Report from Lars

The above words mean: “You will find more in our "desert" than in books... The trees and the stones will teach you what no teacher can.” It was spoken by St. Bernard when he, during the 12th century, founded his monastry in Clairvaux. St. Bernard could not know that his monastry, one day would become a Central Penitentiary. Still, I believe he was right: there is more is this desert than in books... the stones and the trees teach us, what no teacher can.

Those who have been reading my reports over the past 5 years know, that on each x-mas travelling to Barry, I always have some car trouble. The worst happened in 1999, when I almost killed myself. The unthinkable happened this time. I stopped the car in front of the prison, got out, knocked on the front gate and gave my passport to the guard. A lady who was also turning in her passport, looked over my shoulder and started yelling "le voiture", "le voiture". I had no idea what she meant, but as the guard pulled her into the prison and I looked back, I saw my car come rolling down towards the prison gate. So, “le voiture” is french and it means “car”. Damn! The road is slightly going down there and, obviously, I had forgotten to use the handbrakes. The car has a will of its own and was going for the best, but it never crushed the prison gate. It was stopped by one of the stone pillars in front of the gate. Stone pillars make scratches, that´s for sure.

Once inside the prison, I told Barry the above story. He, like everybody who I have told this story, laughed his ass off and than said that actually I was lucky that the car didn´t hit the gate. Ramming a prison gate might be explained as an act to free prisoners and before you know it, you´ll be in here with me, he said and than laughed again. Barry was in good shape, even though he had caught a cold. The meetings with Earl & Donna had done him well, especially at this time of year. At x-mas time, prisoners are allowed to receive up to 5 kg of food from the outside. Earl & Donna, as each year, had brought Kentucky Fried Chicken. It has been 2.5 kg this time, the rest will come on new year, when Earl & Donna are in Clairvaux again. To not be of any burden, I always stay out of the official food supply and only do additional breakfasts and lunches.

Barry said last night was chicken night. He had put his KFC in a little frying pan on the hot plate, than sat on his bed, turned on the tv and every once in a while he took a piece of KFC. This annual ritual started around 18.30 and didn´t stop until 23.00 hours, when the lights turn out. Before he started, he had shared some of his KFC with Ali, the killer of Bahktir (former Iranian prime minister) and Ahmed. Ahmed is from Marocco and while being in Clairvaux, he got diabetes. Due to Clairvaux´s lack of medical attention, this illness was first recognized after Ahmed had turned blind within a month. He has lost all of his sight and has a real hard time surviving his imprisonment. There is a little group of guardian angels who help him stay up on his feet and make sure no one steels from him or screw him up any other way. Barry and Ali are among this little group.

I informed Barry of the items I had delivered for him at the entrance. There was another wintercoat. This one was given to me by my friend Irene. It was used by her father, but in good shape. After she heard about the importance of this item in the mostly unheated french prisons, she gave it to me for Barry might know of someone who could use it. Barry said, he knew someone and that someone had something he could trade it for. I also had brought a calendar (from work), four pairs of warm socks, two magazines and a book. The book is called: “Confessions of a Francophile” and was contributed to Barry by the author, mr. Aram J. Kevorkian. Mr. Kervorkian was born in Philadelphia and is practicing law in France since the late fifties. More than any other person he knows about French law and is able to compare it to other international standards of law. For 20 years, he writes Newsletters and now these periodic essays are bound together in this wonderful book. The book will be of big importance to Barry (as well as to me and others) as it explains a lot on the backgrounds of French justice, French culture, French ethics and the French mind, as well as on many other French related subjects. To be successful in a battle, you need to know who you are fighting. We had many questions and this book holds many answers.

We were not sure if the book would make it through. On earlier occasions, I have lost many of the stuff I brought to Barry, like the two magazines last October. The guards always find something to declare “illegal” and if not, they make something illegal. Therefore I always put a doubtfull item in the bag. This time it happen to be a bottle of shower gel. The guards could take that, as long as they left the rest. Shower gel, Barry said, and than shook his head, looked at me and laughed out loud again. He called me crazy. I told him, I could be anything worse than that, as long as the goodies make it through.

