The Incarceration of Lauryn Hill: Ex-Fugees star begins three month jail term over unpaid tax

Hill pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes on earnings from 2005 to 2007

Lauryn Hill pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes on earnings from 2005 to 2007 (PA)

The Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill has started a three month prison term for failing to pay taxes on earnings of around $1m.

The mother-of-six, from South Orange, New Jersey, reported to federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, yesterday.

Inmates at the minimum security prison live in open dormitories and are expected to work jobs such as maintenance, food service or landscaping.

Hill pleaded guilty last year in New Jersey to failing to pay taxes on earnings from 2005 to 2007.

During her trial, Hill explained she had always meant to eventually pay the taxes but was unable to during a period of time when she dropped out of the music business. Before sentencing, her lawyer said Hill had paid more than $970,000 (£624,000) to satisfy the state and federal tax liabilities.

The singer started in The Fugees in the 1990s, alongside Wyclef Jean, releasing classic singles "Killing Me Softly" and "Ready or Not."

Going solo, she released the multiplatinum 1998 album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," bagging five Grammys.

Since then she has since largely withdrawn from public life while raising her children. Much of her recent earnings are believed to have come from music and film royalties.

She recently posted a new single, her first in several years, called “Neurotic Society,” online. It was accompanied with a message on social media that read: “Here is a link to a piece that I was ‘required’ to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline.”