Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
What a weird confluence: former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford reported to the federal pokey today, while former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick reported to the Wayne County clink.
You all know the stories. Medford got in trouble over illegal gambling. Kilpatrick got in trouble over illicit sex. The classic temptations never change, do they?
Here’s the Kilpatrick update, from USA Today:
DETROIT — Inside the spartan Wayne County Jail cell where former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to spend four months beginning Tuesday, there’s no evidence of Jack Kevorkian or White Boy Rick.
There are clues to other apparent former residents of 14J-4 — they just aren’t as notorious as Dr. Death or drug kingpin Richard Wershe.
Bam-Bam. Repo. Little Dee. Crew Dad.
Those names are etched on a tiny bathroom mirror, right where Kilpatrick will see them each day when he begins serving a 120-day sentence in the text message scandal — a drama that has cost the metro area $14 million and counting.
There are other words scratched into the reflection of the shoebox-sized mirror, such as “CRIPS” and “S.L.O.B.”
And this: “Pray.”
Kilpatrick is to go before Wayne Circuit Judge David Groner at 2 p.m., where the now-convicted felon will begin paying the penalty he agreed to last month when he pleaded guilty to two counts of obstructing justice by perjuring himself at last year’s police whistle-blower trial.
It is expected that after the sentencing, Kilpatrick will immediately head to jail, where he’ll exchange his monogrammed shirts and big-knot tie for a standard-issue green jumpsuit.
And the man who once charged lavish hotel rooms on a city credit card will begin bunking in a place that costs the county $115 a night.
Kilpatrick’s cell is tucked away in a corner of the second floor, past the medical section where other inmates visit and down a long corridor with a few missing ceiling tiles overhead.
His cell is formed of concrete blocks, a heavy steel door and painted a light cream. It’s all he’ll see for up to 23 hours a day through the holidays and his youngest son’s birthday.