We spoke about economics and the financial markets again. After my last meeting, when I did a lot of explaination, Barry had chosen his own fictional set of stocks. He follows the developments through Earl & Donna´s international newspapers. If that all was real money he said, I would have striken rich with doing nothing. Barry has a lot of fun with following the financial markets, it makes reading the financial news more interesting for him. We had a good laugh on the way he picked his stocks. For some, it was simply by the name. He liked names like “New Skies Sattelites” and “Vendex”, so he picked those what the companies were about. He also liked “Six Continents” from the London Market, but was disappointed later when he found out that it was a hotel chain. The one that made me laugh was “Ashland”. Barry´s explaination: It caught my attention because it sounds more like a company that takes your dollars, burn them out and give you back the ashes. I told Barry he is a monkey-broker, referring to a story I had heard years ago. Ten top brokers picked a set of stocks. Than they let ten monkeys throw darts at a board with the names of stocks. This way the monkeys picked their stocks too. By the end of the year, the monkeys had made more profit than the experts.

Barry keeps all the financial information in his excel-sheet. It took him a long time to create, but he seems satisfied with the result. Further on, he is using the computer for word-processing as those who correspond with Barry might have noticed. The program he recently used a lot was Photoshop de Luxe. He created his own x-mas cards with that. As you all know by now, the x-mas cards didn´t make it out of Clairvaux on time. Barry was not able to obtain the stamps he had requested a long time ago. Clairvaux prison is always two steps behind with everything, he said.

The visiting room that afternoon was not as crowded as Earl & Donna had seen it the day before. There were only 10 prisoners having visitors. Barry pointed out a guy he called “Speedy Gonzales” because the man always works hard in the shoe shop, which makes him extremely exceptional. Speedy is eligible for an early release but they require that you have a family on the outside. He has not, so he found himself a lady (the visitor) through correspondence. Speedy G. had once explained to Barry that this lady was a good pick, because she already had 3 children which makes enough of a family. The lady has become a dedicated visitor, but Barry and I wondered if Speedy G. would have a remaining interest in her goodness if he once is out of prison. These guys care about nothing.

Barry´s work at the shoe shop has temporarily stopped. It is holiday-season, from 20th december till the 6th of january. No work means no money. Barry says for him it ain´t that much of a problem, he has little money but he is the saving kind, using it only to rent a tv and buy some additional food. The others have more trouble. 80% of them is constantly stoned, a habit they finance with the money they make. It is a weird circle these folks live in, to stay at work they ought to be stoned and to be stoned they ought to keep working. The only ones making a profit out of this are the local cannabis dealers. Barry says when you have work, you can even get a credit with the dealers. So actually most of the workers already spent the money before they even earned it. The dealers were happy when a while ago the working hours were cut back from 7 to 4 hours a day. That way the prison could employ more people and they got more customers. Than, they were not happy when recently “prison-tourism-season” started. All over France troublemaking prisoners were moved around from one prison to another. The Clairvaux dealers lost a lot of customers who had not yet paid their bill.

The next morning, monday 23rd december, only me and a lady appeared at the gate for the visit. I have seen this lady on many of my visits. Barry said she used to be a nun, but given the positions she and her friend move through during their meetings, I believe she gave up on being a nun and is now catching up on a lot of things she missed during her previous life. Barry and I first sat in a visiting booth next to them, but we moved to another in order give the lovebirds some space. Eventhough we were just with two visitors, the visit had started 20 minutes late. After the lady and I made it through the metal detector, a churchgroup entered the prison. A guy with a black suit and a huge cross around his neck walked in front, followed by 12 others. The group was at the prison to do a spiritual x-mas praying session with prisoners. Obviously, they had not been in a prison before as they all had a lot of trouble to make it through the metal detector. Lose the golden rings and chains, take off the crosses, belts, watches and kick of the shoes. It took a long time, before they understood so they ate our visiting time.

