"Immensely Gratifying"

It hardly seemed possible that Lord Black of Crossharbour would be seen as a felon. That one day he would stand in an American court charged with criminal offences that would garner him a six-+year incarceration in a U.S. federal prison. This was a man who knew his way around. Had friends in high places. Was highly respected in some circles and derided in others as a too-sharp businessman. But he was judged and found guilty of the charges brought against him.

Not all the charges. There were 17 counts of criminal conduct, including racketeering, money laundering and tax evasion. The trial took three months where the prosecution and the defence brought forward evidence and made their arguments to the judge and jury. Thirteen of the original 17 charges were considered by the jury. And he was acquitted on nine of the thirteen, found guilty of four. Then sentenced to six and a half years in Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Florida.

Where his wife, living in their Florida mansion, could visit him comfortably and conveniently. During his trial, Conrad Black was impulsively upbeat, confident, brash, certain he would be cleared of all charges brought against him. And his colleagues. He was disappointed and taken aback at the betrayal of one of his closest friends and business partners, who shortened his own sentence by testifying against Lord Black.

This is a man who continually aspired. He aspired to buy and own businesses, and he sold them, sometimes not in very congenial circumstances. And he had a love affair with the newspaper business. At one time representing as one of the largest newspaper-holding interests in North America. And he started a new, Canadian national newspaper that became the very best in the country, with a stable of reporters and columnists second to none, expressing mostly conservative, but occasionally also liberal views.

It must have been utterly devastating for this proud and pompous man to understand finally that the American justice system was intent on putting him away, out of society, for over six years of his life. In the U.S. system, not much time off for good behaviour. And here's the thing of it. Conrad Black is no intellectual slouch. He is amazingly good with language and his elegance and capability is evident to anyone who reads his writings.

Is there anyone who has never read something this man has written? Scholarly biographies, newspaper articles, letters-to-the-editor, opinion pieces. And emails. He responds, from his prison cell, to each and every email that anyone sends to him. Generously, effusively, kindly, he disputes, corrects, or agrees with strangers who take umbrage at his conclusions, or who congratulate him for the clarity of his understanding.

And while a less optimistic, less determined, less gifted and intelligent individual might have crawled into dedicated obscurity while locked away in a prison cell, he instead chose to communicate, to continue writing, to explain himself, and to gift the reading world with his beliefs and his perceptions. He has done far more than that. Aside from involving himself in ongoing self-imposed writing tasks, preparing additional manuscripts for publication, he has shared his writing knowledge and expertise.

While in prison he has undertaken to teach writing classes. He claims that his surroundings and the structure in which he is held, and its administration is one he can appreciate; it is no dungeon, it does represent a somewhat enlightened prison atmosphere. Lord Black sees his fellow inmates as little different in character and personality than those he is aware of and acquainted with, in the outside world. He is held in some esteem by the prison population who appreciate his teaching efforts on their behalf.

Surely, with the finding of the Supreme Court of the United States that ruled in favour of his appeal to set aside his three fraud convictions under the 'honest services fraud statute', it may be further acknowledged that the two and a half years of incarceration he has already served is more than adequate to represent the remaining charges. He poses no threat to society, unless his unambiguous self-confidence itself is seen as an affront to society.

The common perception is that he has more than earned his freedom from a sentence that he has never recognized as just and legitimate. Although none might have thought of him in quite this way, pre-incarceration, Lord Black is the very personification of a free spirit. It is past time for him to be given his freedom.