CNN NEWSNIGHT AARON BROWN

Stewart Found Guilty; Same-Sex Marriage Debate Intensifies

Aired March 5, 2004 - 22:00   ET

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again. I'm Wolf Blitzer in for Aaron Brown.
Someone once said there are important stories and there are good ones. Iraq's constitution is certainly an important story. So is the news today that the economy is creating fewer jobs than anticipated.

Martha Stewart clearly is a good story, a great story even. It has everything except a slow speed car chase and it isn't too late for that. Celebrity captivates us and nothing captivates us like a celebrity on the ropes.

On the other hand, Martha Stewart's celebrity stems from the fact that she runs a billion dollar business empire and one way or another her difficulties may leave a lot of people high and dry.

She's now convicted of breaking the law. She's facing the possibility, a very real possibility of some serious prison time, so a great story, yes, but an important one as well.

BLITZER: More now what may lie ahead for Martha Stewart. Will she get prison time? What could she expect if she does? Can she redeem herself or at least soften the blow between now and her sentencing date?

Foster Winans is the former "Wall Street Journal" writer who served time in prison for his role in an insider trading scandal. Foster, thanks very much for joining us tonight. First of all do you think she's going to jail?

FOSTER Winans, AUTHOR "TRADING SECRETS": Absolutely. There's no question in my mind that, as Jeffrey Toobin said, there really isn't any basis on which to appeal this case and, in fact, if I were her I wouldn't even bother.

BLITZER: Well, what can she expect if she goes to some sort of minimum security, minimal security prison?

Winans: Well, I think she can expect a certain amount of humiliation. I had this image today of her in olive drab pants and a tattered Army blouse sitting on the edge of the upper bunk because she'll be new and she won't get a lower bunk and it's kind of pathetic when you think about it.

I think that she'll probably experience a certain amount of isolation. She's an unusual inmate in that respect and a lot of people are going to be asking her for money.

BLITZER: For money because -- and what will they do? Will they threaten her? Is that what happens?

Winans: No. She's going to be in a minimum security prison. I served my time in Danbury Federal Prison Camp in Danbury, Connecticut. That's where she will probably go. It's kind of like a junior high school. It's actually very collegial. There are no locks. There are no fences. There are two or three guards for 200 inmates. They don't have guns.

It's actually, in a very crude sense, a very comfortable place to be but she's a celebrity client. She's wealthy. Everybody knows she's wealthy.

There are a lot of people who aren't like Martha Stewart who have been in and out of jail and they're used to putting the touch on people. So, I think it's going to be a difficult experience for her.

BLITZER: When she's there you say she's going -- she might be on a bunk bed on the upper part of a bunk bed. What about showers, bathrooms? What are the facilities like there?

Winans: It's real friendly. There are 75 people in a dorm room. There are all double bunks. Each one has a half wall around it. The showers are gang showers except possibly in a women's facility they might be individual. It's a very communal environment. It's a very small facility, Danbury.

BLITZER: So what happens? You wake up in the morning, I guess everybody gets up relatively early. They have jobs for all these women.

Winans: Right and my advice to Martha would be to get herself a mop. There are jobs in the kitchen. There are other jobs. Some of these facilities have factories that produce things for the federal government.

They don't do a very good job of it but they're there but she'll have some kind of a minor job that will occupy her for about six hours during the day. The worst times are the weekends. It's -- people ask me what's the worst thing about prison. It's just plain boring.

BLITZER: Well, she'll be able to have visitors. I assume there's books. She can watch television, music. You hear some talk of these country club prisons where they can play tennis. They can play golf. I don't know what it was like at Danbury.

Winans: No. There's no golf. There's no tennis. It's just -- it's just prison. You can walk away any time you want except you don't because the sentence you would get for getting caught for walking away is more than the sentence you've got.

It's a very regimented routine. You get counted five times a day. You have to go to your bunk and stand by your bunk five times a day and be counted. It's -- it's just all about routine. Yes, you get visits, although a lot of inmates don't like visits because each time their loved ones leave it's almost like going back into prison for the first time.

BLITZER: What about the food?

Winans: It's healthy. There's plenty of it. It's warm when it's supposed to be warm. It's cold when it's supposed to be cold. It's good basic food.

BLITZER: What should she be thinking about doing to try to redeem herself down the road?

Winans: If I were advising Martha Stewart, I would say don't appeal your case. Immediately start doing some sort of community service, something meaningful and I don't mean giving money.

I mean actually going and maybe working in a hospital ward for children with cancer or something like that and I also think that she should apologize. I think she has a lot to apologize for.

BLITZER: Foster Winans you lived through that situation yourself. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Winans: You're welcome.

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