‘Inmates’ Goal Is to Raise Cash for MDA

The inmates frantically called their friends and family on cellular phones, trying to raise $1,000 bail.

They had been transported to their makeshift cells, not in the back of a police car, but in the comfort of a limousine. They ate muffins and drank coffee as they pleaded for pledges of $10, $25, or $50.

These were no ordinary jailbirds.

They were actually business leaders raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. at an “Executive Lock-Up,” held Tuesday in a banquet room at the Radisson Hotel.

Their success was as varied as their techniques.

“We encourage them to pre-raise their bail so that when they come here, they can network, rather than spend their time here on the phone,” said Derry Forman, director of the Encino District of the MDA and coordinator of the lockup.

But few of the jailbirds in Tuesday’s lockup had done that, choosing instead to use their hour behind crepe-paper bars to surprise their friends and family with the words mothers dread: “I’m in jail, can you bail me out?”

Frank Farmer, a long-time Calabasas resident, decided to forgo the limousine ride and turn himself in directly.

Though his fellow cellmates came dressed for work, the 72-year-old entered with a torn shirt, stenciled with his name and the number “4803.” The word “Jail Bird” was written across the back. “Somebody called me, she asked for some help and I figured I’d come out and help,” he said. “I didn’t even know what I was raising this money for.”

There was only one catch, Farmer has an ear problem and can’t use a regular telephone, so, armed with a list of Calabasas businesses, he asked an MDA worker to help.

Ultimately, Farmer was released on his own recognizance with the promise that he would call everyone on the list when he got home, preferring instead to make his phone calls under “house arrest.”