Conrad Black Heads To Prison Monday

Though he fought fiercely to avoid the outcome, Conrad Black is at peace with the fact he will be spending some time behind bars.

After he surrenders to a Florida jail on Monday, the historian and former newspaper baron will become inmate number 18330-424 and begin serving a six-and-a-half-year term for fraud and obstruction of justice. He plans to teach, write and pray while continuing to fight the convictions.

Friends describe him as “serene and in a decent mood” just days before Monday’s deadline. “I saw him two weeks ago and he was pleasant, full of life and joking,” said lifelong friend Brian Stewart.

“I think he feels ready for anything that lies ahead. He’s not going to let it get him down.”

There were few signs of activity outside Black’s house Sunday morning, where the gates at 1930 S Ocean Blvd. stood open, with just a glimpse of his wife Barbara Amiel Black on one of the mansion’s balconies.

The gates are guarded by two stone falcons, which stare out into the Atlantic Ocean across the street from Black’s house. The estate is bordered by water on both sides on an exclusive stretch of real estate whose other occupants include real estate magnate Donald Trump.

Those who have visited Black say that he’s remarkably relaxed, an attitude Stewart attributes to what he called his “enormous ability to compartmentalize and think long term while bad things are happening.”

“He’s definitely not scared or in any sense panicky about it … (he) has a very good marriage, he has a deep faith, he has a long-term view of life and history and he still will have the appeal ahead of him, which he still thinks will (vindicate) him ultimately.”

Black, 63, has said little publicly about his thoughts on prison life other than to characterize it as likely bearable but boring.

But Stewart said he’s talked to friends about it and plans to read, write and possibly even teach while in jail.

The prison also has a church where Black, a devout Catholic, plans to spend a lot of his time, as well as a library.

Black was convicted in July of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice, and sentenced to six and a half years in prison in December. He’s expected to serve that time at Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Fla., near Orlando, so that Amiel Black, 67, can visit him regularly.

She plans to stay at the Palm Beach mansion.

But despite Black’s serenity ahead of the prison surrender, inmates and observers say the transition will be difficult for the jet-setting millionaire.

“If he keeps his mouth shut and keeps a low-profile, his difficulties will likely be few. He will likely be `tested’ a time or two, but as his sentence is only six and a half years he won’t be in a maximum (security),” said an inmate in a state prison in Wisconsin, who asked not to be named.

“In minimum he will face very few problems unless he is a guy who runs his mouth a lot.”

The new daily routine will be the hardest thing to adjust to, the inmate said, as well as the quality of food, set meal times and several head counts during the day.

“If it is found out he has a lot of money, some shaking down will likely be attempted,” the inmate added.

Franklin Castle, an inmate serving a life sentence in Pennsylvania, recommends Black “embrace his incarceration and try to find a meaningful life for himself in whatever prison he ends up in.”

Black, Stewart said, intends to do just that and may write his next historical biography from jail.

“He’s the kind of a guy who has such a superb memory he can almost write in his head and then put it down afterwards,” Stewart said.

“He’s going to be intellectually very active, he’s got an awful lot of writing to do … he can plot a book ahead, he’s got future history books to do, and possibly do some research. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d be teaching.”

Black said last week in an e-mail to the Sunday Independent in Ireland that he did hope to teach, calling it “an elite occupation in a prison.”

Once he surrenders, Black will be fingerprinted, photographed, searched and given a DNA test. He will be given clothing, a bed assignment, and an orientation schedule.

His new quarters will be shared with as many as 100 other inmates, in an open-concept room similar to a military barracks, but divided into cubes, with two bunk beds per “room.” Once admitted, he will also be given a job, which will earn him anywhere from 12 cents an hour to 40 cents an hour.

Inmates who self-surrender have to make their own way to prison, although it’s generally family members or friends who drive them there, said Mike Truman, a spokesman with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Black biographer George Tombs said he believes the transition will prove extremely difficult.

“I don’t think he will handle prison well. He has always spent a fortune on maintaining himself in a rich man’s bubble, with servants, corporate yes-men and fawning socialites at his beck and call,” Tombs said.

“Now he will be surrounded by hardened inmates, not to mention the guards, whose job is to break inmates who show no remorse for the crimes they committed.”

Black has been unwavering in his belief that he will be vindicated, and likely garnered some hope from an appeals court ruling which, in denying his request for bail pending appeal, noted that “`substantial’ questions” were raised about two of the fraud counts.

The court did also say, however, that issues related to another fraud count and Black’s obstruction of justice conviction were “less clear.”

Black’s lawyers are expected to file their appeal with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on March 6, and the case should be heard by June, before the court’s summer recess. That means Black will have to spend at least three months in prison, even if any of his convictions are overturned.

If the appeal fails, he will have to complete at least 85 per cent of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

The Blacks have been living quietly since the sentencing, but have been attending events in Palm Beach and visiting with friends.

“He’s been going to Palm Beach now for over 20 years so it’s his regular winter stop, so he know a great many people there,” Stewart said.

“There’s that crowd and then there’s all the people who come down normally from New York, and snowbirds drop in — the Mulroneys and the Desmarais — but also a lot of Americans from New York. A lot of the old Palm Beach group have certainly rallied to them”.

Amiel also recently bought a puppy to keep her company while Black is in prison, and reportedly dropped $250,000 on Oscar de la Renta couture, according to The Palm Beach Daily News.

Three other Hollinger International executives convicted of fraud along with Black have so far remained out of jail. Former Hollinger lawyer Mark Kipnis, convicted of lesser charges, was sentenced to house arrest, while Peter Atkinson and Jack Boultbee, sentenced to 24 months and 27 months respectively, where both given a bail extension past March 3. None of those men were convicted of obstruction of justice.

The convictions turned on millions of dollars Black and the others paid themselves as “non-compete” payments as sellers of newspapers. Prosecutors said the money belonged to the shareholders.