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12 episodes with justin paperny
5 episodes with justin paperny
3 episodes with justin paperny
5 episodes with justin paperny
2 episodes with justin paperny
2 episodes with justin paperny
2 episodes with justin paperny
2 episodes with justin paperny
2 episodes with justin paperny
Justin Paperny explains how he was implicated in a securities fraud scheme.Connect with Justin https://www.whitecollaradvice.comhttps://www.instagram.com/whitecollaradviceteam/https://www.youtube.com/@UCLEIpw82n3AJ_zFJwkGQlSQ Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that's over 40% off) with promo code COX at https://Mandopodcast.com/COX #mandopodGet 50% sitewide for a limited time. Just visit https://GhostBed.com/cox and use code COX at checkout.Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7Send me an email here: insidetruecrime@gmail.comDo you extra clips and behind the scenes content?Subscribe to my Patreon: https://patreon.com/InsideTrueCrime Follow me on all socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrimeDo you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopartListen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox Check out my true crime books! Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCFBent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TMIt's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5GDevil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3KBailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WXIf you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69Cashapp: $coxcon69
A WEEKLY CANDID CONVERSATION ON GAMBLING ADDICTION Craig is joined by Justin Paperny of White Collar Advice. Justin advises and consults with those who are about to be incarcerated.
Toni Cole, a 29-year-old prison officer in the UK, has reportedly admitted that she shared more than 4-thousand “inappropriate” texts and calls with a 28-year-old male inmate at HMP Five Wells prison. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber spoke with prison consultant Justin Paperny about the apparent increase of female jailers engaging in misconduct with male inmates.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 40% off your first order with Trade at https://drinktrade.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A UK judge blasted Linda de Sousa Abreu, 31, after a video of her having sex with a inmate, while on duty, went viral. She'll now spend time on the other side of the bars, thanks to a guilty plea. And she had a message for “wannabes” in a TikTok video. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber gets reaction on the bizarre case from prison consultant Justin Paperny.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Head over to https://Brickellmensproducts.com/Sidebar and claim your FREE kit today!HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Deputies at a jail intake facility in Arizona were shocked when a male inmate was caught crawling backwards across a waiting room. Justin Avery was behind bars on allegations that he sexually assaulted five women on a college campus. Authorities say he admitted he planned to rape the female inmate. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber takes a closer look at the wild surveillance video with prison consultant Justin Paperny.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you're ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sean "Diddy" Combs spent Monday night in jail after federal agents took him into custody for charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. Combs pleaded not guilty and asked a federal judge to release him on bail pending trial but prosecutors argued Combs is dangerous and has tried to coerce witnesses. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with prison consultant Justin Paperny about what life behind bars could be like for Combs in this episode of Crime Fix - a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/crimefix to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.Host:Angenette Levy https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Justin Paperny https://x.com/WCAJustinPCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Episode 45 The Grit, Grace and Gift of Second Chances What's it like when the FBI knocks at your door? Justin Paperny shares his journey from that fateful day in April 2005 to his 18-month sentence in federal prison as a convicted felon and an encounter with a fellow incarcerated person that changed the trajectory of his life. Justin joins host Matt Adams for an episode detailing how that unexpected friendship gave him a chance to forge a new a career out of a mistake. Justin is the founder of White Collar Advice, a business that helps white-collar defendants through every stage of the judicial process. You'll be captivated listening to how Justin is turning his story of redemption into a tangible way to help others.
Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 24, is behind bars in Fairfax County, Virginia for her alleged involvement in a love triangle that ended with a double homicide. The au pair was working for Brendan and Christine Banfield through an exchange program when she says she walked in on a stranger stabbing Christine. She and Brendan both fired guns, killing Joseph Ryan. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber discusses Magalhaes' latest communications from inside jail with prison consultant Justin Paperny.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Five people, including two doctors and three others, have been charged in the overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry. The indictment charging Dr. Salvador Placensia and Jasveen Sangha aka "the Ketamine Queen" lays out disturbing details about how those around Perry treated him in the weeks leading up to his death. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy lays out the details with prison consultant Justin Paperny and former DEA director of special operations Derek Maltz in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Use the code LAW15 for 15% off at https://citybeauty.com/LCCrimeFix. That's promo code LAW15 for 15% off your order!Host:Angenette Levy https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests: Derek Maltz https://x.com/derekmaltz_srJustin Paperny https://www.instagram.com/justinpapernywca/CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Authorities in Grove City, Utah are still trying to find Quinntel Bagley, who is wanted for allegedly kidnapping his ex-girlfriend a second time, after escaping arrest the first time around. The US Marshals Service is offering a $5,000 reward for his capture. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber sits down with prison consultant Justin Paperny to discuss Bagley's case, his escape, and his attempts to avoid more prison time.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Handwritten notes found in Chris Watts' prison cell give insight into his relationship with God and who he blames for the murders that landed him behind bars. Watts calls his former mistress, Nichol Kessinger, a “Jezebel” for tempting him into sinning. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber gets insight on Watts' state of mind from prison consultant Justin Paperny.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you're ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Linda De Sousa Abreu appeared in a UK courtroom this week, accused of having sex with an inmate inside a cell at Wandsworth Prison. An investigation began after an alleged video of the incident, taken with a contraband cell phone, went viral online. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber analyzes this case with prison consultant Justin Paperny.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you're ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
For this week's episode we pull from the vault of Southern Tea podcasts... Lindsie is joined by the founder of Prison Professors, Michael Santos. While serving a 45 year sentence for a white collar crime Michael made a commitment to work towards prison reform and has continued to provide resources to anyone impacted unfairly by the prison system. Michael shares his various experiences throughout the years within the prison system, how prison camps need to be abolished, how he met his business partner Justin Paperny, the touching story of meeting his wife, and the system wide changes that he hopes to make. Check out Michael Santos at PrisonProfessors.com and PrisonProfessorsTalent.com Follow us @TheSouthernTeaPodcast for more! Thank you to our sponsors! Chime: Start your credit journey with Chime at chime.com/southernteaIndeed: Visit Indeed.com/SOUTHERNTEA to start hiring now with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post. Terms and conditions applyIQBar: Text TEA to 64000 for 20% off all IQBar products, plus FREE shipping. By Texting 64000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from IQBAR. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply, available at IQBAR.com. Reply "STOP" to stop, "HELP" for help
In Dr. Phil's new book “We've Got Issues: How You Can Stand Strong for America's Soul and Sanity”, he presents his ten principles for a healthy society. In this episode we highlight Principle #3: Don't Reward Bad Behavior or Support Conduct You Do Not Value. Dr. Phil and his guests Michael Shellenberger, Wendy Murphy, Justin Paperny offer valuable lessons on personal responsibility, systemic change, and fostering healthy relationships. Listen in to discover why we cannot reward bad behavior or support conduct we do not value and learn the consequences to one's community, family and America if you do so. Available now: “We've Got Issues: How You Can Stand Strong for America's Soul and Sanity” https://amzn.to/4bSffnO Thank you to our sponsors! ASPCA Pet Insurance: https://aspcapetinsurance.com/PHIL (The ASPCA® is not an insurer and is not engaged in the business of insurance). Factor Meals (Use Promo Code: philintheblanks50 for 50% off): https://factormeals.com/philintheblanks50 Advertise with us! https://advertisecast.com/philintheblanks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode Lindsie is joined by the founder of Prison Professors, Michael Santos. While serving a 45 year sentence for a white collar crime Michael made a commitment to work towards prison reform and has continued to provide resources to anyone impacted unfairly by the prison system. Michael shares his various experiences throughout the years within the prison system, how prison camps need to be abolished, how he met his business partner Justin Paperny, the touching story of meeting his wife, and the system wide changes that he hopes to make. Check out Michael Santos at PrisonProfessors.com and PrisonProfessorsTalent.com Follow us @TheSouthernTeaPodcast for more! Thank you to our sponsors! Hatch: Get $20 off your purchase of a Hatch Restore 2 and free shipping at hatch.co/southerntea Indeed: Visit Indeed.com/SOUTHERNTEA to start hiring now with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post. Terms and conditions apply IQBar: Text TEA to 64000 for 20% off all IQBar products, plus FREE shipping. By Texting 64000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from IQBAR. Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply, available at IQBAR.com. Reply "STOP" to stop, "HELP" for help Waterboy: Recover properly with @waterboy and get 15% off with promo code SOUTHERNTEA at waterboy.com/southerntea! #waterboypartner
Could you build a new empire off your worst life decision? Meet Justin Paperny who is the founder of White Collar advice, who has become an expert at helping 1000's of people facing challenges with the criminal justice system. Justin's story has been featured on many national news stations, including The Washington Post, CNN, Fox, Dr. Phil and others. Lastly, NBC Universal aired “My Deal With the Devil“, a 60-minute television show about Justin's story. Justin has become a nationally recognized public speaker for corporate America. He did work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including lecturing at The FBI Academy in Quantico, VA. Justin grew up in an upscale suburb of Encino, California. He was a D-1 athlete that played baseball for USC. He was trained at Merrill Lynch, moved to Bear Stearns, and finally joined UBS in its Century City, L.A. office. Serving 400 days in federal prison wasn't what Justin had in mind when he became a stockbroker fresh out of the University of California. But a "focus of short-term rewards led to the rotting of the inner core," Paperny writes in his book, Ethics In Motion. He was in the seven figure signing bonus race of produce however you produce or you are out the door. He worked mostly with professional athletes and hedge funds. He knew what his client was doing and turned a blind eye to keep commissions coming, When the corporate attorney asked about it, Justin lied. When the FBI asked about it, Justin wasn't truthful again. Things went from bad to worse to prison. In prison, Justin befriended a mentor, Michael Santos (sentenced to 30+ years, who helped Justin with his comeback story of how to prepare for his second chance. You will come out of listening to this episode saying, "Wow!"
Justin Paperny, an author and prison consultant, joins Linsdsie to give us insight into how his white collar crime and prison journey led him to be a prison consultant, his view on the sentencing of Todd and Julie Chrisley, and how the U.S. desperately needs major prison reform when it comes to non-violent crimes. Lindsie and Justin discuss the massive flaw in the sentencing of white collar crimes and the struggle it is to fight against the U.S. government, Lindsie speaks on seeing her father in prison and what she has learned through her parent's trial. Check out Justin Paperny at whitecollaradvice.com and at prisonprofessors.com Thank you to our sponsors!Dave Financial: Download the Dave app from the App store to sign up for an Extra Cash account and get up to 500 dollars instantly. For terms and conditions go to dave.com/legalFood Network: Listen to The Pioneer Woman wherever you get your podcastsIndeed: Visit Indeed.com/SOUTHERNTEA to start hiring now!Raf Five: Use code SOUTHERN75 at raffive.com for 75% off all products
On this episode of The Go Crazy Podcast we sit down to talk to Justin Paperny. Justin is an ex-collegiate baseball player who used the lessons he learned in athletics to start a successful career as a stock broker. After some time in the business, poor decisions resulted in a federal prison sentence. He shares with us his story and how he has accepted his past and is moving forward making a real impact for others. Follow Justin @paperny_justinFollow Bart @bear_lee_runningFollow Danny @dannygoescrazyFollow The Go Crazy Brand @thegocrazybrandFollow The Go Crazy Podcast @thegocrazypodcastShop The Go Crazy Brand at thegocrazybrand.com
Prison consultants have been receiving dubious attention in the press lately. The truth is, a qualified prison consultant can be a valuable member of a well-managed defense team. But, beware of so-called experts who promise you the moon for a fee. Helping us get set for sentencing is Walt Pavlo, the founder of Prisonology, a collection of exceptionally qualified prison consultants, most of whom are former high-level Bureau of Prisons officials. IN THIS EPISODE: Deconstructing the New York Times piece about “a new breed of fixers”; Picking the right consultant for the job; The kind of experts connected to “prisonology”; Example of "RDAP Law" who weren't lawyers, gave terrible advice, bilked clients out of millions, and went to prison as a result; What are reasonable fees for Prison consultants; Limitations of prison consultants; The importance of finding a prison expert that can testify or submit sworn declarations to a judge at sentencing; How finding the right expert can save the attorney time and the client money; How the wrong consultant may put work product and attorney-client privilege at risk; How the attorney's failure to properly manage a consultant/expert can lead to disastrous results; How an attorney's failure to properly communicate and connect with a client may drive them into the arms of a charlatan; How to properly vet a potential prison consultant; LINKS: NYT Article: Want to Do Less Time? A Prison Consultant May Be Able To Help Prisonology Walt Pavlo at Forbes.com Prison consultant, former BOP Warden, Maureen Baird was an early guest on the podcast. This is a great example of someone who can really help at sentencing. Listen (or re-listen) to Set for Sentencing, Ep. 3, Telling the Story of Prison at Sentencing!
