Chapter 17- First stop ** Chapter 18-Atlanta ** Chapter 19-Where Did You Say?

 

Part 3 - After the Incident

 

Chapter 17

First stop

     After Matt left the courthouse, he was sent briefly to Cullman before the processing began to transition him to a federal prison.  He stayed there only a few days before he was transported to Calhoun County Jail in Anniston. We visited him there a few times and Jim went with us. Jim had been raised in Anniston and knew his way around town.

     Calhoun County was an older jail in the industrial part of town. The waiting room was small and the facility was not the cleanest we had visited. Many years later we would have a friend lose her son while in the custody of the Calhoun County Jail. Many questions about his death are still unanswered and may always be. We were lucky that Matt had spent enough time in Cullman County to overcome most of his drug dependence.

     His dad and I knew this would be a long process. From Anniston Matt would most likely be transported to Atlanta which served as a holding prison until assignments were made as to where prisoners would relocate. We had looked at the map from the Federal Board of Prisons and assumed that Matt would go to a medium facility based on his charges, the first offense, and what his lawyer had said. There were several within close proximity to our home. In fact, Talladega was a medium and not too far away. Our attorney informed us that Talladega had just recently had a problem with drugs being brought in to the prisoners so that might not be the best place for Matt.

     All we could do now is wait. We visited Calhoun County on visiting days but we never knew when Matt would be moved. He would simply call us collect when he changed locations. Talk about a stressful time! Just not knowing the future can be nerve wrecking, like sitting and waiting for the hands of the clock to move. As a mom, all I could do was pray for his safety. I prayed daily for a hedge of protection for my son. I knew the kind of people who were in prison and now my baby was one of them.

      I remember a conversation I had with Matt after this all came about. I was wondering what I could have done or did not do that might have prevented this situation. I asked him if maybe I had tried harder to keep him away from despicable characters if that might have made a difference. Maybe I was too tough or too lenient. Maybe I should have filtered his friends more closely. I had known all his childhood friends and their parents, but as he grew older, I did not know the new faces. Some came to see him but didn’t stay long enough for me to introduce myself. If I questioned their motive, he would convince me otherwise. I remember his response so clearly. He said, “Mom, I was probably the worst of the worst. The other parents wanted to keep their children away from me.”  Where had I been? I thought I was doing the best I could at parenting. I took him to church and taught him about Jesus.  He was always polite, made good grades, but he was living another life, an alternate culture that was destroying the child I knew and loved.

     And now, this mom was waiting to hear the name of the Federal Prison where her baby boy would spend the next seven years of his life. How could this be happening?

 

Chapter 18

Atlanta

       The phone call finally came. Collect from the Federal Prison in Atlanta. That is a call you never want to hear. It’s a simple recording that says “Hello. You have a collect call from _______, an inmate in a federal prison. To accept this call press 1.” The blank is filled in by a recording from the inmate. I guess they are prompted to say their name after a beep so the call is more personable.  It is so shocking to get that first call. I knew it would be a collect call, but I was not prepared for the federal prisoner part. It made the whole situation so real, as if I had been dreaming all along.

      Matt’s message was short and to the point. He was in Atlanta Federal prison, he would be processed and sent to his permanent location within 1-2 weeks. He would be locked in most of the time, kept away from the other prisoners, and we could not visit him there. We also could not send him any money on account or any personal items. Basically, he just had to wait. He was in a cell 23 out of 24 hours a day.

      All we could do was wait to hear from him when he was relocated. His dad and I started mapping all the medium facilities within a certain radius. Matt’s pre-trial probation officer had told us that the Federal Board of Prisons tried to keep the prisoner within 500 miles of home, so we located all the qualifying facilities within 500 miles. The website listed every prison, but some could be eliminated in our search because they only housed a certain population, like just women or maximum-security prisoners.

      From the map we determined we would probably be headed west to Mississippi or maybe Arkansas. Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined our destination for the first visit with our son.

 

  Chapter 18

Where did you say?

     As a way to pass time and fill a need, I would check the Federal Board of Prisons daily. I’d do an inmate search.  I found out I could pull up Matt name on the website and it would tell me his location. It would not always be accurate but I had some idea when he was moved to Atlanta and then to his permanent location.

      We got the call on a Monday, I think. I had my cell phone at school and had already informed my coworkers that I would be taking a call anytime it came in. That meant, even in the middle of class. We had a plan in action in case I needed help with my students. My entire fifth grade team had been a blessing all through the arrest, the trial, and now prison. They supported me with prayer, words of encouragement and even meals when I needed them. We were a tight group who shared all our secrets with each other. I was so blessed to have had a great group of teachers as my friends during my difficult times. They were more like my sisters than coworkers. They were there for the deaths of my mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, and now stood beside me during my troubles with Matt. I have been truly blessed with God given friends who are never judgmental or condescending.

      The call came from a Federal Prison in Florida. Florida? Really? The closest prison in Florida was at least 350 miles from home. Could it be as far as Miami? After confirmation from Matt we were informed that he had been sent to the Federal Correctional Complex near Ocala, Florida….530 miles from home.

     The facility was actually Coleman Federal Correctional Institution II (FCI), a part of the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) which is composed of several facilities within the complex. Coleman is a sprawling complex of penitentiary units with five sections: two high-security institutions, a low and medium-security facility and a camp for female inmates.  All institutions are operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice. We would learn that the facility is the flagship facility of the BOP, housing 1170 inmates in just FCI Coleman II alone. It is the largest facility within the BOP with a total inmate population of almost 6600, in other words, a small city in itself.  And my son was about to become a member of the notorious list of inmates who have served time at what I perceived as a modern-day Alcatraz.

      Matt would be assigned to FCI Coleman II, but it was still a federal penitentiary. His dad tried to convince me that FCI Coleman I housed the worse criminals, but he was telling that to a mother.  Anything with a fence, guards, and locked doors means trouble to a mom. According to Matt the only difference in Coleman I and Coleman II was the fact that Coleman I had gangs and gang activity.  All I could think of was the possibilities of what could happen in prison. It would be several weeks before we could visit Matt, but we were well on our way to full indoctrination with just the first phone call.