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| Prison had rehabilitative effect on bogus inmate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 02/19/2001 |
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Pierre Carlton easily fooled federal authorities, who, after all, aren't used to people trying to sneak into prison. Carlton agreed to serve another man's 20-month sentence after he was promised cash and free crack, authorities say. He spent 15 months posing as Dexter Mathis, and proved to be a model prisoner who earned a high school equivalency degree, kicked a drug habit and spent most of his time reading. He was 47 days from being released early for good behavior when he got sick of pretending and didn't show up at a halfway house. Now the real Mathis is back in jail and has pleaded innocent to conspiracy charges that could add five years to his original sentence. Mathis' lawyer, Steven Berne, claims his client was only trying to help Carlton by sending him to a minimum-security prison where he could get off drugs. 'Mr. Carlton had a drug addiction, and Mr. Mathis educated him on the benefits of drug treatment in prison,' Berne said yesterday. However, authorities say Mathis got Carlton to serve his sentence by offering him cash and free drugs after his release. On June 7, 1999, Mathis drove Carlton to the U.S. Marshal's office where Carlton, who had memorized Mathis' biographical information, turned himself in. Carlton is 32 and Mathis is 31, but the pair don't look much alike. Carlton is at least four inches shorter than Mathis, who is 6-foot-3 and weighs more than 200 pounds. 'The only thing they have in common is they're both black males,' said Paul Kish, Carlton's lawyer. 'It's a production line in there.' A spokesman for the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, Mike Binion, said inmates are fingerprinted and photographed, but prison officials also rely on federal marshals to deliver the correct inmate. 'He was Dexter Mathis as far as everybody knew,' Binion said. While Carlton was behind bars, Mathis pumped $500 to $1,000 into his prison account. And Carlton, who already had a high school equivalency diploma, pursued another one because he was bored and enjoyed the prison classes. The sentence was supposed to be served in a minimum-security camp in Atlanta. But after authorities heard rumors that Mathis was still selling drugs in Atlanta, they put Carlton in solitary for eight months to be sure that he wasn't leaving the camp during the day. He was eventually transferred to another prison. The ruse unraveled when Carlton was to be released early for good behavior. On Sept. 27, Carlton was put on a bus and ordered to report to an Atlanta halfway house for the final seven weeks of the sentence. He never showed up. A week later, an FBI agent investigating a bank robbery spotted a car with tags that were traced to an alias once used by Mathis. He followed up and found the real Dexter Mathis. Carlton has pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme and will probably face probation, Kish said. 'I was hoping I was going to head out of prison either clean and sober or either have me drugs,' Carlton told a judge. |
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