Watch on YOUTUBE or LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS Helping us get set for sentencing, attorney Alan Ellis. He's an expert in all things sentencing and post-conviction relief and the author of the wildly popular Federal Prison Guidebook. IN THIS EPISODE: The importance of knowing your Judge; How to develop mental health mitigation; The need to develop a powerful and credible narrative; The need for qualified sentencing experts; Pros and cons of sentencing letters; Restitution as mitigation; The need to properly prepare a client to allocute; Effective use of sentencing mitigation videos; Showing true character with things your client has done “when no one is keeping score”; The importance of developing early mitigation and getting to decision makers (prosecution and probation) well in advance of sentencing; Effective sentencing memoranda: less is more, and no boilerplate; Putting pictures in pleadings; The truth about Prison Consultants, or so-called "fixers"; Vouching - can you do it? LINKS: Law Offices of Alan Ellis Federal Prison Guidebook Taking a page from death penalty mitigation: A theme running through this disucssion is the need for EARLY and thorough mitigation development. This brings us back to our very first episode with death penalty mitigation specialist, and CEO of Advancing Real Change, Inc., Dr. Elizabeth Vartkessian. You can watch that episode here on YOUTUBE or listen on APPLE PODCASTS. We also sung the praises of perhaps the most qualified "prison consultant" in the profession, former BOP warden, Maureen Baird. I was also fortunate to have her on the podcast early on, so here's the YOUTUBE and APPLE links for that great episode as well. FREE RESOURCE: Visit the shownotes to download a copy of the "How To Write a Sentencing Letter" document Alan and I discussed. Remember, sentencing letters are about QUALITY, not QUANTITY. They can be useful at sentencing, if done right. But they are simply one small element of a much bigger mitigation narrative. Ideally, they are carefully vetted to ensure they support, rather than contradict the theory and themes of your sentencing presentation.
Justin Paperny, co-founder of White Collar Advice, joins #NoFilter with Zack Peter to dish on Jen Shah's recently guilty plea. How much time is she realistically looking? When can we expect her to start serving time in prison? Is filming Season 4 of RHOSLC actually a smart idea? Can it help her get a reduced sentence? Order some Housewives Watching Wine (in collab with Eliqs), on sale @ www.NoFilterWine.com Shop Amazon Storefront: www.amazon.com/shop/zackpeter Get access to our 'Reality TV Tea' Private Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3h0nykD Like the show? Subscribe at: https://apple.co/2DxTKe6 and listen every Monday and Wednesday. Don't forget to leave us a nice review, because you love us! Keep up the latest show happenings at @nofilterwithzack Couldn't get enough of us? Follow Zack @justplainzack on Twitter and Instagram & justplainzack.com Keep up with Zack on YouTube at www.youtube.com/justplainzack
People heading to court often turn to the internet for guidance. In so doing, many come across the work of Justin Paperny, who dispenses advice on his YouTube channel. His videos offer preparation advice and help manage expectations, while providing defendants information to be able to hold their current lawyers accountable, and to try to negotiate a lighter sentence.Mr. Paperny, a former financial criminal, also leads White Collar Advice with his partner Michael Santos, another former convict. The firm is made up of 12 convicted felons who each have their own consulting specialty based on where they served time and their own sentencing experiences.The journalist Jack Hitt relates the story of the two men and the details of their firm, which “fills a need in 21st-century America.” It is, Mr. Hitt writes, “a natural market outgrowth of a continuing and profound shift in America's judicial system.”This story was written by Jack Hitt recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
Bill Handel hosts Justin Paperny, founder of White Collar Advice, to talk about Justin's purpose and the way he aids non-violent criminals in the justice system. Also, a look at prison rehab - can California learn anything from Norway?
We discuss a range of topics, including: the Fraud Triangle, greed, how to think about enough, how to recover from mistakes, and what we will and won't emulate in fatherhood.
At 3:35 pm on Friday, May 5th, 2006, I contemplated suicide. Why? I had just failed a lie detector test. (I spent hours before the exam learning techniques to try to cheat the exam). After I failed the test, my lawyer told me I should plan to serve five years in prison for securities fraud and obstruction of justice. Many white-collar criminal defendants, like me, experience mental health challenges and suicidal thoughts. Paul Bertrand, a suicide prevention expert, also knows. Paul worked with the FBI for 23 years. For many years, Paul was responsible for mental health support for many FBI employees. Paul was also the lead FBI agent who worked my case from 2005 to 2008. After my release from prison in 2009, I reconnected with Paul. In 2010, he invited me to speak at the FBI Academy. Recently, I had the chance to discuss suicide prevention with Paul. We both want to help people recognize when someone needs professional help. Moreover, the insights Paul shared with me can help anyone facing suicidal thoughts. Paul and I hope you find value in our podcast. Best, Justin Paperny
Prison consultant Justin Paperny joins us to discuss the similarities between a minimum security prison and the Mayberry jail and you'll be surprised about what he has to say. We also break down an episode where Barney blowing smoke nearly leads to a change in leadership in Mayberry.
From a life of privilege, to a life in prison; Justin Paperny a former stockbroker at UBS was sentenced to prison for fraud. Now a white collar prison consultant, Justin uses his experiences to help high profile clients prepare and cope with life behind bars. As an author and sought after media guest (check him out on Dr Phil), Justin shares how to harness meaning and a sense of perspective whilst battling the toughest challenge of your life. Guide to Key Takeaways Justin talks about his story of origin. (1.36-3.52) From a life of privilege, Justin shares how he ended up in prison (3.53-7.10) The emotional and mental challenges of dealing with a prison sentence. (7.11-9.26) Advice on how to deal with adjust to life in incarceration (9.27-12.28) The transformation that led to Justin authoring 3 books (12.29-17.55) Turning trauma of shame and blame into a catalyst for success (17.56-21.57) How Justin became successful in business; the trigger and the path he took (21.58-25.28) Digital marketing, sales funnels, and all the tech that Justin uses to promote (25.29-28.58) How to create engagement and connection with your clients (28.59-32.49) Advice for people who are starting out in business (32.50-36.45) Taking ownership and responsibility; How to talk to clients who are involved in (36.46-41.17) Best way to get educated in Marketing and Digital Marketing. (41.18-44.58) The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly Great Leads by Michael Masterson and John Forde How listeners get in contact with Justin Paperny (44.59-end) https://www.whitecollaradvice.com/
Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term by Michael Santos Chapter 15.3 ******* It’s Wednesday, April 18, 2012 and I received the most amazing book during mail call. It’s so impressive, The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing and Corrections, edited by Professor Joan Petersilia, who is the Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, and Kevin R. Reitz, who is the James Annenberg La Vea Professor of Criminal Procedure at the University of Minnesota Law School. The 764-page book includes contributions from many authors who wrote individual chapters on various subjects pertaining to sentencing and corrections in America’s massive prison system. My face beams with pride when I turn to chapter 25 and I see the words I wrote more than three years ago, describing the life I’ve lived since 1987. I don’t know how to describe the honor I feel that Professor Petersilia invited me to write about my experiences. I’m a prisoner, after all, and yet by including my work I’m in the company of some of the world’s leading scholars who hold distinguished positions in some of the world’s leading universities. To show my appreciation, I will read each chapter and publish a review to describe what I learned from those who contributed. There isn’t anyone here with whom I can share my joy, but inside, I feel a liberating gratification, giving me a sense that some meaning has come from this long journey. It’s a journey that is coming to an end, as I have news that I’m scheduled to transition from the Atwater federal prison camp to the San Francisco halfway house on August 13, 2012. ******* It’s July 1, 2012, the last full month that I’m going to serve in federal prison. I have 9,091 days of prison behind me, only 44 days of prison ahead. From the beginning I’ve been exercising very hard, but I’ve been waiting for this month for decades, always intending to exercise harder during my final month than ever before. After all, it’s the last full month in my life that I’ll have to focus exclusively on exercise. I’m determined to run 500 miles during the month. In addition, I’ll do 10,000 pushups and 4,000 dips. The intense workout will quell this steady surge of anticipation that has been building for months. Carole has already made the move to Lee’s guesthouse and she secured a job at a Bay area hospital. As crazy as it may sound, I know that my life is one of many blessings, but more than anything else, I cherish the relationship I’ve built with my wife. We’re both indescribably excited about the prospects of building our lives together. Despite the love, enthusiasm, and anticipation inside of me, however, I have a measure of anxiety as well. For 25 years I’ve been a prisoner, living in the midst of men, strangers. Privacy has not been a part of my life. I don’t know how to eat with metal silverware or off of ceramic plates. I’ve not had a drink from a glass since 1987, nor have I taken a shower without wearing flip-flops. We’re in our 10th year of marriage, but my wife and I have only known each other under the bright lights of prison visiting rooms, always under the watchful eyes of vigilant prison guards. I don’t have any idea about the magnitude of change that is about to come my way, but I know that it’s coming. Running these long distances helps to dissipate the anxiety, but I can’t help thinking about how I’ll react to the changes that are about to come. I don’t worry about earning a living or financial matters, as I’ve prepared well for those challenges. My anxieties are of a more primal nature. For instance, I dwell for hours at a time about how I’m going to muster the courage to poop in front of my wife. Will she kick me out of bed if she hears me pass gas? I don’t have any idea on how I’m going to handle these complexities of domesticity, but I know that I can count on Carole to help me. She just doesn’t yet know the worries that I have. I wonder what’s going through her mind. For years she’s lived as a prisoner’s wife, with visiting rooms being our living room, bedroom, and kitchen. She has been very protective of her time with me, and yet it has been only an abbreviated time. Now, in a matter of days, all of that will change. Carole has begun making purchases to ease my initial transition. She bought us matching iPhones, clothing and hygiene supplies that I’m going to need. We’re coordinating events with family, as my sisters, mother, and grandmother want to visit. They’ve been waiting for 25 years to welcome me home, but my release is complicated by three factors: I’m being released to San Francisco and my family lives in other cities; I’m not really going home, but to a halfway house; and I don’t know what restrictions the halfway house is going to place on me. With all of those complications, I’m asking my mom and sisters to let me spend the initial weeks with Carole. Before receiving visits, I need to settle with her and understand more about this transition into society and what it truly means to live as a husband. I want to receive my driver’s license, to begin reporting to work, and to complete whatever demands the halfway house makes upon residents as a condition of increased liberties. I expect that I’ll need 90 days to settle. ******* It’s 2:00 am on Monday, August 13, 2012. Today is the day, the 9,135th day that I’m waking on a prison rack. It’s also the last. I climb down and dress in my exercise gear. I take my cup of instant coffee and walk into the center of the housing unit, where I sit alone in the dark. It’s been 25 years and two days since my arrest, and in a few short hours I’m scheduled to walk outside of these fences. Why, I wonder, does society equate this particular amount of time with the concept of justice? In what ways did the quarter century I served contribute to community safety? As I look around and see all the other prisoners sleeping, the only answer I can come up with is that society wanted to punish me for the laws I broke when I was in my early 20s. I’m now 48 and I don’t even remember much about those crimes, as the length of time that I served gradually squeezed those details out of my memory and consciousness. The punishment felt severe with my arrest and trial and sentencing. But as the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into years, I turned all of my attention toward those three principled steps that were going to guide me through my journey: I made a commitment to educate myself; I made a commitment to contribute to society in measurable ways; and I made a commitment to build a strong support network. That strategy, I hoped, would help redeem the bad decisions of my reckless youth and help me reconcile with society. As the years passed, however, I lost sight of the fact that society was punishing me. Prison became the only life that I knew. Is a man still being punished if he doesn’t even know it? By the time I earned my master’s degree in 1995, I felt as ready to live as a contributing member of society as I ever would. That was 17 years ago, but our system of justice didn’t have a mechanism in place to encourage individuals to work toward earning freedom. As Shakespeare suggested in his play A Merchant from Venice, the system wanted its pound of flesh. Regardless of what efforts an individual made to atone, in our system of justice, all that mattered was the turning of a sufficient number of calendar pages. As of today, 300 calendar pages have turned since my initial arrest. And in a few more hours, I’m going to walk outside of these gates, where I’ll see Carole waiting. It’s 4:00 am and I begin my exercise, first with strength training, knocking out 50 sets of pushups. Then I begin my run. In July I set a goal of running 500 miles. With focus and persistence I blasted through that goal, hitting 700 miles that included eight back-to-back marathons during the month. I’ve now exercised for 1,340 days without a single day of rest, but what new routines will begin tomorrow? Many years ago I read What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, a book by Marshall Goldsmith, a business strategist. The book made an impression on me then, and it seems particularly relevant to me now, as I finish running my 12th and final mile around a prison track. I’m opening my mind to the reality that I’m going to have to change the rigid and precise tactics that have carried me through prison. But I’ll never relinquish my commitment to living a principled, deliberate, strategic life. I don’t know how I’m going to have to