American Jail and Peaches with Stones

January 9, 2015.

The Tale
Karina and I were coping as well as we knew how, but we both had the advantage of being together.  Natalie had gone home two weeks earlier worried about my melanoma diagnosis and now she was looking after the dogs and the property all alone with her Dad in jail.  The stress was getting to her.  She was the most sensitive and emotional of the three of us.  Natalie had an apartment in Toronto, where her life and friends were, but the present circumstance called on her to look after the obligations of the country property.  She was very isolated, very worried and very scared.  She had called her roomate from undergrad a day into the arrest and Tracy immediately excused herself from the Vet Clinic and came to be with Natalie, but she had day job and couldn't stay all day.

By Friday November 15, enough had happened that I finally called my friend and neighbour Betty.  She didn't answer her house phone.  I called Betty's cell phone.  She answered and told me that she had read the news as the arrest had been reported in the business section of one of the national newspapers.  'Businessman Cools his Jets' or something like that had been the headline.  I did not know that Betty was at a convention in Toronto ready to go to a cocktail party before attending a  black tie dinner,  and she did't tell me either.  This was one of the big events of the year in her husbands field of business.  I told her Natalie was having a very difficult time coping and Betty offered to go be with her.  She was immediately on her way.  Without that support, Natalie would not have been able to face the challenge we had given her.   Natalie was the closest to Chicago, it was only a 45 minute flight.  She was the annointed one.  Betty's visit gave Natalie the courage to go see Greg in Chicago.  Love and support from other people is a mighty powerful medicine.

After arriving in Midway Airport commercially, the same airport the corporate jet had landed in and sucked Greg into the quagmire days earlier, Natalie found a cab and immediately headed to her hotel in Chicago.  She checked in and after some dilly-dallying, slowly proceeded on her mission, finding Cook Country Corrections.  I could not have asked Natalie to face a more difficult task.  She arrived at the jail around 4:30 PM and after standing in line for about a half hour, she was told that she could not go in with her hand bag.  "No bags allowed".  There was no place to leave her purse, no lockers available to protect your wallet, purse, money or ID. There was no option other than for Natalie to step out of line.  She called her one contact, the law clerk.  Natalie waited for the clerk to drive to the jail.  She would keep her handbag for safe keeping, and then wait for Nat while she went in for the 'visit '.  Natalie re-entered the jail, and lined up once again.  She found herself in an endless line of black women, some with children, some without.  The process was long and slow.  This time she stood for an hour.  She was body searched, as were the other visitors, three or four times, and when she reached the final check point, she found out that she had been given incorrect information.  She needed to apply to visit in advance.  It takes one week for the visitor application to be processed.   She pleaded with the prison personnel.  She explained that she had flown from Toronto, her Dad was 65, her lawyers had told her that there were different rules if you lived further than 100 miles away,  luckily something she said struck a chord with the guard.  She was allowed in, "but only this one time.  Next week you will have to apply!"

She would also be allowed only one visit this weekend, not two as she had been advised by the lawyers.  Grateful to get this chance, Natalie found an empty cubicle in the visiting room.  Once the vistors were seated, the prisoners were allowed in.  The set up was just like you see in the movies -- a pane of glass in the cubicle separated the prisoner from the visitor, and there was a round hole in the glass covered with serious mesh through which the parties had to speak.  Natalie recalls that Greg 'shuffled in', hunched over and looked a broken man.  Greg claims he could not see through the glass on account of the reflections, and had to hunch over on purpose, to 'see' which cubicle was occupied by Natalie.

Natalie's opener?
"It's a good thing we went to Mandarin Monday night and had Chinese buffet!"

Greg laughed.  It was hugely stressful for Natalie to see her Dad this way, but they both were feeding off of one another just to survive the indignity and abominable circumstance.  Greg was able to sort of bring Natalie up to speed with prison life, and recounted some of the ordeal of the past week, all the while Natalie was jamming a credit card under her nails hoping that the pain would prevent her from crying in front of her Dad.  She bravely put on a good show which helped Greg enormously, but the acting performance ate at Natalie's heart incalculably.  An announcement was made that 'visiting' was over, and all of the general public were told to leave.  Natalie left, relieved that her Dad was alive, and that she had been there for him.

By the Grace of God, Robin had pre-arranged to meet with Natalie after her visit.  Instinctively, he knew that this would be a traumatic experience for a girl with her background, and Natalie headed toward the meeting place.  Greg on the other hand, called us in Delray at the first opportunity that he had.  He was frantic, he was worried for Natalie's safety and upset that she had even come near Cook County Jail.  The prison was in a 'dangerous' part of town.  He wanted Natalie to leave Chicago on the next flight.  Karina and I tried to calm him down.  We lied.  We told him she was back at the hotel -- that all was good she was safe, but in actual fact, we hadn't heard from her.   Natalie did not hear her phone ringing in the noisy bar.  She was busy talking to Robin about family and travel and life in New York, and naturally, we were imagining all sort of ugly scenarios.

