what is the primary aspect you do while you stroll loose from jail after 25 years? Google your name on an iPhone.
This have been all Michael Santos had dreamt of after being sentenced to jail in 1987 for huge scale cocaine distribution.
while Santos started out his jail sentence, generation turned into nevertheless a luxurious for the rich.
The Motorola “brick telephone” become becoming extra popular amongst visiting business types, however still got here with a hefty $4000 charge tag. meanwhile, computer computer systems were a ways from compact and retailed for approximately $7000.
however as the years passed, technology emerge as cheaper and greater without difficulty to be had.
even as the ones on the outside global had been experiencing the wave of recent technology first-hand, Santos was left to handiest capable of dream about such experiences based totally on what he had read in technology magazines.
He was the primary to confess he deserved the punishment passed out for his serious crimes, however it didn’t make lacking the age of the internet any less difficult.
“I perceived the internet as a powerful device,” he told The Kernel.
“The interactivity and capacity to have interaction human beings on an countless scale speedy convinced me that this era could remodel the arena and that i desired to be a part of that evolution.”
in the long run, it’d be 25 lengthy years of confinement before Santos would take delivery of get admission to to all the generation the arena needed to offer.
And it didn’t take Santos lengthy to get his fingers on some new age tech along with his first enjoy approaching the automobile trip domestic from prison.
“on the day that my wife, Carole, drove me far from prison, she handed me an Apple iPhone,” he said.
With the destiny grasped tightly in his palms, Santos turned into equipped to leave the past at the back of and become equipped for a 2nd hazard in this crazy new international.
THE CRIME
It became 1981 and a 17-yr-antique boy from Seattle had received stolen stereo system from one in all his high faculty colleagues as fee for a gambling debt.
12 months later, Santos determined himself inside a police station giving a police officer a declaration approximately how he came into possession of that stereo system.
It grew to become out the boy that gave Santos the stereo were picked up with the aid of the police and grassed to be able to receive a lighter sentence.
“because I prevalent that stereo equipment, i used to be given a few months of probation and that i paid $900 for the stolen assets that I received,” he wrote on November.org.
For the subsequent three years, Santos kept his nostril easy and labored for his own family operated toll road construction firm, but late in 1985 the allure of crime got here knocking another time.
His friend Alex had approached him with an possibility to participate in a moneymaking cocaine transaction.
As Santos had access to massive sums of cash due to his position within the family company, he turned into able to finance a massive cocaine purchase with out the knowledge of his parents.
“We bought 3 kilograms of cocaine for the purposes of reselling them to comprehend a profit,” he stated.
“The transaction lasted about 12 hours and after replacing the cash I had inappropriately taken from my own family’s company, Alex and that i cut up a profit of $forty,000.”
by means of using the earnings as capital for his or her task, Santos and Alex endured to construct their empire.
In 1986, Santos had relocated from Seattle to South Florida, business changed into booming and he had established connections for a cheaper wholesale price of cocaine.
“i used to be shopping for cocaine from a supply I met in Miami, and the usage of some other buddy whom I knew from high school to transport that cocaine to Seattle in order that Alex may want to oversee its neighborhood distribution,” he said.
matters have been going great till his accomplice was arrested following a DEA investigation late 1986.
“when the federal marketers put handcuffs on his wrists and seized the kilogram of cocaine that he became sporting at the time, he realised he became in large problem,” he stated.
This amount is nicely quick of the one hundred fifty kilograms Michael allotted.
This amount is nicely short of the a hundred and fifty kilograms Michael disbursed.supply:Getty photographs
together with his returned against the wall, Alex commenced cooperating with regulation enforcement to receive leniency at sentencing. that is in which matters started out to get messy for Santos.
Unaware his associate turned into working with the government, Santos persisted to operate the enterprise below the guise he was supporting improve funds for Alex once he was released.
For the subsequent yr, Santos operated until the DEA pounced on August eleven, 1987, arresting him for massive scale cocaine distribution.
“by using that time I estimate that the illegal organization i used to be instrumental in forming changed into chargeable for the distribution of approximately 150kg of cocaine really worth someplace in the location of four million greenbacks,” he stated.
“My great estimate is that I in my opinion made approximately a million greenbacks in profits from those sales.”
when Santos first went to court docket, he took to face to carry out a pre-rehearsed testimony in which he claimed to be innocent.
“because the authorities had seized no cocaine from me, intercepted no telephone calls, and used handiest government informants to testify towards me, I selected to lie earlier than the courtroom and jury, testifying that I had nothing to do with the costs lodged towards me,” he stated.
“definitely the members of the jury did no longer consider me, for they convicted me on each rely in that indictment.”
Following the preliminary costs, Santos became also indicted on costs for the distribution of cocaine even as in jail.
unlike his preceding costs, he regularly occurring complete duty and pleaded guilty.
As a result he become sentenced to a cumulative total of 45 years in federal jail and changed into surpassed a fine of $500,000 which accumulates hobby on the fee of 18 in line with cent per annum.
Michael’s sentence changed into served across each protection level of the jail machine.
Michael’s sentence changed into served across every safety stage of the jail device.source:news limited
THE TIME
while Santos started his jail sentence in 1987 he didn’t think the outside world might be evolving in the sort of way that he might be left at the back of.
Structural changes had been one aspect, but the internet turned into an entire other international that became going to bypass him via.
at the same time as the out of doors world embraced dial-up modems and AltaVista, Santos changed into none the wiser.
The regulations of jail were so strict, Santos and other inmates were not handiest banned from the usage of the internet, but they had been now not even allowed to use digital typewriters.
With the handiest get right of entry to to the net coming from what he examine in technology magazines, Santos should simplest dream of the web.
“I study drastically approximately how citizens from anywhere have been using the net to boost society, spreading understanding and information. I regarded forward to turning into a part of the net generation.”
The handiest trouble was his modern-day situation wouldn’t allow him to immediately get entry to the internet, so Santos had to get crafty.
the use of his connections at the out of doors, he turned into capable of set up a presence at the internet.
“It was simple, but it served the reason of allowing me to use it as a tool to record my adventure via jail and to write down approximately the experiences of others,” he said.
“in the course of the final decade of my imprisonment, I posted hundreds of articles on my internet site to help others apprehend prisons, the humans they preserve, and strategies for developing through confinement.”
no matter having a presence online, Santos had by no means truely physically operated a computer, not to mention a phone.
when he was first imprisoned, he feared he may in no way see freedom once more given the character of his crime.
however with desirable behaviour, he was released in 2013 and changed into ultimately capable of dive into the internet and all it needed to offer.
on the day of his launch, he changed into greeted by way of his spouse, handed an iPhone and so started the transition into cutting-edge life.
“After [my wife] confirmed me a way to use it, I touched the Safari icon and began to get entry to the net for the first time. I used Google to look my call,” he said.
“I despatched my first email message, writing an open letter that described my first hours of liberty for circle of relatives and i watched my first YouTube films.”
It became a quick crash route for the released inmate due to the fact simply two days later he turned into standing in front of a MacBook seasoned.
“I’d never used a pc pc before, but I cherished the use of the Mac to familiarise myself greater with the internet.
“I had a presence on fb and Twitter, but I didn’t understand a whole lot approximately the quality practices of using social media.
“I realised that i might need to increase capabilities to attain my target audience in brief messages, frequently in a hundred and forty characters or less. attention spans in society, it regarded, had shortened.”
This turned into simply the beginning of what has been a steep getting to know curve for Santos, however he couldn’t be happier and hasn’t looked back on account that.