Tag: oakdale chronicles

Chapter 1: “I Surrender!”

On By Tony CassonIn Prison 101Leave a comment

By Tony Casson

April Fools Day 2010—irony?

To begin a day so pleasantly and take a pretty drive through the Louisiana countryside with the intention of voluntarily allowing myself to be incarcerated was difficult – unfortunately, no one popped up and said, “April Fools!”

When my brother drove me to Oakdale, I just wanted to smoke my last few cigarettes and talk on the phone. But wouldn’t you know it—with all of Verizon’s much-touted 3G coverage, there was none in Oakdale!

We pulled into the visitor’s lot at the prison and I smoked another cigarette – you’d think I was a condemned man or something, but I guess I had finally gotten a tad nervous.

Jim, my brother, insisted on going in with me, and we sat in the lobby for the final few moments of freedom. We hugged, and he walked out to make the long drive back to Dallas, Texas, where he lives.

Someone asked if I was going to throw out my clothes, and I realized they were keeping NOTHING of mine, except my glasses. I ran back out to grab Jim so he could take my clothes after they stripped me.

The visitor’s lot was about 300 yards away from the office, and I was afraid Jim was going to pull away, so I ran towards him. I’m probably the only person to run away from a federal prison with no people chasing! HA HA HA! YES!

I got him, though, and I handed him my wallet and ID, so at least I would have an identity when I got out—they were actually just going to toss the thing!

We said goodbye, and they led me into the back—to “R & D”, or Receiving and Discharge.

Unlike the movies, there was no cavity search, head shaving or spray-downs with the fire hose. Oh, and no de-lice powder! Nope – just a simple change of clothes.

I’m grateful to my brother. That had to be hard for him.

A few hours, a few questionnaires, a mug shot or two and some fingerprinting later, I was off to the “S.H.U.”

Foreword: “The Oakdale Chronicles” by Tony Casson

On By Tony CassonIn Foreword3 Comments

June 11, 2015

An article under the title “Foreword” was originally posted on April 21, 2010. My dear friend Diane Woodall replaced the original with this version on March 26, 2013. The original seemed rather ‘flip’ and amusing, and I realized there was nothing remotely ‘flip’ or amusing about what had led up to the creation of “The Oakdale Chronicles” (“TOC”), and I felt this revised version was a better reflection of the seriousness with which I viewed this work and the events that led to its being brought into existence in the first place.

March 26, 2013.

To My Readers:

The writings contained herein are the result of many hours of reflection, self-examination, and prayer. In the end, the complete ‘Oakdale Chronicles’ may only really mean something to me, but it means an awful lot to me. These ‘Chronicles’ have helped me to grow, to feel and express pain and remorse, and to help me declare my faith in God and to grow in that faith. God, in turn, has helped me to open my heart, my eyes, and my mind to the things I have done wrong with my life, and what I can do right with what remains of it.

I feel that I must dedicate this work to the three FBI agents who heard God whisper to them that day in August 2009 when they came to arrest me for possession of child pornography. Faced with the reality of what I had allowed my life to become, and filled with self-loathing, contempt, and anger for myself, I viciously struck at the veins on the sides of my neck with razor blades, opening them up in an attempt to solve a problem that my self-hatred had convinced me could only be solved by bringing about my death.

As I lay on the floor of the shower stall in a cheap motel in south Florida, certain that death was imminent, I did something I had not done in 40 years: I reached out to God. I asked for His forgiveness, and almost immediately the FBI agents listened to the frightened pleas of a toothless older black man who lived and worked at the motel with me. They went against all FBI procedure and protocol and breached the locked door to my room.

I apologize to them for the bloody scene that awaited them.

I have to believe they were affected by what they saw. After all, they are human beings simply doing a job. I am grateful to them and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

And I thank God.

Tony Casson