The contract lawyer, who had gone to see Greg earlier that day, knew that Natalie was in Chicago, and knew that she would be visiting her Dad.  She made no attempt to meet with the kid that she was responsible for, as executor of Greg's will.  I have no comment to make.

The next day, Natalie went to the Shed Aquarium and the Chicago Art Institute.  She was filling her day with pleasant activities but she could not get the image of her Dad out of her mind.  She says that will picture will remain forever.   She had planned to go to Cook County again on Sunday, but she did not have permission to be a visitor, and her flight back to Toronto was for Monday morning, she had to fill her day.  Two of Karina's friends happened to be in Chacago that weekend and they met up with Natalie for dinner and we were happy for that.

Greg was able to make three calls out on Sunday.  I was surprised that we were able to talk for as long as we were able to.  The '5 minutes costs $100' no longer existed.  I was concerned though, and we were both on on edge thinking that the call could be dropped any second.  Later I learned that you could check your balance on the Securus web site which kept a log of how many minutes were used and how much those minutes cost.  Turns out, the calls were very reasonable after all, there just was some sort of 'glitch' that first time.  I had to discover that on my own.  Amazing that legal people can't guide you through this sort of stuff.

When a call comes in from prison it begins with a recording "this call is originating from Cook County Corrections...you have a call coming from inmate blah blah, if you don't recognize you may hang up. remember that everything you say is recorded...."  The recorded message goes on and on, close to two minutes before the inmate can speak.  Greg could always be heard saying "Hello?? HELLO??? Hello?"  I dont know if the prisoners can hear the recorded message, but my anxiety level was raised by this intense start to the call.  I couldn't tell if he was confused or couldn't hear.  The phones were in the common area and I never clarified how many phones were available to the inmates.  Some of the kids are in jail because they can't make bail, so they probably don't have the finances to get a phone card from the outside either.   Drama looked after Old School, and Greg would call out, "Drama when do we get out next?" and then I would be told what time to expect the next call.

Sunday was relaxed over the phone.  Natalie's visit had been helpful for Greg.  I encouraged him to eat everything regardless of how bad the food might be.  Karina had Googled for jokes to tell him, we just tried to talk and to keep Greg company.  Karina was giving him exersize tips to keep his endorphin level up.  Greg told us that the TV blasts at full volume 24/7, and that the windows are blacked out so that you have no idea what time of day it was.  He was seeing a world he had no idea existed.  I told him there was a reason for all of this, that we have been called to fulfill a higher purpose.  I doubt that he believed me, but another world he did experience, and lived to tell us about.
Greg's race had been recorded as black when he was being processed.  I thought that was an odd clerical mistake to make, and I will never believe that it was a mistake.  I think, that this was all part of the sinister plot to destroy him.  I truly do.  Robin had told me enough about the indictment to understand that it was very shady.  I had not met Greg's Alabama business contacts, and they never made any attempt to meet me.  They clearly underestimated Greg and didn't know what a Latvian with a large capacity brain could comprehend.  They did not know that Greg was not racist, and that for Greg to be with black inmates was no differnet than being with pink striped purple dotted people!

Monday morning, at 7:30 the phone rang.
It was a call from prison, "they are moving me today, a guy came and told me to go get my stuff".

Karina and I were ready to fly to Nashville, and meet Greg after he would make his Alabama court appearance.  We knew that he would need bail to get out and some sort of bond to guarantee that he would return for trial.  During one of my conversations I had told Greg that we needed bail money and he told me not to worry that he carried $80 Million D&O insurance (Directors and Officers) and that it would be covered.  I had relayed that info to the CFO at MBI.  The CFO said she didn't know about the D&O policy.  The Toronto attorney called me again reprimanding me over Robin, and was yelling at me "where are you going to get the money?  Where are you going to get the money?"  Everything was so confusing!

Greg's early morning call had come unexpectedly.  We thought he would be moved either Tuesday or Wednesday.  Regardless, Karina and I were ready to go.  I set the the house phone to call forwarding so that all calls would be directed to my cell phone -- this way Greg would still be able to reach me.  He was in transit on Monday so we would be in place for Tuesday, the court appearance was going to be Wednesday and then we could get Greg home.  We were almost there!

On Tuesday, when I landed in Nashville, I saw 8 missed calls on my cell phone from prison.  I was devastated.  Finally, another call came through and it was from Greg.  After getting dressed in his suit Monday morning, he was put in a waiting room in Cook County Jail at 9:00 AM.  The Alabama Marshals were come and collect him.  Greg sat in that room, with no food or water or bathroom, until 4:00 AM Tuesday morning.  Nineteen hours.  When someone from the jail finally entered the room and asked what he was still doing there, he told the guard that the marshals never showed.  He was re-processed, and put back in jail, this time to a different section and a different cell.  He went to 'sleep' at 6:00AM.  At 10:30AM on Tuesday the marshals did finally show up, and he was transferred to the Tuscumbia jail, flying handcuffed on Southwest Airlines.

I do not believe that was just coincidental.  Someone was really out to damage him.

And that is how a Peach found out that you need a stone inside all that soft flesh that bruises so easily.