LOS ANGELES—Rob Black has been released two months early from a federal penitentiary for good behavior. Freed on June 3, he served 10 months of his year-and-a-day sentence.
Black currently resides in a halfway house from which he’ll be freed on Aug. 7, thus completing his stay in custody. He will, however, be on probation for two years after release. Black was incarcerated at La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution, a low-security facility in Anthony, Tex.
After a costly seven-year ordeal battling the government on obscenity charges, Black finally pleaded guilty in March of last year to one count of conspiracy to distribute obscene materials. The court formally dismissed the nine other pending counts.
A significantly mellower and more serene Black spoke exclusively with AVN about his time while locked up.
“It’s great to be out,” Black said. “Being in prison was a very therapeutic experience for me. You learn a lot about yourself when you’re incarcerated no matter how long you’re in there. You have time to think about what’s important in life, what you need to focus on and what’s not really a big deal. The things that stressed you out, that frustrated you, that put you over the edge don’t mean anything anymore. It gives you perspective—a perspective that I didn’t have before.”
In addition to his positive mental outlook, Black said that he lost 55 pounds and quit all nicotine products.
Black described the facility he was sent to as a “low security but real-deal prison” with a dorm-style setting where his movements were restricted, phone time limited and yard time curtailed.
“I was in there with people that were doing five to ten years; people that were doing real time, real crimes,” he said. “Drug offenders, manslaughter, and people convicted of other violent crimes working their way down out of the system. It was serious.”
While outside communication was curtailed, Black was entitled to use of the prison's telephone for 300 minutes per month at 15 minute clips per hour. “I really just stayed in contact with my parents,” he said, “and they gave me updates about Lizzy.”
Lizzy Borden, Black’s wife and partner in Extreme Associates, also was given the same sentence as her husband; however, she was released three weeks prior to him from Waseca Federal Correctional Institution in Waseca, Minn. She’s updating her site LoveLizzyBorden.com and will be embarking on a feature dance tour as soon as she’s able to.
Borden also must serve two years of probation. The couple is still together.
While on the inside, Black mentioned that he was recognized by fellow prisoners—and guards.
“A few of the guards were big porn fans and knew me,” he said. “Others knew about the case and recognized me from the publicity it received. There was definitely a sense of people knowing who I was and why I was there. A lot of people couldn’t believe I was in there. People had questions about the industry and I answered them.”
A contrite and apologetic Black said that he accepted his fate because it was the only way to move forward with his life. In his words, “I just grew up.”
“I was resigned to the fact that I was probably going to jail,” he said. “I accepted it at some point. It wasn’t like ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m going to prison for making a movie!’ It wasn’t like that. I accepted my fate. I made that bed and I had to lie in it.
“I did a lot of things that brought a lot of heat down on myself. I couldn’t stand around and say, ‘Poor me, poor me.’ I had to deal with it and move on.”
Asked about famously challenging then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to prosecute him on national TV on the PBS Frontline documentary in 2002, Black now regrets being so brazen.
“Sure, in hindsight, I’d take that back,” Black said. “But, you know, everything happens for a reason. I don’t quite know that reason right now, but I need to see where life takes me. And everything that’s going on in my life today possibly wouldn’t have happened if this seven-year saga didn’t happen. It was a chain of events that led me to this place.”
Currently Black is working as an editor and shooting camera in the industry. He plans to resurrect the Extreme Associates name with a series of fresh websites and original content, but doesn’t have specific plans just yet. The sites that fell under the old Extreme Cash V.I.P. program are being redesigned.
“Everybody says I’m a lot mellower. I’m not as loud, rambunctious and crazy as I was. You age, you get old. Something happens to you inside. Guess what? I’m still standing and feel better than ever.”
