WEBVTT - Paradise Prison: Chapter 2 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:10.479 A man is alone in a Caribbean prison. He hasn't 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:13.320 hurt anyone, He didn't mean to break the law. He 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:16.279 forgot some ammunition in his vacation luggage, and now he's 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.479 been in a foreign jail cell for four weeks. The 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.040 US government has refused to intervene. He knows there's no 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:26.760 one to watch his back. He also knows that somewhere 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:29.160 on his cell block there's a man who's threatened to 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.840 kill him. So he puts his shoes on before he 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:37.879 showers to be prepared for anything. What he doesn't know 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.320 is that today a guard is going to call his 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.320 name and send him to the nurses station. But when 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:45.879 he gets there, the nurse will be gone. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.239 So I walk into the nurses station, there's nobody in there, 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:50.440 and I'm like, like, am I about to get killed 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:51.000 by somebody? 0:00:51.840 --> 0:01:13.840 That's next? On Blood Trails. Ryan Watson, Brian Hagrich, and 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.480 Tyler Wenrick were in trouble. The three American tourists had 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.679 been arrested in the Caribbean archipelago of Turks and Caicos 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.000 for possessing forgotten ammunition in their luggage. Ryan had been 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:28.560 detained with his wife Valerie, but After two stressful weeks, 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:32.280 she'd been allowed to return home. Now, the three husbands 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.640 and fathers faced over a decade in the Grand Turk Prison, 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.320 a facility that just one year previously had been deemed 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.360 not fit for human habitation. If they were going to survive, 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.840 they needed help from someone who'd already been down that road. 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:49.760 We had come by a phone number of a guy 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.880 named Michael Graham, And the way that we came about 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:54.520 it is unexplainable. 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.520 I mean, I'm confident that it's divine intervention. 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.160 As you heard in the last episod, Michael Grimm was 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.000 the first American to be sentenced to prison for possessing 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.480 ammunition in his carry on luggage. Ryan knew he needed 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.320 to get in touch with Michael, but he didn't know how. 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.480 That's when Ryan's father in law sent out a prayer 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.440 request to his family in Texas, which included one of 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.560 Valerie's cousins, a guy named. 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.480 Ash Ash was training to be a firefighter in North 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.880 Fort Worth. He had stopped to take his gear off. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.840 He pulls out his phone and he reads his phone 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.880 in disbelief, says, my cousin and her husband were just 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.000 arrested in Terse and Caicos because there was ammunition in 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:35.840 their luggage. 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:37.280 They're trying to put him in prison. 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.040 This guy who he doesn't know standing behind him in 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:44.320 this fire station in North Fort Worth, Texas like leans 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.040 over and says, are you messing with me? Ash is like, 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.680 why would I mess with you about this? And he goes, 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:53.399 I'm from Indiana. My best friend is a guy named 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.639 Michael Grimm. He was the first American to ever get 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.640 sent to prison for having ammunition in his luggage. 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:01.920 Let me put you in touch with him. He just 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:03.399 got home two weeks ago. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.600 The contingent of Americans who've been arrested in Turks and 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.880 Caicos is thankfully pretty small. The odds that the cousin 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.040 of one of those Americans would be in the same 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.560 fire station at the same time as the best friend 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.680 of another are about as close to zero as you 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.400 can get. You can see why Ryan thinks he was 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:27.160 benefiting from some interdimensional assistance. But when Ryan finally got 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.359 a chance to speak with Michael, the former inmate delivered 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:31.800 a sobering message. 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:36.280 He said, Hey, man, I heard about you. I was 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:38.680 praying that you guys would somehow get in touch with me. 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.600 He said, you're in deep, deep shit, man. And I 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:48.040 was like, crap, okay, And I said, man, is it money? 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.120 I said, do I need to pay somebody off? Is 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:51.520 that what this is about? 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.280 And he said no, man, he said, this isn't about money. 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.280 He said this is about votes. I was like about votes, Like, 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:58.280 what are you talking about. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:02.560 Michael explained that certain factions on the island, especially the 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:07.320 influential families in government, had developed a potent anti American sentiment. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:11.560 Commercial development had forced residents inland and increased the cost 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.480 of living, which created fertile ground for resentment to grow. 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:20.039 That historic indignation, combined with the more recent perception that 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.520 Americans were being given a slap on the wrist for 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.520 violating the nation's gun laws, created a perfect storm for 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:30.360 the latest batch of American offenders. Here's Michael. 