I don´t think we will see much of this group back in Clairvaux next year. Only two prisoners went their session. Barry said he was not surprised with this. As in the outside world, many people on the inside leave the church aside. This is contratry to the group of islamic prisoners, which in Clairvaux is a larger number anyway. Since 09-11 every crime admitted by muslims is linked to Al Queda or terrorism. As in the USA, French authorities continue to arrest muslims. Barry recently read an article on this. The article concluded that if the current arresting wave continues for the next 5 to 8 years, nearly 25% to 50% of the European muslims will be incarcerated. It´s shocking. Than, Barry says, authorities don´t understand that they only add to the problem this way. Prisons have become a place were dangerous fanatics are created. Muslim prisoners more and more believe that they are in prison not for crimes but for being a muslim. In other words, they are rejected for what they are, which leads to natural defense and that ends with fanaticism. Barry over the years has seen lots of examples of moderate believers who turned into blind fanatics. For example, years ago, this happened to the Basques. In Europe illegal weapon possesion is a crime and in France, when caught, you normally get off with one to two years. Barry met people from Basqueland who took up to twelve years for illegal weapon possesion as their crime was linked to Basque terrorism. In prison, these people than turned into fanatic Basque liberators. History is repeating today with muslims.

The day before, Barry and I sat next to a prisoner who was visited by his sister and son. Barry now told me that the man was shipped out at 05.00 that morning. The man was known as a troublemaker as he always questioned the system and the (lack of) care. His problem was that he did so in an aggressive manner. Now the prison expected something to happen, like a rally, and off he was. According to Barry, you never know what happens in here, one minute you spent a visit with your family and the next you spent time in isolation till after the new year. He surely lost his x-mas colly too with the shipment.

As quickly as they go, as quickly they come. In exchange, a weird bunch of people, mostly the violent kind, was recently brought to Clairvaux. One of them is different. The man´s name is Laurent Ivara and he was born and raised in La Reunion, a small island in the Indian Ocean which French conquerors have not yet given back to its original inhabitants. Ivara is one of the victims of the crazy law that sends those from oversea, who have a long term sentence, to the French mainland to do half of the time in a French prison. These people have a hard time in French prison, especially those from the African and Carribean Islands, not just for the cultural shock but also because they were taken away from family and friends who can no longer visit unless they travel half the globe around. Since French prisoners from the mainland are not shipped off (anymore) to Africa or the Carribean, I will not even try to reason this policy. Senseless. Anyway, Ivara was a famous music player and songwriter on his island, everyone knew him. Barry says in Clairvaux, he is stoned around the clock and moves slowly, unless when it comes to music. Ivara loves to play the guitar and writes his own songs. Through the music, Barry and Ivara became friends and now Ivara has become Barry´s guitar teacher. First thing he did was to tell Barry to quit playing other people´s music. Play your own music and your spirit is free forever. Barry and Ivara have built some beautiful songs together and Ivara was amazed at how quickly Barry picked up what he teached him. Barry says that´s because he likes it and when you like the things you do, it comes naturally.

I asked Barry if he has written his first song yet. Barry said: it ain´t easy. So I told him that´s a nice title and asked what the song is about. He said that´s not what I mean, I mean it ain´t easy. Yeah, great title I fooled him again. But than Barry told me his first song was called “Silicon Valley”. He picked it because his Ivara told to write on anything he likes, like for example his computer, because than it is easy to make a song. So Barry wrote “Silicon Valley”. It is a song about a guy who has no work. People tell him skill labour is everything, so the guy goes to college. Than he finds a job, but by that time computer literate is everything. The guy than quites his job and goes back to school again, buys his own computer and all that. But than, by the time he is ready for Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley has gone down, there is no more work to find and the guy ends up as he started, which is without work. I listened and was like wow, what a great story and you tell me it ain´t easy. Barry than said, his second song would be called “It ain´t easy”. That song will be about a guy from Holland who drives for 8.5 hours all the way down to France to meet his friend. We tried to put the chorus on paper and it was than that I had to acknowledge that indeed it ain´t easy. We didn´t come any further than: “Half asleep half awake, he only hits the gas, and never use the handbrake”. We concluded that if we ever perform this, rotten tomatoes thrown at our heads would be our share. Nevertheless, we will try to built this to a real song in the future.

