11. Can You Hear Me Now?

".......just so you know I am not in the habit of waiting by the phone for some man to call"

That was how I ended a letter to an inmate I had never met who was in a Florida jail. I had seen this inmate on Court TV two months prior and had developed a relationship with him. Cautiously, I had sent him my telephone number and hoped that he would call. On November 29, 2006, I received that call.
"This is a collect call from a Florida correctional facility. To accept this call press 1"

Most people would not like getting a call like that. But the first time I heard that recording, my heart skipped a beat. Todd had tried to call several times before. But my phone had been disconnected. I paid the bill with my next paycheck and he tried to call again, but I was at work. Because he had been a witness for the prosecution, he was still in isolation and only allowed out of his cell 45 minutes a day. During that 45 minute time period, he had to get his daily shave, shower, exercise and make a phone call to me. We never knew exactly when he would be allowed out of cell and it was impossible to predict when he'd be able to call. I began a phone watch of sorts. I spent every available minute of every day staring at the phone. Finally, one Wednesday afternoon, it rang. This was the most beautiful phone call I've ever had.

The prison phones have a security device on them to prevent 3-way calling. If there is a audible pause in the conversation, the system will automatically terminate the call. It happened a few times during our first few phones calls. In order to prevent being disconnected, we quickly learned to keep the conversation flowing but my southern drawl meeting the rapidness of his northern New York accent made it a little difficult for us to understand each other. It was hilarious. We were like two giddy teenagers.

(excerpts from the original letter 11/29/2006)

Dear Todd,

You know I had to write after finally getting able to talk to you today. I'm still laughing. The two of us firing at each other at the speed of light! I was afraid we'd get disconnected again if one of us shut up. We've had enough disappointments. What a high that was!
We were only allowed to speak for 15 minutes at a time. And each call would cost about $20 so we limited our telephone calls to once a week. He would call every Sunday. I would stay home all day and stare at the phone until he called. I worked on commission but I was also paid $5.50 an hour salary. I decided to go into work an hour early everyday to earn the money to pay for the phone calls. This routine worked out beautifully.

Todd told me about what happened when Serrano came up behind him during the interview.he had with the New York news reporter the week before.

(excerpts from the original letter 12/03/06)

The interview with the television show went quite well - but started off crazy. You'll never believe what happened. As I first sat down and started talking I noticed another inmate coming towards me from my right side. He got almost behind me when I turned and looked. I was looking Nelson Serrano dead in the eyes! Talk about major screw-up by the guards. Serrano was more shocked than I was. The reporter was like "Holy Crap!". The guard that's walking behind Serrano, that I know very well, grabs Serrano and starts to walk him out of the room. Serrano looks back at me and says, "You're a dead man!". I stand up and tell the guard that he'd better hurry up and get Serrano out of the room. Serrano turns one last time and shouts, "You're dead!". Un- real.

This letter also included a list of the documents that had been destroyed and who to call or how to go about getting copies of everything. Some things could never be replaced. I keep this particular letter in a separate file. I have "to do list" written on the out side.

Please call my old attorney and tell her I'm sorry but I need another copy of my complete case file. Get the phone number for Richard Weiss - Clerk of Court - Bartow Courthouse. Get in touch with somebody at the felony records department. Tell them you need a copy of Probation Officer Michael Huntley's affidavit that he filed against me on Nov. 8th or 9th, 2004. I must have that affidavit. When you get it, send me 7 copies. I spent 90 days in jail on this false charge and wasn't released until February 10, 2005. I lost a very good job and was kicked out of my alcohol and drug treatment program, called Bay Care. My girlfriend would not let me come back to her house. This arrest is what caused me to become homeless. When I got out on the 10th, I rented a room for a few weeks in downtown Lakeland that was crime and drug infested. I was lost. I lasted a month and was arrested on the crazy car chase thing. Wait until you hear the whole story. Anyway, when you get her on the phone, tell the clerk you need the phone number and the address for the court reporter's office. When you get the court reporter, tell her you need a copy of the transcripts for the following court proceedings: February 10, 2005 and September 28, 2004. Keep one copy each, mail me 7 copies. Call Polk County Jail - CMS Medical, I need a copy of my book-in medical report for August 24, 2004. All this stuff was in that box Lighthouse Ministries threw away.

I did as Todd had asked. Started making phone calls. I became a regular at the Office Depot's copy machine. As I gathered documents, I made 7 copies of each and began mailing them all back to Todd. The jail only allowed 5 printed pages in at a time so these tasks would take weeks to accomplish. I had no idea what this was all about. When I found out, I would be horrified.