Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Inmate Black 'got on well' in prison

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Former media baron Conrad Black is reflecting publicly on his time behind bars.

In a full-page column in the National Post, Black shares lessons learned as an inmate at a federal prison in Coleman, Fla.

Black says he was "glad, jubilant, to leave" but "also grateful for the many relationships" he formed.

Black was released on bail last week following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the scope of the law central to his fraud conviction.

He says he was "enlightened" by his observation of American justice on the other side of the wall and "happy to have got on well" in a very foreign environment.

Black makes pointed remarks on the U.S. justice system, commenting on the apparent failure and "absurd sentences" of the U.S. war on drugs, and calls the country's 2.4 million prisoners "an ostracized, voiceless legion of the walking dead."

The 65-year-old also says his bail being granted mid-sentence was seen as something extraordinary even by veterans of the federal prison system.

After 28 months behind bars, Black says he was "delighted" to be back home where he could "celebrate the happiest of all wedding anniversaries" with his wife.

Black's columns have appeared frequently in the National Post even while he was in prison. His media chain, Hollinger International, launched the newspaper in 1998.

Black is presently in the U.S. where he is to remain under his current bail conditions. He returns to court in Chicago Aug. 16 where his lawyers will provide more detailed information on his finances to Judge Amy St. Eve.

 

-- The Canadian Press

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 1, 2010 A16

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