That afternoon when Barry entered the visiting room, he turned around in front of me and told me: This is the new me! He was wearing the wintercoat I had brought the day before and told me no way that he was going to trade this beautiful coat. It was exactly as he likes it and less warm than the other one, so he could use it for the less cold days. Ah, and like the other one, it was new. New? I told him a 60 year old guy had walked in that coat for years. Barry said in jail, this is new and he was going to keep it. I told him it is snobbish to have two wintercoats. He said he knows, but he doesn´t give a shit. Another discussion ended with a good laugh. Barry received all the items I had brought, except for the shower gel. Smell the guards and the clean one is the one who took it. Barry was really happy that the book made it through, it will keep him busy for a long time and most certainly will add to his knowledge on France and the system. Barry said he liked the 2003-calendar too, especially the pictures with all the food. Ouch! The calendar was from work. I work with a Dutch company which holds supermarket chains and provides foodservice activities throughout the world. The pictures on the calendar were all shot in supermarkets. Barry said it was no problem, it is a good reminder of what the outside world has to offer and also, now before any visit he could write me like “july picture 3” and I, since I have the same calendar, could bring him the food from that picture.

All that food he said. In here we have one sort of apple juice, one coffee, one bread, one toilet paper and since it failed to get through, one shower gel. These products, you use the same for so many years. Barry said he recently heard the story of a guy from Bordeaux who came out of prison after 20 years and than went to a supermarket for the first time. The guy truly believed he had died and was sent to heaven. The pictures on the calendar will save me from a huge shock when I one day enter the real world, Barry concluded.

It is x-mas time at Clairvaux and that means Jesus has come out of his cell again. The guy is incarcerated for nearly 25 years now and ownes his name to his long hair and his habit of only leaving his cell from late november till the end of december. Than he disappears for the next eleven months. Jesus recently asked for an early release but the judge told him to forget it. Early release alright, if you consider 23 years early enough. Years ago, Jesus had decided to let his hair grow until his release. In prison that means that you have gone crazy. Nearly two years ago, Barry had decided to do the same. The difference between Barry and Jesus is that Barry is not crazy. He simply wanted to try something new. Also he had read an old prison saying which says that cutting your hair will prolong your stay in prison, so he let it grow just for the fun of it. Another difference between Jesus and Barry is that Barry´s hair grows into dreadlocks which means that it doesn´t grow that fast. Each time Barry and I meet, we come to speak about his hair and it took me more than a year of negotiating with him, but this time I finally left with his promise that after his release, I will be the one to cut his hair.

In the visiting room there is three things to do which is take a drink from the machine, sit down on a most uncomfortable small plastic chair and talk. Meeting Barry five times in three days, means that we got to talk for like 12.5 hours. What´s always amazing is how we go from one dicussion into another. We have always something to talk about and never sit back in silence. For example the discussion on his hair led us to a discussion on group-marketing in multi-cultural societies which automatically brought us to discuss the daily problem between different cultures in those societies.

Clairvaux prison is a multi-cultural society of its own. 300 prisoners are housed in little square meters and among them are Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Atheïsts, Arabs, French, Americans, Africans, Europeans, Asians. Name it and it lives in Clairvaux, it is a multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-everything warehouse. The problem is when groups in the outside world are in trouble with eachother, it reflects twice as hard on the Clairvaux community. In times like this, where world-leaders seek for war in order to gain popularity at home, the atmosphere at Clairvaux is often tensed. The prison management has a hard time to recognize this problem, thus they only add to it. As in the outside world, prisoners at Clairvaux find hope, pleasure and peace in celebrating there feast-days. Recently for example, during the latest Ramadan, the assistant director of the prison ended a situation where the muslim prisoners share their food with everyone. After heavy protests of all prisoners (not just the muslims), the feast could go on but by that time the joy was gone. Now it was x-mas time. With a little effort, the prison could have used these days to bring some joy to everyone, not just the christians. Instead they have (again) decided to keep it at a low level. Barry said the only reason for you know it´s x-mas in here, is because of the x-mas collies. But those are only delivered to the few who have visitors (20% of the prisoners). Further on there is nothing, except for a little tree hidden in a corner. I reminded Barry about last year when I proudly showed him a picture of my x-mas tree. He than called it the poorest tree he had ever seen. He now said that compaired to the tree they have at Clairvaux, mine looks like Las Vegas.

Everyone who read my october report probably remembers the DNA-law. The law forces all new prisoners to give their DNA, those who refuse will be fined with 7,000 euro and an additional 6 months prison time. Miraculously, contrary to the text of the law, it also applies to the current prison population. Many have been called to do the test, most did while others refused. Their motto was that the new law was only to convict prisoners, not to clear them out. A month ago Barry had not made up his mind what to do in case he would be called to do the test. He has not been called yet, but he has made up his mind. His conclusion is: I have nothing to hide, so if they want me to piss, I´ll piss.