change, but I’m open to the changes that will come when I walk outside of these prison gates. ******* It’s 7:00 am and I’m walking alone, steadying my thoughts. I tried to use the telephone but my account has been disabled, confirming that my time in prison is ending. I see a long line of men waiting to enter the chow hall for breakfast and I feel the many eyes upon me; I feel their energy, good wishes from them, but I need this time alone. I walk into the chapel for solitude and I pray in gratitude, thanking God for protecting me through the journey, asking for guidance as I take the next steps home. “Michael Santos,” I hear the announcement. “Number 16377-004. Report with all your property to the rear gate.” I’m carrying my copy of The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing and Corrections, but I’ve given everything else away. I leave the camp and walk toward the gate at the rear of the penitentiary. A guard comes toward me from inside the gate and he crosses through. He calls me forward and asks a few questions to confirm my identity, and it’s as simple as that. We walk through a processing area and I see that it’s 8:48, which is coincidentally the same number as the criminal code for the crime I committed. Another guard fingerprints and photographs me. Two other guards ask me more questions to confirm my identity. And that’s it. We walk through penitentiary corridors, and across an area that leads me into a lobby. I turn right around a corner, where I meet other guards. They hand over funds from my commissary account and authorize me to cross over to the other side, where Carole, my lovely wife waits, her elbows to her side, tears flowing down her cheeks, prayer hands pressed close to her mouth as she stares in disbelief as I walk out of the penitentiary and into the embrace of her arms. At last, at last. Epilogue: When we walk out, Carole hands me an iPhone. I’d never seen a smart phone before. When I put the device next to my ear, I didn’t hear a dial tone. “It’s not working,” I told her. Carole laughed. The world had changed during the 9,135 days that I’d been a prisoner. Although I’d read about technology, I hadn’t ever sent an email. Although I had a website since the dawn of the Internet, I’d never accessed the Internet. I’d never made a YouTube video, or used any of the technology that the world took for granted. I intended to learn. I sat in the passenger seat as Carole drove me from the prison in Atwater to a halfway house in San Francisco. We had more privacy on that drive than we’d ever had during our first 10 years of marriage. It was the first time we sat together outside of a guard’s presence. And yet rules limited our time together. If I didn’t make it to the halfway house within the three-hour timeframe I’d been given, I’d begin my time in there on the wrong foot. Carole drove steadily while I feasted on a pizza she brought me. When we came out of the Central Valley and crossed the Bay Bridge, I saw the San Francisco Skyline. “Within five years,” I told Carole, “I’ll build my first $1 million in assets.” Carole shook her head. By then she understood my ambition, my quest to overcome obstacles. “You need to relax, take a breath. Get to know the world.” “It’s go time,” I told her. “For 25 years I’ve been held down. I’m ready. We’re ready. I’ll work harder out here than I’ve ever worked before. We’ll figure it out together. I can’t wait for life to unfold. We’ve got to make life happen.” I settled into the halfway house and immediately began working. As I had learned in prison, I would need a deliberate, disciplined strategy to grow. Step 1: Define success Step 2: Create a plan Step 3: Set priorities Step 4: Execute the plan As in prison, I adhered to the same principle of moving forward toward my goal with a 100% commitment. First step would be to get a driver’s license. I needed to be mobile. Then, I had to consider strengths and weaknesses. With regard to strengths, I had a positive mindset. I understood that I had faced the challenge of a quarter century in prison. Yet as planned, I returned strong, with my dignity intact. I could leverage that strength to carve out new opportunities. But I also understood my weaknesses. As a result of prolonged imprisonment, I’d never held a job, never built a workforce or managed employees. My strength was in a strong work ethic, being self-directed, and being relentless in pursuit of my goals. I had to leverage those strengths, turn them into assets that would become more valuable over time. I used my time in the halfway house to the best of my ability, investing hours to learn how to use technology, to understand the Internet. The economy was still weak in August of 2012. Our country had been in a deep recession for several years. With my liberty, it all felt right. Unbridled optimism blinded me to risks. I believed the economy would improve, and I wanted to participate. In my mind, the best way to participate would be to acquire appreciating assets. During those first days in the halfway house, I began engineering a plan to make my first real estate acquisition. Despite having a zero-zero-zero credit score, I persuaded a successful real estate developer to provide 100% financing on the purchase of a new house in the San Francisco Bay area. I hadn’t been in the halfway house for a full month when I had a deal under contract. That deal would become the start of many others. Preparations from prison resulted in scores of opportunities opening. By the time I finished with the halfway house, and with the Bureau of Prisons, after 9,500 days, San Francisco State University offered me a position to become an adjunct professor. With permission from my probation officer, I traveled across the United States to lecture in universities. Sponsorship from the California Wellness Foundation allowed me to develop a curriculum to teach the values-based, goal-oriented strategies that I learned from other leaders. Together with my partner, Justin Paperny, we distributed those concepts to jails, prisons, and schools across America. Such lessons prepared me for success through struggle. To the extent that others adhered to those same principles, I felt confident they too would thrive. For centuries, leaders had been living in accordance with self-directed plans: Define success Set clear goals Move forward with a 100% commitment to success Visualize the outcome Take the incremental action steps Create accountability metrics Be aware of opportunities Live authentically and honestly Celebrate incremental achievements Show appreciations for the blessings in life By documenting those strategies that I learned from leaders, opportunities opened. As a direct result of the seeds that I sowed during imprisonment, I could persuade other people to believe in me. I would challenge business leaders to use their discretion and invest with me. They could look upon the record I built. By staying focused and disciplined while growing through a quarter century in prison, I argued that I was well prepared to prosper in society. Rather than judging me as a man with a zero-zero-zero credit score, I invited them to support efforts I would make to build, grow, and contribute to the making of a better society. That strategy paid off. Within five years of the conclusion of my sentence, by August of 2018, I controlled more than $5 million in assets, and built equity of more than $3 million. Then, a lawsuit from an agency of the federal government resulted in the loss of all those assets. For that story, how I litigated through it, and how I worked to recover and build millions more, you’ll need to get the next book—which I’m writing now. Visit MichaelSantos.com for an update. The one promise I make is that I’ll never ask anyone to do anything that I haven’t done, or that I’m not doing. Regardless of what businesses or opportunities I create, I intend to continue creating resources to teach and inspire people in jails and prisons. We all must live in the world as it exists. That means we must accept that problems will surface as a result of our criminal backgrounds. We must succeed anyway. By living the values-based, goal-oriented strategy that I learned from leaders, I’m paying it forward, trying to prove worthy of the guidance and inspiration I got from Socrates. His wisdom inspired me while I was still locked in the Pierce County Jail, before a judge sentenced me to 45 years. Since then, I’ve been striving to “be the change that I want to see in the world,” just as Gandhi advised us all to live. Stay focused, stay deliberate. Earn freedom! May 1, 2020
Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, by Michael Santos Chapter 15.1 Podcast 148 / 25 minutes Forming nonprofit, Carole becoming a registered nurse, meeting Greg Reyes, starting to write Undefeated. Epilogue: 2009-2012 Months 260-300 It’s May 20, 2009 and my friend Justin Paperny is being released from prison today. We work well together and I’ll miss his companionship. For the past several months Justin has been joining me in a quiet room where I write each morning. One early morning session began with an idea for launching a nonprofit organization. Undertaking such a task would assist us in raising financial resources that we could rely upon to create products for the purpose of reducing recidivism. Our reasoning is simple, just an assessment of the facts. High-recidivism rates challenge our society in numerous ways, influencing the lives of citizens who don’t grasp how America’s commitment to mass incarceration influences their everyday lives. Whereas taxpayers want safer communities, better schools, and better health care, those who represent the prison machine want bigger budgets. That mindset of locking people up and throwing away the key leads to more overtime, more jobs for prison guards, and more expenditures on barbed wire fences, but it doesn’t lead to safer communities. Rather, it diverts resources that society could use to build better schools, better hospitals, and offer more social services. People who serve time struggle to emerge with the types of values, skills, and resources that translate into success upon release. Statistics illustrate the problem. More than one out of every two people who serve time face continuing challenges from the criminal justice system after their release. That rate of failure leads to enormous costs for taxpayers, depleting public resources that would be better spent on education, health care, or other social services. I’m convinced that by working together, Justin and I can help reduce costs of recidivism and contribute to safer communities. Doing so will require financial teamwork and money for obvious reasons: neither Justin nor I can work for free. We have to earn a living, and the nonprofit could raise resources for the purposes of paying us for services we can offer. While Justin served time with me here in Taft it wasn’t possible to advance the idea of launching a nonprofit. After all, forming a nonprofit organization isn’t easy, especially when the principals are incarcerated. One lesson I learned over the decades is that all worthwhile goals begin with vision, but achieving them requires persistence and commitment. With Justin’s release, we can work together to advance this idea of launching a nonprofit. He will do his part from outside fences, and I’ll do my part from in here. Although I understand that we may face many challenges along the way, I’m confident that we have a unified vision with regard to what we’re trying to create, and we both will drive forward with persistence and commitment. This work will further my goal of living a life of relevance while I serve what I expect to be my final three years. Research we’ve done to inquire on what it takes to form a nonprofit organization has given us an understanding of how to proceed. First of all, we must persuade the Internal Revenue Service that we can provide a benefit to people in society. If we succeed in that endeavor, the IRS will authorize the organization to raise money from philanthropic organizations, corporations, and individuals who support charitable giving. Raising financial resources in this dismal economic climate will prove challenging, especially when the people striving to raise the money have felony convictions. But without valid credentials from the IRS, we may not be able to raise money at all. I understand that some may question why we need to raise financial resources. We need money because we’re working to build a sustainable operation, one that can help transform troubled lives. Our target market will include at-risk youth and incarcerated individuals, people who cannot pay for the products we’ll create and distribute. I will undertake the responsibility of showing taxpayers the reasons why it’s in their best interest to support our cause. If we receive authorization from the IRS, we’ll work together to transform at-risk lives, empowering them to live as contributing citizens. I’m glad Justin joined me in formulating this plan of action. Now we must execute the plan. ******* The fall of 2009 passes easily for me here in the Taft federal prison camp. I’ve now served more than 22 years of my sentence. Although I don’t know precisely when I’ll walk out, I’m feeling strong, expecting that release will come within the next three years. I’m truly in the end game, and I’m fully aware of my responsibilities to have a plan in place for my return to society. Carole is working as a licensed vocational nurse in Los Angeles and studying microbiology in preparation to resume nursing school in January. Nichole, her daughter, is beginning studies at Washington State University, on her way to beginning a career in nursing as well. As far as I’m concerned, our family has triumphed over prison. Whereas the design of this system seems uniquely structured to lead individuals and families into perpetuating cycles of failure, the strategic, disciplined plan by which we’ve lived has brought us many blessings and strengthened us. Continuous progress keeps my spirit strong. Justin’s attorney has assured him that the nonprofit paperwork is in order, and we expect to receive authorization from the IRS to operate The Michael G. Santos Foundation by the end of this year. Three people have accepted Justin’s invitation to serve as board members of the nonprofit, and although I don’t know those board members, their oversight provides me with a real job: working to write proposals in search of funding. Although Justin has identified many potential philanthropic organizations, and I’m writing grant requests to each of them, The California Wellness Foundation impresses me as being the most promising. It has a multi-billion dollar endowment that is reserved for programs that enhance public safety. Julio Marcial serves as Justin’s contact at The California Wellness Foundation. We’ve learned that Julio has a real passion for helping at-risk youth. He knows that many of them grow up without resources or support systems in place, and few understand what steps they must take to leave the gangs and negative influences behind. As executive director of the Michael G. Santos Foundation, Justin told Julio about my journey. He made a strong case that we could create a program to show others how to embrace the same types of strategic, deliberate paths that empowered me to tune out the noise of external influences and prepare for success. Julio wants to see more. Despite the boldness of the request, I’m writing a proposal that shows why The California Wellness Foundation should fund The Michael G. Santos Foundation with a $150,000 grant. In this economic environment, resources are scarce and we face a huge challenge because many established nonprofit organizations will compete for the same limited funds. Still, despite my imprisonment and Justin’s recent release from imprisonment, I’m confident we can craft a winning plan. As someone who has spent more than