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.800 But the advice that I was given is that I 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:39.560 got off easy, right. So like the sentiment when I 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.760 got home from Oliver, like the attorney and other people 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.680 on the island, was like, I only got six months, 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.919 but the next guy is going to get devastated in 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.880 turkic Caicos. As I learned, there are no rules. They 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:55.520 say there are rules there's no rules. 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.960 Brian was already terrified of being separated from his family 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.719 for over a decade. Now he had to confront the 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.680 reality that local prosecutors would try to throw the book 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.560 at him. He was more desperate than ever to learn 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:11.000 what he could from Michael's experience, how he was arrested 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.640 and sentenced, how he survived his time in prison, and 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:16.640 how he eventually escaped. 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.200 Michael Graham was the first person to ever actually get 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.359 sentenced to prison. 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.280 He's truly where this story. 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:30.159 Starts, and the story he told was terrifying. 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.880 I'm watching my back like I'm wearing shorts and my 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:39.000 tennis shoes into the shower on the expectation that like 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.720 I'm about to get jumped in the shower. People were 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:43.159 trying to kill me. People were trying to fight me, 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:45.360 people are trying to extort me. Like shit is going down. 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:47.000 This is not good, Like I need you to call 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:49.440 the embassy, like do something please. I'm kind of a 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:50.279 one man showing here. 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:55.880 I'm Jordan Sillers and this is Blood Trails Paradise Prison, 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:09.040 Chapter two, Part one, Guilty. Michael Grimm is from southern Indiana. 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.240 He works for a member of the US Congress, though 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.560 he wouldn't tell me exactly who. He's also a big 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.200 gun guy. He's competed in three gun events and on 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.320 the National Pistol Shooting Circuit. He was an officer at 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:22.920 a gun range, and he's trained with military and law 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:27.039 enforcement personnel. In the US, a background in shooting and 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.960 firearms training is often considered a marker of responsible ownership, 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.680 but in Turks and Caicos, Michael's background, much like Tyler's 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.280 concealed kerry permit, confirmed to local investigators that they were 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:40.839 dealing with a potentially dangerous individual. 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:43.719 So as far as Turks and Caicos was concerned, I 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.360 may as well have just been a single military age 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:50.000 male who was showing up with ammunition in their country, 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:54.040 and that was their point of concern, and the prosecutor 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:54.760 kind of reigned with. 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:55.480 That as well. 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.560 Michael was on vacation with his family and he told 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.719 me he doesn't remember how that nine millimeter glock magazine 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.640 ended up in his bag. He normally uses a different 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.599 bag for his gear and ammunition, and this backpack was 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:11.800 dedicated to non gun related items. That's the best system, 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.760 but obviously it's not fool proof. Somehow, that twenty round 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.800 magazine still ended up in the wrong bag, despite his 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:20.400 family's best advice. 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:24.040 Because even my family was like, hey, Michael, maybe double 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.320 check your stuff to make sure you don't have anything 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:28.280 you're not supposed to have. And I was like, haha, guys, 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:29.240 very funny. 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.400 Like Ryan and Brian. Michael was arrested at the airport 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:34.119 and taken to the local police station. 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:36.960 They were just like, well, we can hold you for 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.119 a while until we charge you. And I was like, okay, 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.000 so am I getting charged with the crime? We think 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:44.560 we're going to charge you with a crime, but we 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.680 don't really know yet, like we need to figure that out. Great, okay. 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.080 Michael admitted to the officers that the nine millimeter cartridges 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.880 were his, but reiterated that he didn't bring them into 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:56.000 the country on purpose. 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.720 What became a problem was there was this kind of 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.520 set of like apathy from the law enforcement, where again 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.320 every cop I interacted with was very much like you 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.120 really shouldn't be here. Why is this our job? Like 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:12.200 why do we have to deal with you? There was 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:17.160 immediately followed by the police going yeah, but like somebody 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:19.760 up high the rules say like we have to charge 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:20.400 you with the crime. 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:23.160 Michael had to wait around in a jail cell for 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.760 three days while they figured it out. In the meantime, 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.080 he secured the service of attorney Oliver Smith, who explained 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.920 the seriousness of his situation. Still, Michael had reason to 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:34.920 hope that he'd be allowed to leave in a few 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:36.480 weeks after paying a fine. 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.040 At the time of me going through all of this, 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.920 they had not yet sentenced an American to prison on 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:46.520 these charges, So there was no reason to believe that 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:48.960 I would end up in prison, if that makes sense, 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.560 because it was like, no, they've never like Americans have 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:56.520 had firearms and ammunition and they haven't gotten prison sentences. 