"The first day is terrifying. Humiliating. They take everything away. Can't even have an aspirin. Or paper clip because that, they say, can pry a lock. It's about control. Women journalists like us fight for control. Control over stories, control of our days. And the first thing they take away is the ability to control your own life.

"I lost 20 pounds," said size-2 Judy, sampling seconds on chicken. "I was never chunky, but now my doctor says I'm too thin. The food was inedible. People liken it to Army food. Please, our soldiers would desert! Everything's brown or white. Grits, pasta, potatoes, sauce, Cream of Wheat. One dish was s - - - on a shingle. Sausage with gravy only they forgot the sausage. Brown slop. Once a week, the highlight of my week, we had hot dogs. I never saw so many carbohydrates. I lost weight because I couldn't eat. I had stomach cramps, diarrhea. I kept throwing up.

"Because I had money I could buy from the canteen. I literally lived on trail mix and popcorn." Pouncing on a cherry tomato in her salad, Judy exclaimed: "I'd have killed for one of those.

"And no outside air. The gym, which is empty, has an alcove with one little skylight. You can at least look up and see a bit of sky. In my whole time, I only saw natural light five hours."

Judith Miller, at my home in jeans, maroon cashmere turtleneck, leather jacket, gold earrings, tortoise necklace, nice makeup, nice manicure, said:

"Makeup's forbidden, but jail develops amazing skills. For instance, M&Ms are sold in the canteen. Water the red ones, crush them, make paste with the dye and you get lipstick. Tweeze your eyebrows with a piece of string twirled around. Coloring pencils allowed in one empowerment program got used as eyeliner. In the laundry, there are styrofoam cups. Wet a color pencil, rub it into the styrofoam, break off a small piece and — a mascara brush. Or use your toothbrush, but then you must rinse it out well."

The hair is tinted. I asked what she did about that. "The worst is not being allowed any dye. It's awful. Although people snuck me in a little stain stick, I developed a very wide gray part. And thanks to my beloved paper, God Bless the Times, the whole world now knows I'm 57."

My apartment is atop a high-rise, but when construction noise came through an open window, Judy added quietly, "You know something? New York is quiet after jail. There's always announcements being broadcast, TV's on all the time, electronic doors always clanking, constant fights because women are on top of each other.

"My crowded Cell Unit E had 24 women. And you're so tired you learn to sleep on anything. Our tiny one-person cells held two people and no beds. Eventually I got promoted to a cement ledge and thin yoga mat. I found a good use for the New York Times. I wadded the pages underneath. But I was lucky. The Alexandria Detention Center was clean. There are horror stories of rodents, filth, inmates stabbed in the D.C. lockup where they could have put me."

And her duties behind bars?

"At first I was put on cleaning our unit, then, thank God, the laundry. I fought for the laundry because, as part of the prison work force, you get that one meal a day the deputies had. I washed underwear, socks, uniforms, all the jail laundry. We didn't iron so I now know how to fold pillowcases perfectly — longways twice then flip and fold the other way twice."

Some bitches bitch she did all this to get a book deal so . . . did she keep notes? "You could buy pads and pencils but lights never never go off and it's hard to concentrate on words for a sustained period because those fluorescents hurt your eyes. Besides, there's no privacy. I tried, but guards could read what I wrote." Then said the Pulitzer Prize winner, "I've had two No. 1 bestsellers. I did not need to go to jail to get a book deal."

Whatever you think of Judith Miller's past reporting or her decision either to go to jail or to cooperate with Fitzgerald to get released, her statements to Cindy Adams are entirely consistent with what defense lawyers hear every day from their clients about county jail conditions. Tens of thousands of female inmates endure these conditions in this country day after day. And for those in a state penitentiary, it's even worse.

I hope that if Judith Miller does write a book, it will include several chapters on the inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners. We last heard this from Susan McDougal and it's long past time we heard it again. I had hoped Martha Stewart would do it but it appears she has chosen instead to put her energy into a vacuous imitiation of The Apprentice. Will Judith Miller step up to the plate? I'm dubious, but if she does, I'll cheer her.

And while I mostly respect Cindy Adams, I'm disappointed that she stooped to crass comments about those who mentioned Judy's book deal. Arianna, the ball's in your court.