half of his life in prison, I have strong opinions on why so many people struggle to adjust upon release. From my perspective, although the system is very good at warehousing human beings, the system fails in preparing offenders for law-abiding, contributing lives. Instead of encouraging offenders to work toward developing values, skills, and resources that will assist them upon release, it extinguishes hope and strives to suppress the human spirit. I’m asking the California Wellness Foundation to provide funding so that Justin’s foundation can craft a self-directed program that shows others how to transform their lives regardless of external influences or the noise of imprisonment. We can make a difference, but doing so will require us to confront headwinds from a system with a strong self-interest in perpetuating failure. ******* I pass through Christmas of 2009, my 23rd holiday season in prison, and into January of 2010, another new year. I’m still counting, not quite sure how many days of prison I have ahead of me, but I know that I have 8,180 days of imprisonment behind me. At this stage, prison doesn’t bother me in the least. I feel focused and driven, eager to seize every opportunity that comes my way. Carole has begun studies that will last throughout the year and conclude with her board-certified credentials as a registered nurse. It’s a big step for our family, but one that will provide Carole with a more fulfilling career, one that brings her more respect from her peers, colleagues, and community. I’m so happy for her, so proud of her, and so grateful that I’ve had income opportunities to support her through the journey. She is my center and I look forward to encouraging her through this year. It isn’t easy to live as the wife of a prisoner. For Carole, the challenge was particularly difficult because she came into my life when I had more than 15 years of prison behind me and more than a decade to go. Despite others always questioning her judgment, over the past seven years we’ve worked alongside each other, confronting repeated transfers and interferences from prison administrators to build a life of our own. Things are much better now, and they promise to improve as we cross through year 2010. Julio Marcial has told Justin that he intends to recommend a $150,000 grant for The Michael G. Santos Foundation. The premise is quite simple. Through the proposal I wrote, we argued that the system does not invest resources in preparing individuals for success upon release. It’s stated focus is to preserve security of the institution, and it doesn’t offer reentry programs until it’s too late, frequently only weeks or months before the scheduled release date. By that time, the prisoner is lost, without resources or a support network to assist his reentry. With funding, I suggested that I could write a program that would encourage prisoners and at-risk youth to pursue a self-directed path. I would do so by writing a series of books and workbooks that would show the precise steps I took to educate myself, contribute to society, and build a support network that would assist my transition upon release. It was what I said I would do very early on in my term, during that uncomfortable transition between my conviction and sentencing, during that time that I fell under the tutelage of Socrates. Recipients of the literature and coursework that I intend to write will see that they have the power within to change their lives. My job is to inspire hope, and together with Justin’s work, we’ve persuaded Julio to recommend that The California Wellness Foundation fund the vision. That funding provides resources to pay for my work, enough to ensure that I’ll have an easier transition upon my release. If all goes well, I’ll have $40,000 in savings to meet all of my financial expenses associated with my reentry, and another $40,000 in savings that I can draw upon to carry me through my first year of liberty. Through my work, I’ll show other prisoners how to empower themselves in the same measurable ways. ******* It’s Saturday morning, September 11, 2010, and as I’m returning from an early morning run, I approach a new face as I return to the housing unit from the track. More than 500 people serve time inside these boundaries, and although I don’t communicate or interact with many on a personal level, I recognize the men around me. This new guy and I don’t exchange words, but the way he nods at me in acknowledgement communicates volumes. That simple gesture is enough to let me know that he leads, that he’s capable of whatever he sets his mind to do, and that he is someone from whom I can learn. We’re assigned to the same housing unit. I look forward to introducing myself and I seize the opportunity a few hours later when I see him outside on the track. He’s taller than I am, with silver hair and olive skin. I guess that we’re about the same age, but I suspect we’ve had very different experiences. I know this world and I can help him understand it, but I sense that he’s from a different world that I’d like to learn more about. “Good morning,” I walk towards him. “Care to join me for a few laps around the track?” He agrees and we begin circling the dirt oval that surrounds ball fields and tennis courts. “Believe me,” I tell him, “it gets easier than it feels right now.” He looks at me, as if trying to figure out what I’m after. “My name is Michael Santos. I’ve been here for a while and can help you understand what you’re up against if you’re interested in a guide.” “Thanks,” he says. “I know a little about you because my family has been reading your website.” “That’s good to hear. I’ve been writing for the web for more than a decade but I’ve never actually seen a real webpage. I look forward to using the Internet for the first time, but that will have to wait for a couple more years at least.” “How do you publish your stuff online from in here?” “I write everything by hand and send it to my wife. She coordinates everything for me, typing it and then posting the content on my website. The work gets me through the time and helps build awareness about this wretched system we’re in. How long are you going to be with us?” “I’ve got 18 months.” “Well take a breath. You won’t serve that long. You’ll receive some good-time credits that will reduce the term by about three months, taking it down to about 15 months. Depending on your personal circumstances, you may serve the final months of your term in a halfway house or home confinement.” “How do I arrange that?” “You’ll go through some administrative processing over the next couple of weeks. Don’t push these people, the staff I mean. Just let it evolve. There isn’t much of anything you can do to influence events in here. But if you let things take their course, and you don’t bother the staff with too many requests, you’ll probably be living in a halfway house a year from now. The secret to serving that time is to make progress every day that you’re here, to work toward something that will improve your life some.” He snarls. “Like what? What can a guy do from inside this hellhole?” I laugh. “It’s not that bad. Where’re you from?” “Silicon Valley.” “What’re you, a banker or a broker?” From his diction and mannerisms, I know that he’s in here for a white-collar crime, but I don’t know what type of work he did. He doesn’t strike me as engineer. “I was the CEO of a technology company.” “Which one?” “Brocade Communications.” I stop on the track and look at him. “You’re Greg Reyes.” He stares back at me and I see his brow wrinkle, a cross between curiosity and ferocity, guarded, as if he doesn’t know what to make of my intentions. “I don’t mean to be intrusive, dude,” I say, “but I’ve admired your courage and strength for many years. I read the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of your case. When it reported on your conviction, I told my wife about you and that I hoped to meet you, to learn from you. In fact, in some twisted way, I feel as if I willed you here. As the years passed and you didn’t show up, I assumed that you must’ve won on appeal.” Greg relaxes with my explanation of why I’m familiar with his background. Not only did I read the Forbes profile of him being one of America’s youngest billionaires, but I also watched his stewardship of Brocade, taking it public and steering it to a peak market valuation that once exceeded $20 billion. “I did win on appeal,” he tells me. “The appeals court reversed my conviction because the prosecution lied repeatedly through my first trial. But the government tried me a second time. Prosecutors told new lies that brought a second conviction. I’m on appeal for that case as well. Rather than wait it out, I turned myself in because I didn’t want to live with the horror of this prison sentence hanging over my head.” The national business news reports on Greg’s case frequently. Although more than 200 CEOs in Silicon Valley authorized the practice of backdating stock options for rank-and-file employees, no one authorized those practices with any criminal intent or with a goal of self-enrichment. There isn’t another CEO in America who serves time for the offense, and Greg expresses considerable anger at having his name dragged through the mud because of these accusations. “Why don’t you use this time to write your story,” I suggest. “Set the record straight, explaining in your own words exactly what happened. If you don’t do it, the only record out there is going to be the government allegations.” “Writing isn’t my strong suit.” “I’ll help you,” I urge him on. “This is an important project. You have to tell your story. If you can talk about it, I can help you write it in your own words. It would be a great project, carrying both of us through the next year.” I see him churning over the idea. “How would you see the project unfolding?” “It’s simple. I’ll ask you questions. Some of the questions may seem foolish and irrelevant, but I’ll ask because I want to understand as much as you’ll share. We’ll talk each day for several hours. Early each morning, I’ll write out notes of what I learned. After you’ve told me everything, I’ll outline the story, try to put some structure around it. If I can tell it back to you, then we’ll move forward with a more formal, chapter-by-chapter interview. I’ll write a chapter, then read it to you. If you approve it, we’ll move on to the next one and repeat the sequence until we’ve told the entire story.” He reaches over and shakes my hand. “Let’s do it.” *******
Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, by Michael Santos Episode 14.2 Months 233-266: Life in Taft Federal Prison camp with Justin Paperny and teaching and writing for Joan Petersilia ******* It’s June 11, 2008. I stand in front of 30 other people who are serving time with me in Taft. We’re sitting sitting under dim lights on cushioned chairs in the corner of an industrial warehouse. It’s one of the few buildings at Taft Camp without air conditioning. The summer heat, together with swarms of flies, keeps us pulling at our shirts and swatting air. We’re here because it’s the only room large enough to facilitate a series of self-help classes that I enjoy teaching. The warehouse has high ceilings with exposed pipes, wiring, and metal walls supported by thick steel beams. If it had a grass floor, the space would be sufficient for indoor football. But the floor is concrete. Except for the niche carved out for our class area, we see stacks of wheelchairs in various stages of repair. My roommate, David, is part of a crew that spends several hours each day refurbishing the wheelchairs for donation to Wheels of the World, a prison-sponsored program that serves needy communities. Prisoners, even those in camp, struggle with their separation from society. Motivating men who worry about the challenges that await them, who wonder daily about their wives, about their children, about how they will find employment upon release, or about how to muster the strength to pass through years of imprisonment, requires preparation. By this time, the summer of 2008, I’ve had 21 years of preparation. I get a sense of fulfillment by teaching strategies, tactics, and concepts that have helped my adjustment through the journey. I always start by asking questions, like asking the men to define what it means to live as a successful prisoner. Or their interpretation of the best possible outcome for someone serving a prison sentence. One person tells me that a successful person in prison is someone who doesn’t receive any disciplinary infractions. I use a blue felt pen to write his answer on the whiteboard. Another person tells me it’s someone who can hold onto his family while in prison. Other responses include a person who educates himself. Or a guy that manages to hang on to at least some resources in the world so that when he gets out, he has a shot at making a new star. After writing answers on the board, I walk into the center of the crowd and face the board. I point out how prison administrators love to hear such responses, and I ask Mr. Moreland, the staff member sits in the back of the class, his thoughts. He confirms that they’re good answers. “Good answers, Mr. Moreland says,” I repeat loud enough so everyone will hear. “But I’d give each answer a C-minus at best, and I’m being generous,” I say. Men shift silently in their chairs and the supervising staff member puts down his candy bar. I have their attention. “Those answers reflect the common response of all prisoners across the nation. But they’re not enough. To be a successful prisoner requires you to do more.” I walk toward the board and check off the class responses as I work through each. —“Instead of focusing on avoiding disciplinary infractions, a successful person selects positive activities that will contribute to success upon release. —“He doesn’t only hold on to his family, a successful person works daily to strengthen family bonds and to contribute in meaningful ways to his family. —“He not only educates himself, but a successful person uses what he learns to enrich himself and society. —“He not only hangs on to resources, but creates new resources that will assure he leaves prison strong, with absolute certainty that he will succeed upon release. “The key to a successful prison experience is to envision clearly how you want to emerge. Don’t limit yourself to the minimum, but envision the best possible outcome, and use that vision as a beacon to make certain that every step leads you closer to the outcome you choose.” “But prison blocks us from doing things like that,” Tim, one of the class participants objects. “How are we supposed to contribute to our families when we’re not allowed to earn an income?” Over the next ten weeks I engage the class, drawing on my experiences to inspire them to create their own successful life plans. “Success does not materialize by accident,” I emphasize, “but through deliberate actions.” In each session I challenge the men to accept full responsibility for their lives and to focus on what they can accomplish rather than the obstacles that limit them. Justin Paperny, a white-collar offender who reported to Taft Camp in the late spring of 2008, becomes the most enthusiastic participant in my class. Justin graduated from the University of Southern California, then he went on to build a career as a young stockbroker. Indiscretion with his oversight of a hedge fund led to Justin’s 18-month sentence for securities law violations. “The thing is,” Justin comments from his seat in the center of the class, “some of us might have to start over completely when we leave here. Our convictions mean that we can’t return to the same professions. With this dismal economy, it’s tough to stay motivated when we know what we’re facing outside.” “That’s a good start,” I respond. “It shows that you understand what’s ahead. Since you’ve thought about those issues, may I ask you a few questions?” He shrugs. “Go ahead.” “You’ve been here for a month now,” I observe. “Tell the class how your life differs today from the day you surrendered.” “What do you mean?” “How is your life different?” I press. “That’s not such a tough question.” He laughs. “Well, it’s obvious. I’m a prisoner and I’m serving the sentence my judge imposed.” “Well, we’re all in prison. But what have you been doing with your time since you surrendered a month ago?” “Oh, I’ve got you,” he says. “Mostly I’ve been exercising. I’ve dropped 10 pounds and I’m getting stronger with pull-ups. While I’m here I intend to exercise regularly, to get back into great physical shape.” “Who in here is exercising?” I ask the class. Most hands shoot up. “Excellent. I get the importance of exercise and I run every day. But exercise only takes up a small part of the day. It’s only one part, like brushing my teeth. I exercise to stay fit, but one certainty I can count on is that no one is going to pay me for how many pushups I can do, or how many miles I can run when I get out of here. Unless you’re planning for a career as a fitness model or a personal trainer, I suggest you devote more time to preparing to conquer the obstacles that you know await you.” “But what else can I do?” Justin asks. That’s the question each man in prison must answer for himself every day. A successful person in prison would know how to answer. The answer for one person isn’t going to be the same response that another prisoner gives. If employment prospects await, if family relationships are important, or if we need to educate ourselves further, we should know how to answer the question: What else can I do to prepare? When we live that way, we never stumble when someone asks a question such as ‘How is your life different?’ We don’t stumble because we’re on the course we charted for success, as we define success. “What if we don’t know what we want to do?” Charles asks. He’s a middle-aged, disbarred lawyer from Newport Beach serving a two-year sentence for misappropriating funds from his client’s trust account. “Are any of you familiar with Viktor Frankl?” I ask the class. No one raises a hand. Viktor Frankl was a medical doctor in Germany. The Nazis threw him and his family into concentration camps. They murdered his family, but he survived. Dr. Frankl later wrote that as long as man could find meaning in life, he could overcome anything. He spent three years as a Nazi prisoner, never knowing from one day to the next whether he would be alive the following day. Frankl drew strength by helping others. Like Frankl, any of us can build strength by helping others. We should be open to acknowledging what brings meaning, happiness, positive challenges, and stimulation to our life, regardless of where we are. By helping others, we open possibilities for finding our particular path through challenge. I give examples describing how other prisoners I’ve known used their time inside to effectively launch new careers. I tell of one prisoner who studied science during his term, and left prison to launch a company that converts discarded cooking oil into fuel for heavy equipment. I talk about another prisoner who secured several offers of employment simply by writing unsolicited letters to prospective employers from his community, describing his work ethic, and asking for a chance. The point I try to make, and the example I try to set, is that we cannot wait until release. We have a responsibility now to anticipate the problems we’ll face after prison, and we must prepare every day to overcome them. ******* “Why do you write so much?” Justin, the former stockbroker, asks as he sits across from me at the round table where I work. “Because I can’t sell stocks,” I answer him. He laughs. “I’m serious.” “I am too. I write every day because I want to become a better communicator. I plan to build a career around the experiences I’ve had in prison. The strategies that pulled me through can be applied to any kind of adversity. Since my prison record will make it difficult to support myself any other way, and since I need to support my family, I invest between 10 and 12 hours every day writing, reading, or preparing presentations.” “I wish I had that kind of clarity about my future.” “When do you get out?” I ask Justin. “I finish my sentence in August of 2009.” “Why don’t you do the same thing?” I ask. “What do you mean? Write? Speak?” “Sure. Why not? You’ve got a degree from USC. You were a registered investment advisor caught up in an ethics scandal. Don’t you think others have made the same bad decisions?” “Probably.” “Of course they did. If you watch the news, or look at our prison system, you’ll see that millions of people lose their way. Figure out how you can help them, and you’ve got a new career. You can spend your time in Taft like I do, preparing for a career upon release.” Justin locks his fingers behind his head and leans back. He pauses in thought while I write. “Do you think there’s a market for that?” he asks. “Only if you prepare. You’ve got to create the market, and if that’s what you want to pursue, you’ve got to work as many hours as I do.” ******* The schedule I keep doesn’t lend itself to building friendships. Also, I search for privacy wherever I can find it, nurturing my need for solace by writing, reading, and exercising. When I spend time with others it’s usually related to my work. I interview other people for a story I want to write, or I practice my speaking skills by teaching a class. Sometimes I’ll work one-on-one with another prisoner, like David, helping him prepare for the GED exam. “Write short sentences using words that you’re certain you can spell correctly” is the advice I drill into him during our lessons. He passes the essay portion of his exam and continues to study as a college student. Justin, however, isn’t studying for a GED. He has a university degree and a history of earning a high income. When people mistake me for a man who recently surrendered, or when their jaws drop as they learn I’ve been a prisoner since 1987, I feel a sense of validation, as if the plan I set decades earlier worked out. I want others to see me as a citizen with something to contribute. That validation comes when men like Justin seek my counsel. Justin takes my advice and begins working closely with me. He gives up television and table games. He devotes himself wholeheartedly to exercise and preparation for life after prison. We become close friends. I suggest steps he can take to position himself for a new career as a speaker and consultant upon his release. I show him how I reach beyond prison boundaries to connect with the world by writing for my website. He launches his own website at JustinPaperny.com. I urge him to write a manuscript. Since he has never written for publication before, I work with him to outline chapters for a new book that we call, Lessons From Prison. Our friendship grows when he introduces Carole and me to his family and friends who visit each week. “I’ve told Brad about your work ethic, about all you’ve done in here and your plans for when you get out,” Justin tells me after Carole and I meet some of his friends in the visiting room. His friend, Brad Fullmer, had a superstar career in professional baseball. He’s one of the few major leaguers to hit a homerun in his first at bat for a professional team. He capped his long career in professional baseball by stealing home during the World Series for the California Angels. “What do you think about letting Brad and me make an investment in your career?” Justin asks. “Have you told him that I’m scheduled to serve five more years?” “He knows,” Justin tells me, “and I know. Some investments take years to pay off. We think you’re a winner and we’d like to participate.” “Let me think about it.” In weighing the possibility of selling a piece of my future earnings, I sit alone in my cubicle. I’m on a plastic chair, leaning back against a concrete wall, propping my feet against the steel post that supports the rack I call my bed. My steel locker has two shelves on the left that hold my folded gray sweats and underwear; it’s above the shelf where I store my dictionary, papers, and dusty running shoes. Over the past 21 years I’ve had to store my possessions inside these types of lockers. But from these lockers with only pens, discipline, and work, I’ve created a life for myself. I look at the pictures of Carole that I’ve taped to the inside of my locker’s doors. She’s the most beautiful woman in the world to me, not only because of her sparkling eyes and smile, but because of the way she has believed in me, given herself so completely to me, strengthening me in ways that no one else could as she served this sentence with me. I look forward to making her life better, just as she has made my life better. I pull Carole’s picture down and hold it in my hands. The image is a poor substitute for holding my wife. On non-visiting days, I sometimes need this tangible feeling of her in my hands. During the five years we’ve been married, my writing has generated more than $200,000 in after-tax earnings for Carole. That’s not much by the standards of society. Still, I’m immensely proud to have earned those resources from prison. I created those resources with pens, paper, and perseverance. Those funds supported her and Nichole, allowing them to move from state to state following my “prison trail.” They allowed Carole to return to college. Despite tremendous hardships and obstacles, she graduated first in her nursing class and now earns her own income. I don’t need to sell a piece of what I’ve worked so hard to create, yet I want to give my wife the security that savings in the bank can provide. I stare at the concrete walls and block out the buzz from the fluorescent light to calculate a fair, present-day value for earnings that will not begin to flow until my release from prison, in five years. What a ridiculous concept. I’m a prisoner, and after more than a quarter century inside, conventional wisdom would question whether I could earn minimum wage, if I could find employment at all. Whatever earnings come, I’ll have to create them. And who can judge the market or anticipate earnings for a man with five years remaining to serve? My experience as a speculator in the stock market convinced me that an investment is only worth what the next investor is willing to pay for it. I’m encouraged that Brad and Justin want to invest in my potential. Yet I’m also aware that I don’t have a line of investors waiting to hand me a check for the right to a percentage of my future earnings, if I ever have any earnings. I negotiate a number. It’s enough to ensure that I can live a full year upon release without earning a single dime, enough to provide Carole with security while I finish serving this sentence. In exchange for money in the bank today, I sell the right to ten cents of every dollar parts of the Michael Santos brand will earn. Time will tell whether I sold too cheaply, but the agreement is fair to me today. When I tell my wife about the check Brad is going to hand her in the prison’s parking lot after our visit concludes, her smile makes the deal worthwhile. I’m easing Carole’s life during the worst economic recession of our lifetime, and I’m coordinating the deal from prison. That’s priceless. ******* In the fall of 2008, I sit beside Justin as we watch election results. Voters just elected Barack Obama as America’s 44th President. I began serving my term under Ronald Reagan. When the first George Bush spoke about a kinder, gentler America, I thought change might come. Bill Clinton encouraged me to hope. With George W. Bush, I shook my head and accepted that his call for second chances and compassion would never extend to those in prison. President-elect Obama calls for a bottom-up government that values all American citizens. I’m filled with hope because it seems America has elected a leader who understands the needs of our society, all of our society, maybe even those in prison. Carole and I enjoy a wonderful visit on Friday, March 27, 2009. I call her in the late afternoon to ensure that she arrived home safely. She gives me great news when she answers. I learn that Joan Petersilia, a distinguished professor from the Stanford law school, sent a message through our website. Early in my term I began sending out unsolicited letters to academics I admired. I remember writing to Joan on two separate occasions. I always felt like a fisherman at sea, casting lines, hoping to make a connection. I understand that, sometimes, those connections would take years to materialize. Sometimes people respond, other times they don’t. For every 100 letters I send out, I expect to receive a single reply. I consider that ratio a wonderful success, even when the reply doesn’t come for years, as it has with this message from Joan. Dr. Petersilia wrote that she’s been using my work for years as a resource for teaching her classes, which is wonderful news. She astounds me with an invitation to contribute a chapter for The Oxford Handbook on Sentencing and Corrections, a new book she is co-authoring with Kevin Reitz, a law professor from the University of Minnesota. Professor Petersilia is one of the nation’s most distinguished penologists, serving as an advisor to the governor on matters concerning the state of California’s prison system. Legislators and other government leaders from across the nation seek her counsel. As one of one out of 2.3 million prisoners in the United States, I feel honored that even knows who I am. Her invitation to publish alongside her leaves me amazed and deeply honored. I set to work at once, eager to finish the chapter long before the due date. I consider these types of writing projects as enormous opportunities. For decades I’ve worked hard to earn credentials and develop skills that would allow me to make meaningful contributions to society, but I’m in a different phase of the journey now. Every day it becomes more apparent to me that I must make a shift in strategy. I’m in the final months of my imprisonment now, and I have to think about deliberate steps I can take that will help ease my transition into society upon release. It’s coming. Writing for Professor Petersilia is a wonderful opportunity. The investment of time will introduce my work to thousands of scholars who have an interest in improving our nation’s prison system. When I emerge from prison, I’ll need to earn a living, and doing so will require that I surmount some enormous hurdles. Since I intend to build a career around all that I learned as a long-term prisoner, I’ll need the types of professional relationships that distinguished scholars like Joan Petersilia can open. She is the type of role model I need, and as I’ve done with all of my mentors, I intend to prove worthy of her support. Besides building contacts, however, I also need to focus on steps I can take to build an income stream. It’s going to cost me an enormous amount of financial resources to settle in society. I don’t know where Carole and I will make our home, but wherever we go, I’ll need to have a substantial savings account in place to cover the costs of my reentry. I calculate how much I’ll need to spend once I walk out of prison. During those first few weeks of liberty, I’ll need to purchase items that most people accumulate over decades. With the cost of clothes, computers, and housing, those expenses, I’ll drop a minimum of $40,000. Fortunately, as a result of decisions I’ve made along the way, I expect that I’ll have more than twice that amount in a savings account that I’ve been building. I’m determined to succeed. By sowing seeds along the way, I’ll walk out of prison after 26 years with sufficient resources to ensure that nothing is going to block my pathway to success. I’m determined to leave prison ready, without external influences like economic challenges to block me. I’ll have values, skills, and resources in place to make it.