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:58.360 They're not going to start with you. 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.680 But that is he confidence started to fade at Michael's 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:03.280 first hearing. 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.600 So we get to the plea in direction hearing and 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.880 the wheels started to fall off of my case. In 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:17.080 my interrogation with the police officers, they had asked me 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:20.720 on the record, did you know that you had the 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:25.120 ammunition with you? And I said no, and they said 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:27.960 is this your ammunition? And I said yes, like that 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.040 is my AMMO. I just didn't know I had it 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:34.160 in my back. And so the judge in my case 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:39.559 immediately latched onto that as trying to force me into 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:43.560 a not guilty plea. He refused. Initially, he refused to 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.400 accept my guilty plea because he says, how can you 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:48.520 plead guilty to a crime you didn't know you were committing. 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.760 This bit of jurisprudence should make all the attorneys out 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:56.360 there raise a well compensated eyebrow. Well, it's true that 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.920 intent is a prerequisite for guilt. According to some statute, 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.679 the Turks and Caicos Firearms Ordinance isn't one of them. 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.800 According to that law, a person is guilty merely by 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:11.360 possessing ammunition, regardless of whether they possessed it intentionally or knowingly. 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.760 Michael said his lawyer was just as surprised as he 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:16.360 was at the judge's contention. 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:20.080 He calls me up and he's like, in order for 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:23.680 you to plead guilty, you have to change your statement 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.480 on the stand and you have to admit that you 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:28.800 knew you had the ammunition. It's the only way I 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:34.640 will plead guilty. And I was like, whatever, dude, Like okay, sure, 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.760 Like I don't think that'll materially change the outcome, but 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.920 I expect it probably will in some very negative and 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:42.600 terrible way. 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:48.120 Turns out it did. Michael was arrested on August first, 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.000 twenty twenty three, and he had to wait until September 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:52.920 eighteenth for his sentencing hearing. 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:58.120 That weekend, everybody's kind of on nerves because of me, 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.640 especially because it's like, I don't claim to have like 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.360 known or like have like divine inspiration, but I had 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:07.840 a gut feeling where I was just like, this is 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:11.320 not good. Something is not going to go according to plan. 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:15.520 The judge is twenty minutes late to the hearing. He 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:20.480 immediately gets into my sentence and comments and he says that, well, 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:24.959 he does find exceptional circumstances in my case, and then 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:28.480 he says the forever burned into my memory. He goes, 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:34.720 but I still find that a custodial sentence is mandatory, 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:38.440 so essentially saying you don't have to do the twelve years, 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.920 but you have to do something. And he says that 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:48.080 because I retracted my statement on the stand to say 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:52.280 that I knew I had knowledge of the ammunition, well 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:56.600 that shows that he is irresponsible. He's careless, right, Like 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.600 he started going down the list of like adjectives for 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.200 like my behavior, and as a result of all of this, 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.880 we find that a custodial sentence in prison is good 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:09.160 for him. 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:11.839 At this point, Michael still had hope that the judge 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:13.920 would give him a sentence equal to the number of 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.160 days he'd already spent in jail, But when the judge 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.800 started the sentence at five years, he knew that wouldn't happen. 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.400 Immediately, my heart sank and I remember, just like clear 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.280 as day, turning and looking behind me and seeing like 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.200 all of my family there, and their faces are just 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:35.200 like a crazy like jaws wide open, people crying like 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.240 they kind of believe that he just said, like, we're 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:38.559 starting at five years. 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:40.720 The judge let that hang in the air for a 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.840 moment and then began reducing Michael's sentence a year or 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.600 a month at a time. He cited Michael's lack of 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.520 criminal record, his good standing at his job, and the 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.439 character references submitted by Michael's friends and family. 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.240 So he goes through all of this like we're reducing 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.120 a sentence by x amount because of why, and he 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.760 settles on and as such, we are giving him a 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.120 custodial sentence of one year in his Majesty's prison and 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.000 the court is taking off one third of his sentence 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.920 because he's like an upstanding citizen. We're going to take 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.520 off one third of a year. Which settled it like 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.280 eight months and some change, and he's like, okay, adjourned, 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.600 like thanks for your time. See an eight months. 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:29.839 Michael was obviously devastated, as were his parents and girlfriend, 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:32.800 but at the same time, he told me, he also 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:34.280 felt oddly relieved. 