Clairvaux is such a sad place. The next morning, tuesday 24th december, on the edge of x-mas, only two visitors showed up, me and the cannabis dealer´s wife. While waiting to go into the prison, I witnessed two scenes I had not witnessed before. At 09.00 the prison gate opened and a man with a bag in his hand came out. It was the man who runs the prison library. According to Barry, he is in prison since prehistoric times and is now on his second three days probational release. Last time he went out, prisoners discussed if he would ever return. He did. Some could not believe it, because no one knocks on a prison door to get in again. It is not done. Anyway, he now walked out and looked around and around and around. There was no one to pick him up and he seemed lost. After a while, he walked away all by himself.

Meanwhile the prison gate opened again, this time an older man with a heavy bag and a box walked out. In his hand he carried his release papers. He was set free after being in prison for 12 years. It´s amazing, 12 years and all he has fits in a bag and a box. His wife came up running to him like she had not seen him for 12 years. There was yelling, screaming and joyfull tears. I watched the scene and saw how they quickly put the bag and the box in the car and than drove away. For the moment I wished I was that woman and I wished that man to be Barry. Just get in the car and drive away from this dreadful place to never ever return again. But that was just wishing, reality had it that 5 minutes later I went through the procedures again and met Barry in the visiting room.

When we sat down and spoke about the two releases, we automatically came to speak on Barry´s situation. First, in my october report I mentioned the worst scenario at this moment would be a release on the 10th October 2009. This was not correct, it should have been the 9th July 2009. I noticed this when I recently went through my previous reports. Shortly before x-mas, Barry should have gotten a new letter with a new release date, which must be another 3 months earlier (for good behaviour). Obviously, they are late this year or they not really care to let you know, he said. We made some calculations with the dates. For each year we took off three months for good behaviour. There is also the opportunity for two extra months off, for each year that Barry successfully completes a study. He is now busy ending an accounting course which applies for two extra months off in 2003. Afterwards, he planns to start another study, most likely Programming in Pascal or Basics, or any other thing that is slightly usefull and applies for the extra months off. For the record: These studies are correspondence courses and are fully paid by Barry himself and his supporters! (just in case anyone comes to the idea that this system is offering great opportunities).

Our calculation led to a final date of 9th january 2008 without studying and 9th august 2007 with full studying. The exact date will be somewhere in between. Still Barry is very reserved on these dates. You can´t trust freedom nor justice when it´s not in your hands! Anything can happen. He has witnessed it so often, people moving slowly towards the end of their sentence and then within a day, everything is completely different. He is in a place that is filled with nutcases. Any dumb action by any other person might reflect on his situation. He said, if for example one day someone comes to you with the story that the trousers you are wearing belong to him, well than before you know it, you can get caught in a fight and all is different from there. A few years extra will be added to the sentence. In this place 2008 or 2009 is far away and it takes a whole lotta concentration and energy to stay calm and patient with the nutcases.

Barry has set his hope (not his trust!) on another much more important date, which is 26th May 2003. As you know, on that day he will pass half time of his initial sentence of 18 years. From that day, he can and will request for an early release with immidiate deportation. The help of some people and institutes will become important. For example, the American Consul in Paris. Barry is supposed to be visited each year but recently received a letter from the American Consul who asked to skip this year's visit, due to pressure of work, unless Barry has a problem. Barry has no problem, so he agreed on the condition of a visit for sure in 2003, at the end of May. For all those years, Barry has not asked for their help, except for once when he really had to make it out of the Fresnes prison. Any other problem, Barry always said, he could handle himself or with the help of his friends. All this in order to not bother the Consul with minor stuff, as he needs his time when the going gets tough in May 2003.

The procedure for an early release is that you first go through a Prison committee. Your behaviour during the time in prison is important. For that matter, Barry´s is as clean as a virgin. Except for that one time, when he fought for his right to get his (english) books, he has never been or caused any trouble, not with the authorities and not with other prisoners. Obviously prison authorities have noticed this too. Recently after a visit, a guard came up to Earl & Donna and started talking about Barry. The guard said: “He is calm, prison is a very strange milieu, we're all in it together, prisoners and guards. It's easier to deal with the ones like him. You don't have that constant apprehension...”.