How to Find a Lawyer When I was 20 years old, I saw the movie Scarface, with Al Pacino. The idea of trafficking in cocaine looked exciting. I called acquaintances I had in Miami. Before long, I orchestrated sales in multiple-kilogram quantities. I coordinated people to transport cocaine across the country. Foolishly, I convinced me that since I didn’t handle the cocaine myself, I wasn’t really breaking the law. As a precaution, long before I got caught, I hired a criminal defense lawyer. But I didn’t have any idea on how what questions I ask to hire a lawyer. As a result, I gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to a lawyer who told me what I wanted to hear, rather than what I needed to hear. In my case, the result of hiring the wrong lawyer translated into a 45-year prison term. Don’t make the same mistake. Learn everything possible about the steps you should take. Learn how to find the right lawyer. My partner, Justin Paperny, describes some similar challenges. He had been working as a stockbroker and he’d never been in trouble before. In Lessons from Prison, Justin reveals some of his bad decisions. By not understanding how to hire a lawyer, he flushed tens of thousands down the drain. When he wasn’t honest with his lawyer, he put himself in a worse position, exposing him to significantly harsher punishment. Our team interacts with thousands of people that face challenges with both civil and criminal law-enforcement agencies. Perhaps a story about Darren, one of our clients, may illustrate the challenge that people face when they don’t quite know how to find a lawyer. Hiring a Lawyer: Darren had been in business for more than a decade and he worked with corporate lawyers extensively. He contacted our team when he realized that some of his decisions on the job were about to expose him to problems with regulatory agencies, and possibly to challenges with the Department of Justice. Darren’s problem reminded me of my own challenges. As I wrote in Lessons from Prison, I was a stockbroker at UBS when I learned that some of my decisions brought me to the attention of officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission. I knew that I needed a lawyer, but I didn’t know how to find a lawyer. When authorities like the SEC, the FCC, the FTC, or the FDA start asking questions about how to hire a lawyer. Use Contacts: Check with people you know who have had experience in working with criminal defense lawyers. Learn from their experiences. If you know someone who has been to prison, ask them what they heard about their experiences of working with criminal defense lawyers. Learn about the costs before making a hiring decision. Any defendant searching to find a lawyer may want to research the lawyer’s area of expertise. If a lawyer has extensive experience in a given area, that lawyer may be more familiar with case law, statutes, arguments, and decisions that could prove beneficial. Consider questions to ask before you speak with the lawyer. About each lawyer’s rate for billable hours, Important to know so a defendant can get an idea of how much to budget. In some cases, a lawyer may be able to resolve a plea negotiation and guilty plea in less than 100 billable hours, preparing for trial in federal court would likely require several hundred billable hours. About the lawyer’s position on accepting a flat fee for the entire case, A flat fee may or may not serve the interest of the defendant. Every case is different. On the plus side, a defendant that has a flat fee knows exactly how much to budget. On the negative side, a lawyer that receives a flat fee may be disinclined to devote much time to the case after he is paid. About the types of cases, he or she practiced, A lawyer that specializes in defending tax cases may not be the best fit for a defendant facing criminal charges related to mail fraud that could result in the loss of liberty. About the lawyer’s expertise in sentencing matters, More than 75 percent of the people that face charges in federal court eventually have a sentencing hearing. What level of expertise does the prospective lawyer have with sentencing in the given jurisdiction? About the size of the lawyer’s team, A lawyer with a large team may be able to outsource work to associates or paralegals that bill at a lower hourly rate. The lawyer will have discretion, but it’s helpful to know that the lawyer is cost-conscious of a defendant’s resources. About the lawyer’s philosophy on communication with clients, Some lawyers make themselves readily available to defendants, even providing cell-phone numbers for communication. Other lawyers prefer to work independently, leaving defendants out of the communication loop. About whether the lawyer would be receptive to accepting a 5-hour retainer to get started, just to see if a good fit exists for a productive working relationship. Some lawyers will not get started on a case without a minimum retainer. In federal cases, that initial retainer often exceeds $50,000. As Jim experienced, it’s difficult to make an assessment on an initial free consultation. If you’re searching to find a lawyer, create a plan. To the extent that it’s possible, create a series of questions that will help you gauge whether the attorney is the right fit for you. It’s important to be honest about your current situation and what you expect. If you go into a meeting with a lawyer and minimize your conduct, you may set yourself up for a bad outcome. Brian, for example, was a director with a large financial services company. His employer had an insurance policy for “officers and directors.” The policy would pay legal fees for people in specific positions. When federal authorities indicted Brian, he hired an experienced white-collar criminal defense attorney that would send all bills to the insurance company. The law firm launched a scorched-earth defense strategy, and quickly burned through the $500,000 cap on legal fees. When that insurance bill expired, the lawyers told Brian that he should plead guilty and that he would be responsible for the remainder of his bill—which amounted to an additional $75,000. “I always knew that at the end of the day, I was going to plead guilty,” Brian told me. “When I went to find a lawyer, I went along with what they said. They wanted to contest every document. But every time they read a document, they charged exorbitant fees. There bills showed that I was burning through more than $20,000 on legal fees some days.” If it’s true that Brian knew he would eventually plead guilty, when he looked to find a lawyer, he may have been better suited to find an attorney with a strong track record of making great plea deals. At the end of the day, any defendant that needs to learn how to find a lawyer should follow the path that Darren pursued. To the extent possible, use contacts to ascertain the expertise, honesty, and competence of lawyers with regard to specific types of cases, in a specific jurisdiction. Approach those lawyers with a list of questions that will help you determine if you think that you work well together. To the extent possible, ask the lawyer to accept a limited engagement to test the waters. Most importantly, make certain that you have the financial resources available to support the decision you make.
Jeffy only wants to talk about the two most important stories in the news cycle. COVID-19 is OFFICIALLY a pandemic and Harvey Weinstein gets 23 yrs in prison after being found guilty of third degree rape. Justin Paperny, founder of White Collar Advice joins the show to talk about prison consulting and how someone like Harvey should look for while in prison. Jeffy and Kris Cruz talk about the evacuation plans if they decide to leave the DFW area. Don't PANIC too much, but do have a plan if things get worse. Subscribe on YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The United Auto Workers union went on strike at General Motors sending almost 50,000 members to the picket lines. The union is pushing for GM to improve wages, narrow the pay gap between new and old workers, and reopen plants that have shut down. Among other things, GM wants workers to pay for a greater portion of their healthcare costs. Phoebe Wall Howard, auto and labor reporter for the Detroit Free Press, joins us for more. Next, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has filed for bankruptcy as part of their deal to resolve thousands of lawsuits accusing it of causing an opioid epidemic, but legal battles will still continue because half of the states involved have not signed on to the deal. Sara Randazzo, reporter for the WSJ, joins us for what we know about how Purdue Pharma is trying to settle its part in the opioid crisis. Finally, actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced last week to serve 14 days in prison and pay a $30,000 fine for her role in the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions cheating scandal. Justin Paperny, founder of White Collar Advice and a federal prison consultant, joins us for what Huffman can expect in prison and also the big questions… what does this mean for other parents waiting for their time in court? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Justin Paperny (@justinpaperny) was a successful stockbroker who made some bad decisions and wound up serving 18 months in prison for violating securities laws. Now he helps others prepare for time behind bars and after. He's the author of Lessons From Prison. What We Discuss with Justin Paperny: What happens when white-collar criminals go to jail. Why otherwise good people might find themselves on the wrong end of the justice system. How someone prepares to do time inside a federal prison -- and what they can expect once they leave. How easy it can be for people to rationalize criminal behavior and lose control of their moral compass. Why Justin counts his 18 months behind bars as one of the best experiences of his life. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://jordanharbinger.com/226 Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! Does your business have an Internet presence? Save up to a whopping 62% on new webhosting packages with HostGator at hostgator.com/jordan! Need custom graphics, logos, or Web design? Access a community of 600,000+ designers by registering at designcrowd.com/jordan and enjoy up to $100 off with The Jordan Harbinger Show bonus offer! Eight Sleep is the first bed engineered with dynamic cooling and heating that keeps you at the perfect temperature all night long. Get $100 off your purchase when you go to EightSleep.com/jordan! Solgar has been making vitamin supplements since 1947 in small batches to help ensure consistency in every product for the fitness-minded. Go to luckyvitamin.com/solgar right now and get $5.00 off your order of $25 or more through July 31st with code JORDAN! Häagen-Dazs invites you to treat yourself to any one of the nine flavors of its Trio Crispy Layers collection. With 15 layers of decadence, you can indulge like never before. Head to haagendazs.com to learn more! Mind Pump is an online radio show/podcast dedicated to providing truthful fitness and health information. It is sometimes raw, sometimes shocking, and is always entertaining and helpful. Jack up your ears with some Mind Pump wisdom here! Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider...
Justin Paperny, who spent time in prison and now prepares others for their time behind bars, visits with Dr. Phil on this week’s Phil in the Blanks podcast to discuss the infamous college admissions cheating scandal involving celebrities and wealthy parents. Listen in as Paperny, author of Lessons From Prison and Ethics in Motion, reveals what he believes is the motivation that caused these parents to cheat – and why he believes all the defendants in the headline-making scandal are going to prison. For more information: https://www.drphilintheblanks.com/
After a one-week hiatus, the lads are back. While debating white privilege and the Varsity Blues scandal, they also take a look at some of this week’s top compliance and ethics stories which caught their collective eyes this week. 1. Guilty pleas begin in the Varsity Blues scandal. For those who did not plead guilty, additional charges filed. Jay interviews Justin Paperny about the Varsity Blues sting. For one of the best and fullest explanations, see Caitlan Flanagan’s article in The Atlantic.2. Does your company lack integrity? Mike Volkov gives 5 signs which show it does. 3. Standard Chartered joins the $1 bn fine club.4. What is the intersection of DD and AI? 5. OFAC enforcement action demonstrates need for pre-acquisition due diligence? 6. What is ethical AI?7. What are the shifting reasons for FCPA enforcement?. 8. What are the risks to investors in Uber? 9. This week Tom explores the intersection of Shakespeare and Compliance through the lens of King Lear. Check out the following: Part 1-Innovation;Part 2- Changing Your Focus; Part 3- Engaging Your Audience; Part 4-a Different Interpretation; and Part 5-The Fool. The podcast is available on multiple sites: the FCPA Compliance Report, iTunes, JDSupra, Panoplyand YouTube. The Compliance Podcast Network is now also on Spotifyand Corporate Compliance Insights. Tom Fox is the Compliance Evangelist and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com. For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After a one-week hiatus, the lads are back. While debating white privilege and the Varsity Blues scandal, they also take a look at some of this week’s top compliance and ethics stories which caught their collective eyes this week. 1. Guilty pleas begin in the Varsity Blues scandal. For those who did not plead guilty, additional charges filed. Jay interviews Justin Paperny about the Varsity Blues sting. For one of the best and fullest explanations, see Caitlan Flanagan’s article in The Atlantic.2. Does your company lack integrity? Mike Volkov gives 5 signs which show it does. 3. Standard Chartered joins the $1 bn fine club.4. What is the intersection of DD and AI? 5. OFAC enforcement action demonstrates need for pre-acquisition due diligence? 6. What is ethical AI?7. What are the shifting reasons for FCPA enforcement?. 8. What are the risks to investors in Uber? 9. This week Tom explores the intersection of Shakespeare and Compliance through the lens of King Lear. Check out the following: Part 1-Innovation;Part 2- Changing Your Focus; Part 3- Engaging Your Audience; Part 4-a Different Interpretation; and Part 5-The Fool. The podcast is available on multiple sites: the FCPA Compliance Report, iTunes, JDSupra, Panoplyand YouTube. The Compliance Podcast Network is now also on Spotifyand Corporate Compliance Insights. Tom Fox is the Compliance Evangelist and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com. For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
AOC breaks down the actual costs of climate change. Sarah Kendzior LIVE on Barr's summary of the Mueller report. An undercover investigation reveals how the NRA responds after a massacre. An NRA official reached out to a Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist after the Parkland shooting. Federal Prison Consultant Justin Paperny LIVE on what he's told the college cheating scandal suspects. A new Deomocratic Congressional Campaign Committee policy stifles primary challengers.Guest: Sarah Kendzior & Justin Paperny See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Nicholas Mitsakos Prepares for Federal Prison Authorities charged Nicholas Mitsakos with a crime related to securities fraud. He graduated from USC and he earned an MBA from Harvard. Despite those impressive credentials, he now must prepare to serve a 30-month sentence in federal prison. In today's episode, Nicholas describes the dark feelings that accompanied his experience with the criminal justice system. For decades, he worked in the financial services industry with colleagues like Michael Milken. Nick said that his lawyer did not prepare him for the challenges ahead. Instead, he had to do his own research that would help his search for information. Nick's lawyer recommended that he contact Justin Paperny. They began working on a strategy that would get him ready for the journey ahead. On January 5, Nicholas must surrender to the federal prison camp in Sheridan, Oregon. While there, he will work to prepare for the successful life he wants to lead upon release. In today's podcast, we discuss strategies that empowered me through 26 years of imprisonment. Those same strategies can work for Nicholas, and anyone else who goes into the system. Those who want information on how they can prepare for a successful journey through prison should text PrisonPro to 44222. Or they should continue listening to the Prison Professors podcast! Please subscribe.