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.480 All of the anxiety like disappeared. It was this, it 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.920 was this feeling of like there's no more guessing, there's 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.960 no more like not knowing, because it's like, okay, they 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.680 gave me eight months. Now it's literally just a matter 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:50.280 of me running the clock down right. 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.280 After weeks of waiting and wondering, Michael could finally focus 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.560 on what was right in front of him. He told 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.040 me he was actually in a pretty good mood, all 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.520 things considered, as he was taken back to jail to 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:05.320 await his flight to Grand Turk Prison, but he soon 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:07.520 realized that he wouldn't be able to run out the 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.480 clock by keeping his head down and minding his own business. 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.480 As he was marched across the tarmac to the commercial 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.760 jet that would take him to Grand Turk Island. 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.600 I will never forget the look on the crew's face 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:23.000 and on the faces of all the people as I 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:27.200 like walk shackled up like Hannibal lefter to the very 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.640 back of the aircraft and find my seat. 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.760 When later that day he walked up to the large 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.560 yellow gates of the prison, that unwanted attention ramped up 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:37.440 to level ten. 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:42.440 Everybody knew everything about me. They knew my full name, 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.520 my home address, what I did for work, who my 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.920 girlfriend was, who my parents were, Like everybody did. The inmates, 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:53.760 the guards, guys in the yard were like, hey, Michael 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.040 Grimm is here. The white boys here like yeah, don't 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:57.560 you live it like blah blah blah. And I'm like, 0:14:57.560 --> 0:14:59.360 oh my god, Like this is not Like this is 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:01.240 going off the r immediately, like this is not good. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.760 The unfortunate fact was that Michael's story had been widely 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.640 circulated in local media outlets. One headline from a reporter 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:14.320 named Wilkie Arthur read quote, Judge stunts sentences irresponsible Indiana 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.400 tourist to eight months in prison for AMMO possession. Another 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.520 read quote, Judge sends strong message to those who bring 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.240 guns to Turks and Caicos Islands. Some on those islands 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.600 admitted that the punishment didn't fit the crime, but others 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.000 celebrated the fact that an American was finally going to prison. 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:36.320 Here's Ryan explaining what happened in the aftermath of Michael's sentencing. 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.240 The local families all celebrate. 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.840 Finally American exceptionalism has ended today, is what the newspaper read. 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:51.160 So they are finally scratching this just burning itch that 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:55.720 they've had. Oh that's accumulated over the last five decades, 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.880 with all the American development, the colonial rule that they've 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.480 been under, to finally be able to stick it to 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.840 the Americans. Their premier, which is the equivalent of their 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:09.040 president's guy, named Charles Nissik, seized this public outcry and 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.080 he at that point goes to the appellate court and says, 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.280 I want to make this a twelve year minimum mandatory 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:14.800 prison sentence. 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:16.160 I'm going to give my people what they want. 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:18.960 We reached out to the Turks and Kkos government for 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.680 comment on this story, but as of this recording, have 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.440 not received a response. But whatever their motivation, as you 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.600 heard in the previous episode, the appellate court did rule 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.440 that some prison time was required for possessing ammunition, even 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.280 in exceptional circumstances. This is why Michael's case was so 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.360 relevant to the other Americans, and it's also why these 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.280 incidents caught the attention not only of local Turks and 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:46.400 Caicos media, but of the United States government. If American 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.520 citizens were being arrested and jailed for what most would 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.520 consider innocent mistakes, it was the job of the State 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.080 Department to step in and help. But when that help 0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:00.480 finally came, those citizens could hardly believe what they were hearing. 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:19.440 That's next after the break Part two, Uncle Sam. One 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.800 of the benefits of being an American citizen is that, theoretically, 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.120 at least, you have the backing of the world's most 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.119 powerful nation when you find yourself in trouble in a 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:32.080 foreign country. We've all heard stories of State Department diplomats 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:35.880 negotiating the release of American hostages, and if that doesn't work, 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:40.520 dramatic rescue operations by special forces. If you're an American 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.600 and you ever find yourself in trouble overseas, you're advised 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:46.520 to call the local embassy as soon as possible. One 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:48.919 of Michael's first calls after his arrest was to the 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:52.040 closest US embassy in Nassau, Bahamas. 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.560 I call the State Department, and the State Department is 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:57.439 immediately unhelpful. 