Barry said, since he is aware of the procedure, his kindness towards the authorities has improved. He avoids any trouble. And ever since I know, I do too. On earlier visits I sometimes had some trouble at the entrance, but during the past year I have become the perfect boyscout. It is bonjour at the entrance, bonsoir when leaving and merci and a kind smile for each gate or door they open for me. It takes seven gates and doors to reach the visiting area and the same again to get out.

Anyway, after passing the prison committee, the request goes to the JAP (Juge Application de Peine). They require lots of paperwork. You need to proof that you have a job, you need to proof that you have an appartment, you need to proof that you have family who take care of you, you need to proof and proof and proof… all to be sure that you are safe after you get out. Barry was very cynical on this. All these years, they don´t give a shit about your well-being and by the time you wanna leave all this behind, all of a sudden, they start caring. It leads to strange situations. Recently a guy from Algeria went through this procedure. He had all in order and wanted to return to his family in Algeria. His request was denied, Algeria was not a safe country. So, for his own protection, he is still spending time in French prison. Than another guy from Algeria asked for an early release. He had all in order too but wanted to stay in France for he had more opportunities there. He got his early release, but only with a one way ticket to Algeria.

We will not have problems with finding Barry a good job and a decent residence for after his release. Barry´s and our contacts in the USA are good enough to get that done. The difficult part is regret. They want to hear you say sorry for the crimes you have committed. Any sorry may be explained as a confession. Barry, being innocent, has always told me that he couldn't confess for the simple reason that he didn't do what they say he did. Any confession on paper now, regardless if its only meaning is to bring him home, would mean that it is for always officially written (and signed by himself) that he has been a liar for the past 10 years. Barry is a man of honour and dignity. It is this what makes him such a wonderful person and what helps him to survive his struggle today, but it might also be this what will work against him in trying to gain (early) freedom.

In fact, as we know now, it was this too what brought him to prison for such a long time. Over the years many have asked me: 18 years? Are you sure he is innocent? It is the regular but logical and understandable “when-there-is-smoke-there-must-be-fire-theory”. But you know, sometimes when there is smoke, there is just smoke. The answer for Barry´s extraordinary longterm conviction is written in mr. Kevorkian´s book: "The core of the French system is based on the confession, and this is an eminently Catholic notion... The most troublesome criminal cases for French courts are those where the accused does not confess, for no matter how conclusive the evidence of guilt, it bothers the Catholic conscience that the accused maintains his innocence."

Earl & Donna Evleth have witnessed Barry´s trial. They have always said they never saw such a bizarre event. The trial started with psychological profiles of the defendants, which for example according to American standards is abnormal. Mr. Kevorkian enlightened this too: "French courts judge the criminal while American courts judge the crime. A French juge d'instruction (who conducts the judicial investigation of the case) will spend an inordinate amount of time and effort, even when the accused has confessed, to get a psychological profile of the accused, to try to understand the factors which led to his committing the crime and to estimate the likelihood of his redemption."

Now, place all this back in time to the years of Barry´s arrest (1994) and his conviction (early 1996). France had just declared its “war on drugs”. New laws had passed and placed international drug trafficking on the same level as terrorism. Economy was down, unemployment rates high and therewith right-wing politicians upcoming, as well as heigthened xenophobia and backlash against minorities and foreigners in common. According to Amnesty International reportings, the latter had reached an extreme level among French police. Barry was sentenced in a “Cour d´Assises Speciale”, where there was no right for an appeal. A court that had a 99% conviction rate on foreigners (according to the French newspapers Liberation and Le Monde). Where today, every arrested muslim automatically is a presumed guilty member of Al-Queda, back in those days, every arrested foreigner automatically was a presumed guilty drug trafficker.