If you've been listening to the past four episodes, you know that we've been offering a series to help those who want to prepare for prison. Learn how to master it quickly by following the guidance we offered. The first episode in the series explained the process of going in. In the second episode, we offered insight on how to influence the right decision makers. In the third episode, we covered custody and classification. In our fourth episode in the series, we spoke about the importance of preparing. Today brings our fifth and final episode in the series. We continue the theme of preparing, but this time by emphasizing how a personal narrative can help. Instead of complaining, start writing the next chapter of your life. According to the Department of Justice, grand juries or prosecutors bring charges against more than 80,000 people every year. Statements made from our current Attorney General, suggest that those numbers will rise during the Trump administration. Documentation published on the Department of Justice website lead us to this conclusion. For example, consider the Memorandum that Jeff Sessions published on May 10, 2017: MEMORANDUM FOR ALL FEDERAL PROSECUTORS In the second paragraph, the Attorney General says: “First, it is a core principle that prosecutors should charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense.” The Memorandum goes on to rescind previous policy decisions that gave more discretion to prosecutors. As a result, prosecutors will bring charges against more people. In light of the Sessions Memorandum, we anticipate prosecutors will initiate more grand jury proceedings. Those proceedings will lead to more criminal indictments. Prosecutors will also initiate charges through a process known as Rule 7 (b), a Criminal Information. With a Criminal Information, a person may waive indictment and simply agree to plead guilty to the charges a prosecutor brings. Whether through an Indictment or a Criminal Information, at Prison Professors, we believe more people go to prison. That's why our team publishes so much free information to help. Subscribe to our Prison Professors podcast to learn while you drive, while you exercise, or whenever it suits you. Each of my partners at Prison Professors knows a great deal about being charged. We also know the facts. According to easily verifiable statistics, prison follows for the vast majority of people who face charges in federal court. Yet a federal prison term doesn't necessarily mean the end of the road. Staring down a lengthy prison term can bring a disheartening feeling, as if you're looking into an abyss. We've encountered many people who faced criminal charges. Many went to prison. Some of those people prospered in prison. Others fell into a deep hole. In segments that we published previously, we've given some initial insights about how to master prison quickly. We could offer instructions for days. To break it down simply, we recommend adhering to the same principles to succeed or overcome any other challenge. There are specific steps, as follows: Visualize success. What's the best possible outcome? Create a plan. What steps will take you from where you are today, to the success that you envision? Set priorities. As we've mentioned before, it's crucial that you set incremental goals. Know and understand that achieving one goal will put you on a pathway to achieving higher goals. More to come on this subject in future installments of our podcast episodes and chapters. Execute the plan. Although a plan is essential, without execution, it's nothing more than happy talk. Leaders take action every day. If you're following the Prison Professors pathway, you'll take action. You'll climb from where you are today, to the success you're determined to become tomorrow. Still, we recognize that it isn't easy. Statistics show that the vast majority of people face many struggles upon release. Others return to society and thrive. As examples, I frequently cite my partners. Our team shows people how to succeed through prison and beyond. Our personal experiences convince us that if we prepare early, we enhance prospects for success. We don't mean success on a marginal level. We mean success on multiple levels. Success is a mindset. The sooner we can adopt that mindset of success, the sooner we can advance prospects for success. Surrendering to Prison: When prosecutors choose to bring charges against a defendant, life changes. We never know when the time will come for us to surrender. For example, in Justin's case, prosecutors brought charges against him. Yet the judge did not order U.S. Marshals to take Justin into custody. Justin remained free on bond while his judicial proceedings played out. His judge allowed him to surrender to federal prison voluntarily several weeks after the sentence. In my case, authorities took me into custody on the day of my arrest. I'll always remember that day. It was August 11, 1987. I was 23. I had never been to prison before. Yet the bad decisions I began making when I was 20 caught up with me. I faced a sentence of multiple decades in prison. I remained in custody until I concluded my sentence in a federal halfway house more than 26 years later, on August 12, 2013. Take another case, like that of Paul Manafort. A federal grand jury charged Mr. Manafort with several charges, including conspiracy against the United States and money laundering. After he surrendered to face the charges, the court placed Manafort under “house arrest,” which is a form of imprisonment. After a month on house arrest, he pledged assets that allowed him to go free on bond until the charges were resolved. We never know when authorities will require a defendant to surrender to prison. Yet we know that the sooner a person establishes a deliberate course of action, the sooner a person can stop the free fall that derails peace for so many defendants. In our previous episode, we encouraged people to define success. We encourage people to remember the pathway to overcome challenges. For some people, challenges define the rest of their lives. For others, the way that they responded to challenges defines the rest of their lives. We ask defendants to make a decision. Will they allow prison to define them? Or will they make decisions that show they can overcome. Personal Narrative: One strategy that worked for us, and that we encourage for others, includes writing a personal narrative. Write that narrative at the soonest possible time. If possible, get that narrative into the presentence investigation report. Let me explain why. When authorities allege that someone has committed a crime, that crime can have a tendency to consume the individual. Newspapers or media outlets may report the crime. A Google search will reveal that criminal charge. The statement from prosecutors or other authorities will begin to take on a life of their own. If an individual doesn't do something about it, that story will become an immutable part of his character. A personal narrative can help to counter those allegations. We are all more than decisions we made at the worst moment of our lives. And the sooner we begin to write out our personal narrative, the sooner we can begin to write the next chapter. I learned this lesson of writing new chapters at the very start of my journey. I was locked inside the Pierce County Jail back in 1987. Authorities arrested me for leading a group that trafficked in cocaine. When caught, the only thing I wanted was to get out of jail. As a result, I listened to every word my lawyer had to offer. He told me that there was a big difference between an indictment and a conviction. Anyone who knows how to research could find data that would undermine such a statement. When the federal government indicts someone, a conviction follows in more than nine out of every ten cases. My lawyer told me what I wanted to hear rather than what I needed to hear. After a jury convicted me, I realized that I made a horrific decision with my life. At 20 I sold cocaine. At 23, I was arrested. Once in jail, I made the decision to grow, to reach my highest potential in the environment where I would be held. I made a decision to prepare in ways that would lead to success in prison and beyond. I'll speak more about that transformation in future episodes. I've written a lot about it in the various books that we make available on PrisonProfessors.com. But this series we're creating is about you, not us. Start with a question. Are you ready to make changes? If you've been targeted for a criminal prosecution in federal court, then decide how you want to emerge from the struggle of imprisonment. In my case, transformation began with introspection. By thinking about my past, I could begin to connect the dots. Authorities locked me in prison because a jury convicted me of crimes related to selling cocaine. Introspection gave me a broader perspective. By reflecting on my past, I could see that I had begun to go astray long before the conviction. My life went off course long before authorities arrested me for selling cocaine. Decisions I made much earlier put me on a course for a bad outcome. No one could change that outcome but me. I started to change that outcome with my personal narrative. I had to write out the person that I aspired to become. Consider my partners. They have a similar story. I did not know Shon when he started serving his sentence. I know that he was young. He had longer than a decade to serve because he pleaded guilty to a series of armed bank robberies. Yet rather than allowing those armed bank robberies to define him, Shon began crafting a new narrative for his life. No one dismisses Shon because of his bank robbery conviction. He is a lawyer and he is a law professor. Shon wrote a new chapter for his life. You can do the same. Justin Paperny joined me inside the Taft Federal Prison Camp back in 2008. When we met, I had more than 20 years of prison behind me. Like many people coming into prison, Justin felt lost the day he surrendered. Justin had been a stockbroker and an asset manager. He defined himself by his degree from USC, his prior baseball career, and his profession as a financial-services professional. But authorities gave Justin a different narrative. He pleaded guilty of securities fraud. When he joined me in federal prison, he felt the weight of his past crushing his spirit. Justin didn't know what he would do with the rest of his life. I shared the same secret with him that I'm sharing with you. It's a secret that empowered me through each of the 9,500 days that I was locked in prison. Justin had to write his narrative. He had to begin writing the next chapter of his life. Justin didn't understand what I meant. We sat together each morning. I showed him how introspection could lead anyone through a difficult situation and into prosperity. It's a lesson that leaders have taught for thousands of years. Scholars attribute the following saying to Socrates: The unexamined life is not worth living. All lives are worth living. Yet I found enormous strength in the power of reflection. I showed Justin how lessons from Socrates and other philosophers empowered me through multiple decades in federal prison. He agreed that introspection could put him on a path to a better life, too. We worked together, side by side, to write his narrative. That commitment to writing resulted in his book Lessons From Prison. It launched an entirely new life for him. Success Through Prison: We encourage anyone who faces a prison journey to use this same recipe to prepare for success. Introspect. Then begin writing a narrative that will become the new chapter of your life. Again, at Prison Professors, we do not ask anyone to do or say anything that we didn't do or that we're not doing. Shon's book reveals how much thought he put into his future. Justin's book shows what he learned through introspection. During the 26 years that I served, I wrote extensively. I published several books under my name. Besides writing my own books, I interviewed other prisoners. Then I worked side by side with them to help publish books about their life stories. A magical process unfolds through these exercises in introspection and writing. We feel empowered. We begin to see the patterns that led to where we are today. By documenting our journeys, we can take control of our destiny. We can set our lives on a new course. This process can show the how and why of our lives. We are who we are today because of the decisions we made yesterday. And at any time, we can begin making new decisions that will redefine our lives. Personal narratives can start. Those who choose not to write their own narratives should understand what transpires. Prosecutorial statements will have a longer life. From directives in Session's Memorandum, we know that prosecutors will bring the worst possible charges that they can prove. But we also know that there is much more to every individual's life. The question is whether an individual will write a narrative that begins to show the next chapter of life, or whether the individual will allow statements from prosecutors to influence the future. At Prison Professors, we urge our clients to prepare personal narratives at the soonest possible time. Some defendants feel so disoriented from the criminal charge that they cannot muster the concentration to write their own narratives. We show them how the process worked for us. We introduce them to our courses on writing personal narratives. In many cases, we conduct the interview and write the narrative on their behalf. The personal narrative can serve several purposes. By writing the personal narrative early, the defendant can provide stakeholders in the system with a different perspective. Some defense attorneys use those personal narratives as tools to influence the prosecutorial process. They may use the narrative to show why the individual may be worthy of lower charges. Presentence Investigation Report: Defendants can also use the personal narrative as a tool to influence the presentence investigation. After a defendant pleads guilty, or after a jury convicts a defendant, the next step will be for the defendant to meet with a probation officer. That probation officer will conduct an investigation that will culminate with a report known as the Presentence Investigation Report, or PSR. During the investigation, the probation officer will ask the defendant whether he has anything to say about the offense. A good written narrative will show that the defendant has given a great deal of thought to why he is going to prison. That narrative can have an enormous influence on the journey ahead. Don't take our word for it. We encourage our clients to listen to what federal judges have said about the personal narrative. If a defendant succeeds in weaving his personal narrative into the PSR, he can influence his prison journey. It's never too late and it's never too early to prepare for success. A person may write the personal narrative before surrendering to prison. Or a person may write the narrative once he or she is in prison. Either way, we're confident it will help. A personal narrative will clarify thoughts. It will lead a person to define a success. It will help the individual craft a plan. The personal narrative will help an individual establish priorities. And the personal narrative will motivate an individual to perform, or execute the plan. Although a criminal indictment or conviction can feel like the end of the world, a personal narrative can set a person on a path to recalibration. It can lead to change. It can set a person on the pathway to success. That strategy of writing personal narratives worked for Shon Hopwood. It worked for Justin Paperny. And it worked for me. We also encourage people to recognize that the process doesn't end with a sentencing hearing. The person will surrender to prison. Then, a series of authorities will judge the individual at different intervals. Those authorities will always look to the PSR—and the prosecutor's statements—when assessing the person. If an individual writes out his narrative, he can influence those eventual assessments. That strategy of writing out a personal narrative had an enormous influence on my journey. If I had undergone the exercise of introspection, and writing a personal narrative early, I would have made different decisions. Better decisions would have meant that I would not have been sentenced to a term that required 26 years in prison. But again, it's never too early and it's never too late to begin sowing new seeds. I wrote my narrative before surrendering to prison. Because of that narrative, I could influence the way that case managers in prison assessed me. I could influence where I would serve my sentence and what programs I could complete in prison. I could influence my level of liberty in prison, and I could influence when authorities would release me to a halfway house. Once I concluded my sentence, my personal narrative influenced the level of liberty I had on Supervised Release. It influenced the career I launched. And it persuaded authorities to advocate for my early termination of Supervised Release. In conclusion, expect prosecutors to paint the worst possible picture of any defendant. As Jeff Sessions wrote in his Memorandum, they have a job of proving serious charges. Justice—in the eyes of many prosecutors—equates with convictions and long sentences. For defendants who want a better outcome, we encourage them to write personal narratives. We encourage them to use those personal narratives as blueprints. They lead to the next phase in the journey. They are essential to getting the outcome we want from a prison experience. If you're an individual who wants to redefine his life, then start with a personal narrative. Do it soon. The sooner you start on a personal narrative, the more time you can invest to craft it well. Do not write the narrative to sell to readers. Rather, use your personal narrative to sell you. In the chapters that follow, I'll describe how our team refined this strategy. We use those personal narratives to help us define success. We want all of our readers, viewers, and listeners to begin preparing for success. That is the essential lesson of Prison Professors. It's the essential lesson that will recalibrate your life, restore your confidence, and give you meaning. But always remember, it's one thing to know the way to success. It's another thing to walk the way. Stay with us at Prison Professors to learn more.