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.639 The man on the phone explained that while Michael impending 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:03.399 conviction wouldn't go on his criminal record in the US, 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:07.240 there wasn't anything he could do to intervene. 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.480 Their UK territory. Like they have real courts and like 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:12.200 real prosecutors. 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:12.680 Right. 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.800 This isn't Iran or like Russia where they're just going 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:17.920 to make stuff up and like throw you a jail 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.960 and you'll never be seen again. This is a UK 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.160 territory they have like a working system of law and order. 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:29.120 You broke the law, you're on your own, like good luck, bye. 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:30.399 And like hung on. 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.639 While the State Department insisted on the integrity of the 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:39.000 local legal system, navigating it would prove bewildering. What's more, 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.119 for these families, the shock wasn't just the severity of 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:45.560 the charges. It was the realization of how little leverage 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.560 the American government was willing to exert when a citizen 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.480 violated a foreign law. Here's Brian, you know, I. 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:54.840 Didn't hear from the State departments. I think It was 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.040 seventy three days until I was into to my detention, 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.520 but the answers were mostly the same. Here in a 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.480 foreign country, there's nothing we can do, and I just 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.080 felt like, Hey, this is just it's falling on deaf years. 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.840 The embassy was more communicative with Tyler, likely because he 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.560 was arrested after Ryan and Bryan, but they fed him 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:17.040 the same line they told Michael. 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.879 They weren't very helpful. I mean they basically said that 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:27.240 unless they're mistreating Americans or not giving you the accommodations 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.520 for your health, they can't do anything. Like they have 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.680 their own laws, we can't intervene or do anything about this. 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.719 There's no doubt that this situation put the American government 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.840 in a tough position. Turks and Caicos is a British 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:47.080 overseas territory, so any action against the islands could impact 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.720 our relationship with one of our closest allies. It's also 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:54.480 true that Turks and Caicos manages its own affairs. They 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:58.359 instituted a law against possessing even a single round of ammunition, 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.640 and the Americans broke it. If Turks and Caicos officials 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.240 felt like the US government wasn't respecting their sovereignty. They 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.480 could make things even worse for the jailed Americans. Those 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.600 are reasonable arguments, but they're tough to hear from a 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:16.159 cockroach infested jail cell. What's more, the law may have 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.520 been duly passed, but to these Americans, the penalty felt 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:24.120 profoundly unjust that they thought should have warranted some kind 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:28.320 of action by Uncle Sam. And despite the State Department's claims, 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.960 they weren't powerless. The Turks and Caicos economy is largely 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:36.119 funded by American tourism. If American officials issued a travel 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.320 advisory warning against vacationing on the islands, the economy would 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:44.119 collapse in a matter of months, if not sooner. Even 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.080 a threat of a travel advisory would likely be enough 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:50.199 to get the ball rolling, but much to Ryan's horror, 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.920 the State Department maintained its hands off position. 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.320 The State Department under that administration was pushing back on 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.240 us hard. Nope, we're getting involved. We don't like those 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:02.880 Americans are a black eye on our image. We don't 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.879 want to be associated with that, And so they had 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:08.760 completely distanced themselves from US. 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.560 Ryan didn't cite any specific action State Department officials took 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.040 that made their situation worse. But among the very limited 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:19.520 interactions they had with embassy officials was one that backed 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:21.840 up the Americans claims we. 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:25.240 Have a consular show up. She requests to meet us 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:28.840 at this random deli next to the airport. Brian and 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:31.320 I go meet her and we sit down with her, 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:39.040 and she kinda starts laughing under her breath, and she stops, 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:40.720 and then she starts laughing. 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.919 Again, and Brian and I are looking at each other 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:44.720 like what's going on? This is Madden. 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:48.439 We're both like fighting for our lives here and this 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:49.200 lady's laughing. 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:51.639 And I said, what are you laughing about? 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:55.520 She said, well, I've been debating on whether or I 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:59.080 should tell you this, but we're all joking. The big 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:00.719 joke back in the office this is why did you? 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:02.480 Why don't you to just get on a boat and 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.280 make everybody's lives easier? And I was like, done, Can 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:07.679 I get on a boat? Like You're like, this is 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.840 like I'll get on a boat, And she said, no, 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:13.359 you can't get on a boat. She's like it's not 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:15.439 a serious option for you guys. She's like, it's just 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.320 would everybody's it would make everybody's life easier. And I 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.760