Unlike the other defendants in his case, no drugs was ever found on Barry. Unlike the other defendants, no criminal connection to any of these people was proven. Unlike the other defendants, he never confessed. The only evidence that was against Barry was a statement of one of the other defendants but this person withdrew his statement during the trial, saying that he was forced by the police to sign it and that for signing he was promised lighther sentence. Still, Barry never stood a fair a chance in that court. He was tried not on facts, but on his attitude (which was found non-cooperative, offensive, harsh and regretless) and on his descent. Let´s not forget the procecutor´s statement during the trial: "...Because Barry is of African descent, nothing less than an extremely long sentence is called for, because Africans are not bothered by prison, where conditions are better than what they are accustomed to in their normal lives...". Barry in that courtroom was like a piece of bloody meat thrown into a pool with hungry sharks. The sharks only had to bite and they did and thus burried him alive for 18 years. Damn! I can understand this whole catholic base of confession thing. I can understand the excistence of racism, as it excists everywhere. But never could I except these two evil forces being the beating heart of a justice system. It is so wrong. But than, now that we know how this system functions, I am sure there must be ways to express this so deeply wanted sorry without acknowledging guilt. It´s a lawyer´s job, so we better leave it the lawyers. For that matter, Barry will have a much better support now than he had in those days, when his lawyer had that little interest, that he attended 2 hours late in court. Half the trial, the man was not present.

There is one thing that Barry, unlike others, doesn´t have to worry about. The payment of the customs fine. In short: International drug trafficking involves import. Import means that one has to pay import taxes, regardless if what is imported is illegal. French law requires that international drug traffickers are sentenced to pay a percentage of the imported value before they will be released. What value is not clear, because there is no official price. As shown from other cases, the judges count with “street value”. How that is transferred to a legal price, I don´t know. In Barry´s case, none of the four defendants was sentenced to pay this customs fine. No one understood until one and a half year after the conviction, when Barry accidently for the first time got to see a part of his file. It appeared that the case was linked to another case, where five international drug traffickers were convicted. Barry, nor any of the defendants is his case, had ever heard or known any of these people. We assume French authorities, in order to score big in their war on drugs, made it policy to link cases together and thus pretend to have busted large drug rings. The other case was tried before Barry´s, and those five defendants were sentenced to pay the customs fine for the whole network, therefore Barry and his co-defendants could not be fined again. It is a plain judicial stupidity, but since these huge amounts of money keep people in jail for many more years, we are grateful that at least for once, judicial stupidity is not against Barry.

Being well informed on the ins and outs on this case, still learning more and more on its backgrounds and being on the road up and down to France for nearly 5 years now and having spent so many hours with Barry, I have trouble to express in words the anger and outrage I feel. Much less I could never imagine how Barry himself must have felt when the sharks bit. Yet, while speaking with Barry, he himself pulls up his shoulders and is very rational, almost too rational, about it. What happened in 1994 – 1996 is not on his mind today. It is history and it can´t be changed. Barry says he cannot allow himself to live in anger on a daily base. It would do no good, only harm. He needs a clear mind and all his energy and concentration to survive today and to go forward tomorrow. His only purpose is to make it out of there as soon as possible and as much alive as possible. Therefore, at least for now, he put history where it belongs and that is behind him.

During the afternoon visit, the last of our five meetings, I had one question left which is if his request for being transferred to the prison of Caen could, in any way, harm a future request for an early release. As I said, in Clairvaux he benefits from having a good reputation with the prison staff, while in Caen he will have no reputation other than being convicted for 18 years (which is extraordinary long for Caen-standards). Barry assured me it will not harm his request, instead it will only add to have it judged more seriously. Clairvaux prison has a bad, if not the worst, reputation in the French legal system. Any request for early release from there, is not considered serious by the JAP. Barry believes from Caen, he would stand a better chance. His file which proofs his outstanding behaviour will travel with him to Caen.

Caen, Barry said he can´t wait to be shipped out to that place, even though he knows he will have to go through Fresnes prison for 6 - 12 weeks first. Fresnes prison, it is amazing how this hell on earth always comes back in the life of a prisoner in France. Each transfer goes through that place. A month ago Earl & Donna received a desperate message from an American woman whose nephew had been arrested in France on a drug charge (ecstasy) and is in prison at Fresnes. The woman was in urge of information on her nephew. The American Aid Society had told her that at Fresnes prison prisoners have a normal diet and that it is similar to American summer camps.

