Two Jars of Peanut Butter and a Friend for Life

How an exchange of gifts in prison changed everything

Richard McDonald is writing a book entitled Unshackled: Breaking the Chains of Addiction, Abuse, and Anger. It comes out in April of 2023. That month will mark McDonald’s five-year anniversary of being sober from an oxycontin addiction. He never thought he would become an addict but then, who does? This man with a Masters degree in Finance and another Masters in Human Resources - who describes himself as “very social” - was living a productive life until trapped by the dangerous drug. Then his life spiraled out of control.

Over a three-year period, driven to feed the need, McDonald embezzled $470,000 from his employer. When prosecuted, he was sentenced to twenty-four months. Eventually, that broke down to nine months incarcerated in Federal Prison Camp Montgomery in Alabama and eight months of home confinement under the CARES Act. The prison on Maxwell Air Force Base was relatively simple compared to hard time institutions, but McDonald had life troubles piled on from outside.

Before prison, he had a former prisoner advising him on prison life who was then on home confinement in Las Vegas. When McDonald became incarcerated, the advisor set his sights on Mrs. McDonald. She and Richard had been married for almost 25 years. She began a relationship with the other man and McDonald was devastated.

This was his state when he met fellow prisoner Greg Lindberg. From Unshackled:

“It was late February 2021, and I was visiting with KC Conner in his cubicle in FPC Montgomery. As we were talking, this tall red-headed inmate approached and asked KC if he had any extra peanut butter packets. During the time of the pandemic, we did not go to the chow hall (prison lingo for dining room) for supper and the prison passed out sack lunches with bologna and peanut butter. KC gave the red-headed guy a couple of small packets, and he went on his way. KC commented: ‘That’s Lindberg.’ He told me that Lindberg only ate a protein diet, so it was a struggle for him to satisfy his dietary needs.”

McDonald learned that the tall red-headed inmate was on a very strict diet and was also buying packets of mackerel. Lindberg drank a lot of water, which prisoners had to buy, and was spending the rest of his money on postage while dealing with an appeal.

“After this very brief encounter, I wanted to help this man. I was very blessed to have my best friend Dave and my sister Marnie helping me out financially, depositing money into my prison commissary account, so I had enough for my needs with a little left over. On the next commissary order, I bought a couple of jars of peanut butter and set them on Lindberg’s desk in his cube. I left him a note and wished him well. The afternoon after that, I was out walking on the track and Lindberg approached me and thanked me for helping him out.”

This gift cost about $5 out of a $90 weekly commissary allowance. McDonald didn’t think much of it, because of the monthly funds deposited into his account. He had enough for his own needs with a little left over. Also, Lindberg was constricted, since the commissary had quantity limits. Inmates were only allowed to order so much of any particular item.

In prison, McDonald wanted to find people that he could help. He discovered that Lindberg had similar intent when he gifted McDonald with the book Failing Early & Failing Often: How to Turn Your Adversity Into Advantage. Lindberg had published it just before reporting to FPC Montgomery.

“I had no idea that he was even a business person, who he was,” McDonald recalls.
”I didn't know anything about it. So I just would start buying him a couple jars of peanut butter and he was incredibly grateful. It really made a difference. I was amazed at how quickly we connected as individuals. We were clearly different. Greg is low social, patient, and very detailed and I am high social, less patient, and not detail oriented.”

The men became fast friends, taking 2 to 3 hour walks in the prison yard over the next seven months. The friendship was based on mutual respect and experience, and McDonald shared two of the most critical aspects of his life - his failing marriage and his crime of embezzlement.

McDonald writes about the advice he got from Lindberg in Unshackled:

“It is unhealthy to love your spouse more than you do yourself. You have to love yourself first so that you can give the best kind of love to your loved ones. When you sacrifice your physical health (I was fat and out of shape), my mental health (allowing a narcotic to hold dominion over me), and my emotional health (blaming and shaming myself), you basically rob yourself of the ability to earn respect, be present, and connected in your relationships. I credit Greg Lindberg with helping me realizing how loving me allows me to love others in the most powerful way possible. The love for myself translates into my loved ones receiving the highest quality of love from me.”

And on embezzlement:

“The best way to move on from this is to own your story. Tell your story. It is a badge of honor to have the balls to admit your wrongdoing and move forward. Do not wallow in the embarrassment. Everyone makes mistakes and what matters is what you learn and do AFTER the mistake. Greg taught me how I am guilty of making a mistake; but I am not a mistake as a person. He helped lift me up out of the shame and that was a huge moment for me.”

Lindberg had also lost at a long marriage. As the men talked for hours about getting through that, Lindberg helped McDonald realize the value of owning your story, and not being embarrassed about it.

“It’s that whole mantra of hey, if you don't own your story, your story will own you,” McDonald says. “Toward the end, we started talking a lot about Napoleon Hill. And then after Greg started teaching an entrepreneurial class, we talked about business strategy, and people, the value of people, and how we grow business. And it was just incredible. I told him that after I got out of prison, I wanted to advocate for the justice impacted community.”

This conversation led to an introduction to Lindberg associates, and an eventual job for McDonald writing 57 criminal justice reform articles in a series called “I've Been In Your Shoes.” Subjects such as: What to do if you're arrested? How do you hire a lawyer? How to prepare for prison? What's the food like in prison? What is the day in the life of a prisoner? What's the dress code?

Today, Richard McDonald is Staff Writer & News Liaison for Interrogating Justice, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank founded in 2020 that has a goal to “help shed light on the obstacles preventing our justice system from being just.”

Greg Lindberg was freed from prison in 2022 when the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned his conviction. He immediately began the process of publishing his second book, 633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life & Leadership, and then posted a series of videos on YouTube that describe what he learned while incarcerated and how it changed his life. Richard McDonald is featured in some of these videos, sharing his own thoughts.

The relationship of the former fellow inmates is summed up this way by Richard McDonald in his book: “In February 2021, I met Greg Lindberg, and that moment has translated into finding a cherished friend who I can categorically add to the group of the most cherished group of people in my life. And it all started out with peanut butter.”

The ebook of 633 Days Inside: Lessons on Life & Leadership can be found on Amazon, GooglePlay, Apple Books and all other major ebook outlets. The paperback is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and, via IngramSpark, around the world. Through his website www.greglindberg.com, he shares his stories of the fight for justice and, for a limited time, a free download of his book. Even more to the point, Lindberg’s company, Global Growth, has a policy of not turning away potential employees because of a criminal conviction.