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Defiant and bombastic to the last, Conrad Black hurled Churchillian rhetoric at his accusers yesterday before bidding farewell to his wife, Barbara Amiel, and surrendering to authorities at the largest penitentiary in the United States.
"They will have their fleeting moment of brutish triumph," the former press baron said, but added: "It's no real triumph for them; it's a complete travesty of justice. It doesn't bother me because it won't last long."
As he began his six-and-a half year sentence at the Coleman Correctional centre, near Orlando, Florida, inmate 18330-424 was facing up to the grim reality and monotony of prison life.
However sugar-coated the initiation process, Black will have to endure a bleak and rigid regime.
The prison rules, laid out at a mandatory "admission and orientation programme" for new inmates, will mean a life marked by the noise of clanging doors, endless headcounts and queues.
The quality of the food will be poor and there is always the risk of bullying by other inmates.
"At any time, anything can go wrong," said one of Black's fellow prisoners, Roger Grace, who is serving 12 years for his role in a cocaine deal.
Black's lawyers are filing an appeal, which will be heard in June.
If it fails, he will have to serve 85 per cent of his sentence before parole; if he succeeds, he could be out after serving little more than three months.
The Orlando jail's Inmate Information Handbook encourages new prisoners to look on the bright side.
"Our goal is to minimise the negative experiences you have during incarceration and provide opportunities for personal growth and development," the handbook says. "Good luck during your stay at Coleman."
But that could be hard for the man once known for his flamboyant lifestyle and extravagant spending habits. Yesterday, Black made his first stop at Coleman's receiving and discharge department, where he will be issued with prison shirts, trousers, underwear and socks, in sets of four which must be worn for at least six months. He will also get a single pair of boots for every year he serves.
His clothing will have a tag with his inmate number and an identification card for access to a prison shop.
There, he will be able to pick between sweets, deodorants and board games.
"I cherish my liberty as all people do, but I am unafraid. I have faith in American justice," Black said in a column published yesterday by the New York Sun, a newspaper which identifies him as a founding director. Black remains optimistic that his conviction will be reversed on appeal.
He spoke at length to Canada's Financial Post newspaper before surrendering, comparing himself to Martha Stewart, the entrepreneurial domestic guru who emerged from her time in prison to resume her iconic role in US life.
"It's not the least bit stigmatising," he said breezily. "This bourgeois theory that it's a frightful blotting of the ledger is a lot of nonsense. It didn't happen to Martha Stewart. And besides, I am innocent. If I'd actually done anything illegal, I wouldn't contest it, I would repent it."
In this, Black has a point, as more than one out of every 100 American adults is now in prison, a total of 2.3 million people. But even low-security prisons such as Coleman can be menacing and a celebrity inmate like Black could attract trouble.The facility insists that every inmate must have a job, whether it be mopping floors or teaching other inmates. They are paid between US16c and US$1 (19c and $1.20) an hour. Black will have to work day shifts as well as evening, weekend and holiday rotas.
As he headed to jail, Black said he was not bothered in the slightest by the prospect of joining convicted drug dealers and other criminals inside: "This is not a scary place. There's no violence there. I expect it to be somewhat boring. It's a hell of a way to lose weight, but I'll lose weight."
What he will immediately lose is his privacy; especially if he is assigned to a three-man cubicle. But there will one perk: He will get a shower every day, a privilege granted only at low-security prisons.
A jury of nine women and three men in Chicago convicted Black in July for his role in the theft of US$6.1 million from the Chicago-based newspaper publisher now known as the Sun-Times Media Group. He was also found guilty of knowingly removing documents sought by US authorities from his Toronto office.
Black led Hollinger for eight years both as chairman and chief executive, during which time the company became the world's third-biggest publisher of English language newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times, Canada's National Post and the UK's Daily Telegraph.
In November 2003, amid allegations of corruption, he was forced to resign as chief executive and was fired as chairman two months later.
Born in Montreal, Black relinquished his Canadian citizenship in 2001 to accept a life peerage in Britain's Upper House of Parliament, where he holds the title Lord Black of Crossharbour. He has three children from his first wife, Joanna Black MacDonald.
The Coleman Federal Correctional centre includes one low, one medium and two high-security facilities surrounded by wire fencing, its location demarcated by blue and white signage. Across the highway from the main gate sits a strip of grass, dirt and gravel bounded by a barbed wire fence, blocking access to the woodlands beyond.
Black's low-security lock-up is about a three-hour drive from his home in Palm Beach. As of February 21, that unit had a population of 1,997.
Inmates occupy double-bunked cubicles with small, sealed windows. Each inmate has a chair and shares a common desk, said Charles Ratledge, a spokesman for the facility.
Visitation by family members and friends is limited from 8am to 3pm, and only from Friday to Monday.
All prison inmates are required to work unless they are deemed medically unfit.
Prison lights come on at 6am. Breakfast is served a half hour later and inmates are required to be at work by 7.30am.
They receive three meals per day and are counted five times. Every prisoner must be in his cell by 9pm and lights are turned off at 11pm. Prison amenities include separate law and leisure libraries, a jogging track and a basketball court.
Because Black renounced his Canadian citizenship and was then convicted of a felony, he may have difficulty returning to his native country when his sentence is finished.
"If he tried to come back to Canada, he could be deported to Britain," said Mariel Grant, a history professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Black isn't be the first member of the House of Lords to be jailed. Novelist Jeffrey Archer in 2001 was jailed for four years for perjury.
Black's time in prison may be marked by an adjustment period during which he experiences depression at his circumstance and becomes accustomed to a world in which the former corporate chairman must take orders, not give them, said Robert Morgan, a professor of correctional mental health and forensic psychology at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
"There is always an adjustment period once somebody is incarcerated, especially a person of his calibre that's never been in prison," said Morgan.
"If he remains productive and goal-oriented and future-focused, the adjustment period will be easier," Morgan said.
"Give this man a typewriter in his cell and six and a half years can fly by relatively quickly."
Black has written biographies of US Presidents Richard Nixon and Franklin Roosevelt, as well as Quebec Premier Maurice DuPlessis.
In his New York Sun column yesterday, Black wrote: "I believe in the confession and repentance of misconduct, as well as in the punishment of crimes.
"If I had committed any of the offenses charged, I would have pleaded guilty and asked for a sentence that would enable me to atone for my crime and assuage my guilt and shame."
- INDEPENDENT, BLOOMBERG
