Girls Gone Wild Founder Abused in Jail

The millionaire founder of "Girls Gone Wild," Joe Francis, has claimed that prison guards abused him during his two-week stay at an Oklahoma jail, reported the Associated Press. Francis has been in jail since April when he was cited for contempt during mediation in a federal lawsuit brought by women who were underage when his company filmed them in 2003.

He was first staying in a Florida jail, but was held in the Oklahoma penitentiary from mid-May to early June in the midst of a transfer to a federal facility in Reno, Nevada, where he will await trial next year on a tax evasion charge.

Francis, 34, alleges that guards at the Grady County Law Enforcement Center denied him food and blankets and threatened to strap him to a chair naked for two days, according to a report in an Oklahoma newspaper. County officials denied all accusations.

"Mr. Francis was treated like every inmate that comes through the Grady County Law Enforcement Center," a jail administrator told the newspaper. Francis' attorney declined discussion of the allegations.

The lawsuit with the women has been settled, but Francis' bond was denied on criminal charges related to the 2003 filming when he was found with contraband - $700 and prescription anti-anxiety drugs - in the Bay County jail. Federal officials then extradited Francis to Nevada to face tax evasion charges.