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First Day Out of Prison
C. Clegg
After seven years in captivity, musician John Forte walked free last month when George W. Bush commuted his 14-year sentence. In a Daily Beast exclusive, Forte writes about greeting his mom, playing music with his old friends, and the new taste of freedom.
PLUS: Listen to an exclusive new song by Forte.
Morning One, December 22, 2008
The dorm was dark and quiet except for the intermittent buzzing of a faint snore or more. I lay there in my bunk; half awake, I tried to settle my thoughts regarding the unknown. I drifted off.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Startled from my semi-sleep, I opened my eyes to see Tee, my friend and big brother of sorts, sitting in the chair next to my bed. He asked me if I knew what time it was. I recalled the sounds of keys and footsteps a little while before that and assumed it was the last count of the early morning.
Exclusive: John Forte's New Video, Life Has Just Begun
“It’s 5 a.m.,” I said.
“Nope. It’s 5:30,” he corrected me.
“What’s the difference?” I muttered, knowing that I couldn’t leave the premises for at least another two hours.
“My alarm is set for 6:30,” I told him.
“I don’t care about that,” he said. “You have to get up now.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve been counted for the last time. And you have what the rest of us want—the chance to get outta here. So you can’t just lie there, waiting for your alarm to go off. It’s disrespectful. Get up and get ready to go.”
Tee was right, dead right.
In 2001, I was convicted of “possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.” Shortly thereafter, I was sentenced to 168 months (14 years) in a federal prison. Following a string of unsuccessful appeals, my sentence was finally commuted by President George W. Bush. On December 22, 2008, after serving seven years and four months, I was released from captivity and walked free from the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix, New Jersey. A part of my spirit has relived the morning of my release—Morning One—ever since.
Tee walked away and I got out of bed. I showered and washed my hair…
Each dorm had a bathroom with eight showers—vinyl-curtained, stainless-steel stalls. Washing and conditioning the hair that had grown below my waist added an extra 30 minutes to an already lengthy process, but I had become dependent on those hour-long showers. There was a therapy in the solitude, solutions to problems in the water, the only private time that truly existed in that place. Well, that and sleep.
My property locker was bare, nothing more than a toothbrush, deodorant, and lip balm. I dressed into a pair of shorts I wore primarily for exercising and an equally threadbare sweatshirt. Finally, I slipped on a pair of blue “bus shoes”—the types of soleless and flimsy shoes that were issued to new inmates on the first day of their arrival, a signpost to everyone watching (and everyone was always watching) that new blood, for better or worse, was in the building.
I stripped my mattress of its none-too-soft linen, so that whoever came after me would have the courtesy of a fresh start. I deposited the sheets, pillowcase, and blankets into the laundry room and returned to my bunk’s side. With no additional tasks, I sat down and stared into my open, empty locker. My heart pounded with equal parts excitement and fear.
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How I Fell in Love in Prison
John Forté is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and producer from Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, he is a classically trained violinist who is known for his work with The Fugees. Forté was granted a commutation by President George W. Bush in 2008 after having served more than seven years of a 14-year federal prison sentence for a drug offense.
How I Went From Prep School to Prison
John Forté is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and producer from Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, he is a classically trained violinist who is known for his work with The Fugees. Forté was granted a commutation by President George W. Bush in 2008 after having served more than seven years of a 14-year federal prison sentence for a drug offense.
loydrock
What a waste!
He should have never gone to jail.
angryman
god bless. be well. and live large.
codydamon
We all missed you John. Much love.
Mansfieldf
"Controlled substance?" All controlled substances are not the same, and the reader has a right to know which, among the many "controlled substances," out there, you were convicted of distributing. Pot? Smack? Crank?
Weaver
Wow. God Bless and Godspeed, John.
George Bush found mercy in his soul...You stand as a testament I find difficult to believe.
photoshock
This country has a skewed sense of reality. On one hand, those convicted of manslaughter, may get as little as 2 years and the people who commit non-violent drug offenses can get up to life inprison for a first offense.
A relative of mine was "ratted out" by the person for whom he dealing, the person walked away scot free, and my relative is serving 36 months in a federal prison. Is this justice? I think not.
We are fighting a losing war on the importation of drugs! Even as renowned a person as William F. Buckley Jr. thought that the sentences handed out for marijuana were absolutely abhorrent. Why then does the cycle continue? Why do the American people continue to support a failed policy that only brings misery to those who have been convicted of truly minor offenses?
May it be, because of the Puritanical and mixed up priorities that have taken over this country since the Far Right Wing Nut
Revolution? We must turn back the clock on many of the laws that have come into being since the Far Right Wing Nuts came into power.
Give peace a chance and allow men and women to go free, who have committed nothing more than a non-violent drug offense. Peace out!
vboone
In 2000, Forté was arrested at Newark International Airport after accepting a briefcase containing $1.4 million worth of liquid cocaine; he was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute.[2] He was convicted and sentenced to the mandatory minimum 14 years after being found guilty, and incarcerated at FCI Loretto, a low-security federal prison in central Pennsylvania.[1]
Carly Simon and her son Ben Taylor have been advocates on Forte's behalf, believing he did not receive a fair trial, fought for an appeal of the mandatory minimum drug laws that remove a judge's discretion in a case; they met Forté through Taylor's cousin who was a classmate of Forté's at Phillips Exeter.[3]
With the help of Senator Orrin Hatch, Forté's prison sentence was commuted by President George W. Bush on November 24, 2008. He was released from prison four weeks later December 22. wikipedia
sherrycnm
The "war on drugs" has to be the most idiotic thing we've ever done! Just think if we had legalized pot-oh the tax reveues we'd had realized. What sales aren't declining in our economy-alcohol. Pregnant women, please don't disclose any "pot" use to us. We'll treat you like criminals and we have very little evidence to do so. Alcohol, on the other hand, we have volumes of evidence but we'll merely tell you to quit-if we even ask! Enjoy your freedom sir and thank God for at least one of W's actions.
milkbone
Who's John Forte?
fungkeblakchik
be blessed, john!
ardeth
Our drug laws are so absurd. While millions of Americans ingest often very dangerous prescribed drugs daily and drink alcohol with relative impunity, those who use pot or cocaine or some other "controlled substance" often end up like this unfortunate man, whose musical talents were put on hold for seven long years. As someone else has remarked, what a waste!
jeffzekas
Come on, folks, the dude was a doper: "If you do the crime, you do the time." Waa waa, poor me, prison sucks... So, hey, John, stop with the dope, stop hanging out with druggies and ex-cons and gangbangers, and be an honest person. It's easy being a punk; it's hard living a good, drug free life. So it has always been. Drugs destroy whole communities, whole lives, whole families. You doubt it? See the film "American Gangster", then get back to me.
EGL-LA
The new music is fantastic-the good news is that John has continued to evolve musically, mentally and spiritually while in the glutches of a flawed system. the human creative spirit cannot be imprisoned!
jeffzekas
PS there is no such thing as a "non-violent drug offense" since drugs kill, dealers kill, gangbangers kill. Drugs = violence death.
DrFlash
wow the video was incredible i def appreciated the way they captured his return home, nice work.
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