca.
Stewart won't be too isolated. She can have visitors to her home -- as long as they haven't been convicted of a crime.
