MARTHA WAITS OUT CELL CRUNCH
MARTHA Stewart will surrender to start serving her five-month sentence for obstruction of justice as soon as there is a vacant cell at the Danbury federal prison for women, sources say, leaving her daughter Alexis, 38, to oversee her company.
"There is no available bed at Danbury, and hasn't been for a couple weeks," said one insider. "She's just waiting."
Anna Cordasco, a spokeswoman for Stewart's legal defense team, told PAGE SIX yesterday: "She is exploring her options and is committed to doing what is right for her company."
The doyenne of domesticity was sentenced in July to five months in prison and five months of house detention for lying to federal investigators about her well-timed sale of ImClone stock in December 2001, just before the firm's cancer drug was denied FDA approval.
The Post's John Crudele reported last month that Stewart, saddled with huge legal bills, is cash-poor. She is selling her $7 million Perry Street apartment and has put one of her East Hampton estates on the market.
"The company would like her to get [jail time] over with," a source told Crudele. "Advertisers are pushing. They want closure."
Tracy Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, confirmed that both the low-security women's jail and the minimum-security women's "prison camp" in Danbury are "crowded."
Stewart's stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic - who drew the exact same sentence, even though he was convicted of more serious insider trading charges - is expected to surrender at the same time.
Martha's TV show was put on hiatus as her legal woes mounted, and she has nearly vanished from Martha Stewart Living magazine, which used to feature her on the cover each month and in an editor's letter inside.
Stewart and her execs at Martha Stewart Omnimedia are busy "debranding" the company and making it less dependent on the image of its founder. Last month, the company bought Body & Soul magazine and Dr. Andrew Weil's Self Healing newsletter.
Our insider said, "Alexis has been studying the company and has sold her interest in the Karma Yoga studio on West 65th Street to prepare for her new role."