Now I don´t know much about American summer camps, but I do know about Fresnes Prison, where there is no hot water and no heat, so one is forced to even sleep with a winter coat and gloves on. Well, if in summer camp, kids are locked up in their room for 23 hours a day, only allowed to spent one hour outside in a little courtyard, where walls are so high that you never catch the sunlight; And if in summer camp, you are only allowed to shower once a week; And if in summer camp, bed sheets are only cleaned once every two months; And if in summer camp, family is only allowed to visit once a week for 45 minutes, in a room that is underground, has no lights and has the size of a phone booth; And if summer camp has it, that the toilet is placed under the tv, so one has to shit while facing his roommates who watch tv; And if in summer camp, obstinate kids are beaten up at night or being drugged down, sometimes that much and long that within a month they turn totally crazy and gain twice as much weight; And if in summer camp, meals are just too much to die on, but too little to live on, and sometimes served in a bucket so the strongest gets it all and the others get nothing; And if in summer camp, suicide rates reach ten times above the outside rates because circumstances are too unbearable; And if in summer camp, after his suicide attempt failed, you´ll have to watch your bleeding and all messed up roommate being thrown back into the room, without getting any medical care; And if… and if… and if… I could go on like this for a long time. Oh yes, if all the above applies to summer camp, than indeed Fresnes Prison is like summer camp. If not, The American Aid Society may need to update its records for they tell you heaven where hell is ruling.

Barry says the kid will experience a time, he could not have imagined to be excisted in his worst nightmares. Barry himself is ready to go through Fresnes again. He has been there for more than a year and has learned to survive it. More over, he knows that going there will be the beginning of the end of his tragical trip through the land of Injustice. The only problem, he said, is that you can´t take anything. For those 6 – 12 weeks, he will have to say goodbye to his guitar, his computer, his books and all his other stuff. All you are allowed to take there, is the clothes you are wearing. The rest will be stored somewhere, hopefully without the regular damage that comes with the process.

That afternoon, during the visit something new happened. The prison had bought a polaroid camera which could be used by prisoners to make pictures, for 2 euro per picture. Barry had not put his name on the list to have pictures. I was kinda disappointed, but that feeling quickly left when he explained. Taking pictures during the visits is a right in every French prison, except of course Clairvaux. Without ever asking for this right in a normal manner, some of the prisoners started a movement to obtain this right. Prisoners refused to return to their cells and threatened to become ugly if they would not have the right to take pictures. One of these guys came to Barry, told him that he has visitors too and therefore he should take part in the movement. Barry, wisely enough, refused to take part in such action. It is not his style and it may harm his reputation. More over, he told the guy what he mostly tells them in such situations: I am not interested in small problems like pictures, I have bigger problems with the French State.

Not many did benefit from their new right as these troublemakers were shipped out of Clairvaux, before the polaroid camera was shipped in. Using the camera now may result in Barry being associated with the movement. The price to pay than is worth no picture, for sure. This is what I meant this morning, he said, I gotta stay calm and patient with the nutcases, in order to not get pulled down with them.

So, while everyone is fighthing for things that are not worth fighting for, Barry remains to do what he does. Enjoy to play his guitar, work on his computer, reading his books, corresponding with you all out there and trying to educate himself. Recently, for example, he had ordered himself a cheap CDrom which explains all about the Dutch watermanagement. Barry found it interesting to learn how the land was taken from the sea. Being from Holland, I did some additional explaining. The best part was when I told him that actually, I live 6 meters below sea level. He immidiately asked me to move to a higher place. I explained why there is nothing to worry about. He took the explaination but said that one day he has to see it all by himself to believe it. He will, one day.

It led us into a discussion on him and me and friendship. We were just passing our fifth x-mas eve together. Is it 5 years already, he said. I told him yes it is. Yeah, I remember now, he said with a smile, you were much younger than. I replied to Barry that, unlike himself, I grew old during all the hours we spent. On a more serious level, we concluded that, after five years of spending hours and hours together, we have learned that you may not trust freedom or justice when it´s not in your hands, but you can always trust on friendship. Within the bizarre setting of first Fresnes and than Clairvaux, we were able to built something that reaches far beyond those stone walls. This is something we could not have never learned from a book. Therefore I believe St. Bernard was right: “There is more in this desert... The trees and the stones will teach you what no teacher can”.