Are you facing a term in federal prison? I'm Michael Santos, and along with my two co-founders, Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny, we want to help you master the system. The more you know about the system, the better you can position yourself to succeed. We're now in our third episode of our five-part series, How to Master Prison. In our two previous episodes, we offered some insight. We discussed the process that brings someone into the system. Then we discussed how people going into the system should work to influence leaders. In this episode, we cover Custody and Classification. Those who have never been to federal prison may not know anything about custody and classification systems. But understanding the system can make all the difference in the world. It's something that each of our partners knows a lot about. For those who are reading the chapters independently, rather than sequentially, I encourage you to tune into earlier episodes to learn about the members of our Prison Professors team. All readers should know why we're qualified to teach lessons on mastering the federal prison system. Our website at PrisonProfessors.com features a full bio on each of us. As stated in the previous episodes, to master the federal prison system, start with an understanding of the massive bureaucracy. The system employs more than 40,000 staff members, and it confines more than 200,000 people. In an effort to keep decisions in harmony, the BOP relies about an extensive library of Program Statements and Policy Statements. The BOP invests heavily to train staff members so that they can make decisions in accordance with those Program Statements and Policy Statements. The Bureau of Prisons operates a website at www.BOP.Gov. Through that website, visitors can access the Program Statements. The BOP published Program Statement 5100.08 on September 12, 2006. This Program Statement covers Inmate Designation and Custody Classification. It is the eighth version of the program statement. In time, the BOP will likely revise the Program Statement. When the BOP revises the Program Statement, it will be known as 5100.09. For now we will provide a primer on the system that is in use as of December 2017. Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification Our team at Prison Professors has thousands of stories that reveal why an understanding of Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification is so crucial. We'll start with the case of Erik. A federal judge sentenced Erik to serve a 48-month sentence for wire fraud. Prior to being charged, Erik said that he didn't know the meaning of wire fraud. He didn't consider himself a criminal. Many people make bad decisions during the course of their careers. Sometimes, those bad decisions lead to criminal prosecution. Erik owned, for example, a small finance company. Some financial structuring problems led prosecutors to indict Erik. Inappropriate use of Email and the Internet led to his guilty conviction. Regardless of his self-perception of not being a criminal, a federal judge ordered Erik to surrender to a Federal Prison Camp so that he could serve a 48-month sentence. Had Erik understood the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system, he would have behaved differently, he said. Instead, Erik made decisions inside that really complicated his journey. As anyone can see from the free calculators that we make available at PrisonProfessors.com, Erik should have finished his time in prison early. With credit for good time, credit for completion of the Residential Drug Abuse Program, and credit for halfway house, Erik should have served about two years in prison. Then he should have transferred to a halfway house. But Erik didn't understand the prison system. He made decisions inside that resulted in his serving the entire 48 month sentence. Further, authorities prosecuted Erik a second time for possession of contraband in prison. Although he could have returned to his family in less than two years, he Erik ended up serving the entire four-year sentence. He also received a new felony conviction, and an additional six-month term. Instead of serving his time in a minimum-security camp, he served substantial portions locked in the segregated housing unit and then in a low-security prison. How did that happen? Erik's struggle came because he did not know the importance of decisions in prison. He did not consider himself a criminal. And he thought that others wouldn't consider him a criminal. Yet Erik's self perception didn't have any bearing on how prison staff would treat him. Staff members would consider him an “inmate.” As such, they would judge him in accordance with what the various Program Statements prescribed. The following sequence of events occurred. Erik surrendered to prison in accordance with the judge's order. As soon as he settled in, he wanted to use the phone. He didn't know the rules associated with the phone system. To use the phone, Erik had to wait for staff members to set up a list of approved numbers that he could call from his account. Erik grew frustrated. He wanted to talk with his parents, but the phone number wasn't approved. Not knowing the rules, Erik asked his wife to patch him through on a conference call. Staff members learned about the three-way call. After finding him guilty of violating the phone rules, a Disciplinary Hearing Officer sanctioned him with the loss of telephone privileges for six months. Erik responded by using a cell phone that he borrowed from another prisoner. Cell phones are contraband. Staff members caught him. Possession of a cell phone brought a series of new problems. Because it wasn't only contraband, it was also new criminal conduct. As a result of his decisions: Erik lost his good time. He lost eligibility for RDAP and the time off that would have resulted had he completed the program successfully. Prosecutors charged him with new criminal conduct. He underwent more expenses with legal fees. He pleaded guilty to a second felony and he received a new six-month sentence that ran consecutive to his first sentence. He served more than a year in the Special Housing Unit—otherwise known as the hole. He served the remainder of his time in a low-security prison, where he faced other problems. Erik liked to say that he wasn't a criminal. Yet those who worked in the system did not concern themselves with Erik's self-perception. They judged him in accordance with objective information. He pleaded guilty to the white-collar crime of wire fraud. A judge sentenced him to serve a 48-month sentence. BOP staff members relied upon Program Statement 5100.08 for his Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification. The objective scoring showed that he should serve his time inside of a minimum-security Federal Prison Camp. Yet his adjustment in prison resulted in a new scoring. He received a Public Safety Factor that resulted in his serving the remainder of his time in a higher-security environment. Security in The Federal Bureau of Prisons: At the time of this writing, at the end of 2017, The Federal Bureau of Prisons confines about 185,000 people. About 83% of those people, or 154,844 inmates, serve their time inside Bureau of Prisons facilities. The other people serve their time in privately managed prisons or other types of facilities. Males make up more than 93% of the federal prison population. Those people serve sentences in the following types of security levels: Minimum-security Federal Prison Camps: 32,189 people, or about 17% of the population Low-security Federal Correctional Institutions: 69,437 people, or about 37% of the population Medium-security Federal Correctional Institutions: 55,377 or about 30% of the population High-security United States Penitentiaries: 21,524 people, or about 12% of the population Unclassified: 6,980 people, or about 4% of the population Our partner Justin Paperny served time for a white-collar crime. He served his entire sentence in at the Taft Federal Prison Camp, a minimum-security camp. Shon Hopwood served time for armed bank robbery, and he served his entire sentence inside the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Illinois. I served time for convictions related to selling cocaine. And over the course of 26 years, I served time in every security level. Developing literacy of Program Statement 5100, also known as the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system, or the Custody and Classification Manuel, helps people who want to master the federal prison system. No one can change the past. At any time, however, we can start sowing seeds for a better future. In our book Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, I show how I started sowing the seeds very early during my journey. The seeds I sowed allowed me to make significant progress in prison. I took the opposite approach of Erik. He started in a camp. Once he surrendered, Erik made bad decisions that led him to higher-security prisons. I say they're bad decisions, because he told me they were bad decisions. I started in a high-security United States Penitentiary. As soon as I got there, I started making decisions that would put me on a path to ease my adjustment. By understanding the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system, I laid the foundation carefully. That foundation would allow me to transfer to a medium-security Federal Correctional Institution. Then I transferred to a low-security Federal Correctional Institution. Then, at the soonest possible time, I transferred to a minimum-security Federal Prison Camps. Understanding Program Statement 5100.08: The Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system is an objective system. On our website, we offer a free calculator to help people determine how staff members in the BOP will score them. Simply visit PrisonProfessors.com, click on the “Calculators” button in the main menu, and respond to the questions. The calculators simulate Program Statement 5100.08, seeking responses to questions on two separate levels: Base Scoring Custody Scoring To arrive at the scoring level, respond to 10 separate questions. The response to each question will provide an objective score. Those questions include the following: What type of detainer do you have, if any? What is the severity of your current offense? How many months do you expect to serve before your scheduled release? What will the BOP say about your criminal history? Do you have a history of escape attempts? Do you have a history of violence? Will staff in the BOP recognize that I voluntarily surrendered to prison? What will the BOP say about your age? What will the BOP say about your education level? What will the BOP say with regard to your history of alcohol or substance abuse during the past five years? Notice that we always ask what the BOP will say. It's not important what you or anyone else says. We need to assess what the BOP will say in order to calculate your score appropriately. Program Statement 5100.08 will attach a score to each of your responses to those questions. This score will be known as your “Base Score.” When it comes to the base score, you will note that the questions focus on your past. For the most part, you will notice that they require static answers—meaning that you will not have opportunities to change the outcome. Since you cannot change the past, you must wait for calendar pages to turn to influence the Base Score. It's important to understand this score as early as possible. You may be able to influence the score during the presentence investigation process. Once you calculate the Base Score, the next step will require you to answer questions that will lead to your Custody Score. Those questions follow: What will the BOP say with regard to how much time you've served as a percentage of your sentence? With regard to program participation, will the BOP assess you as average or good? How will the BOP assess your living skills? What will the BOP say with regard to your record of disciplinary infractions? What will the BOP say about the frequency of disciplinary reports you've received in the past year? What will the BOP say about your community ties? What will the BOP say about your gender? Program Statement 5100.08 will assign a score to each answer that you provide. The sum of those scores will result in your Custody Score. Then, Program Statement 5100.08 will require you to consult a variance table that may either add or subtract from your score. By taking all factors into consideration, you receive a scoring. That scoring reflects all of your security points. Those security points will determine the type of prison where you will serve your sentence. Your behavior in prison will determine whether you move to higher security levels, and potentially extend your release date, as was the case with Erik. Or if you pursue the path of a master, your behavior in prison will result in your moving to a lower-security prison, and potentially advancing your release date. These scores will come from your Presentence Investigation Report. If you want to influence these scores, then learn as much as possible before the PSI. We urge you to review the information available on our website. It will help you understand the importance of the PSR, and it will offer guidance on how to influence that PSR. If you need guidance, contact us today. Higher-Security Prisons as Compared to Lower-Security Prisons The security-level of a prison influences the level of liberty. As stated earlier in this chapter, about 18% of the federal prison population serves time in a minimum-security camp. More than 80% of the federal prison population serves time in higher-security prisons. Regardless of where a person starts the sentence, various factors can influence the security scoring. A change in security scoring can result in a transfer to either higher or lower security prison. Learn how behavior in prison influences the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification. Although nothing but the passing of time will influence the Base Score, the Custody Score is more dynamic. In other words, behavior in prison can result in lowering or raising the Custody Score. By understanding how the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system works, a person can choose to behave in ways that reflects a mastery of the system. Experience in Different Security Levels: As a founder of Prison Professors, I would be remiss if I did not share what I learned from serving time in prisons of every security level. I started my term in 1987. Initially authorities locked me inside a detention center in Miami. At the time, it was called the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Since then, the BOP changed MCC Miami into FCI Miami. When I started, I didn't understand the system at all. I only cared about getting out of prison. Later, after a jury convicted me and a judge sentenced me, I changed my thought process. I wanted to leave prison successfully. Every decision that I made inside would put me on the trajectory of success. What types of decisions will you make? After being sentenced, authorities transferred me to the United States Penitentiary, in Atlanta. I had a 45-year term. Under the laws that existed at the time, I could earn credit for good behavior. As long as I didn't lose any of those credits for good behavior, I could complete that term in 26 years. I started to set goals. I wanted to get out of prison at the soonest possible time. Further, I wanted to make sure that when I returned to society, I would be in the best possible position to succeed. I understood that there were some things I could not control. But I had opportunities to make decisions every day. Those decisions would lead me closer to success, or further away from success. Coincidentally, Program Statement 5100.08 rewards decisions that I consider to be consistent with success. By avoiding disciplinary infractions in prison, I could put myself on a path to move to lower security levels. It wasn't going to happen overnight. Yet by gradually working through programs in prison, I could begin to influence change. I could assess my environment. Although I couldn't avoid the volatility of prison, I could make choices that would minimize my exposure to problems. I could choose jobs that would be more consistent with my goals. I could maneuver my way into the best possible housing situation. By understanding Program Statement 5100.08, I could succeed in a high-security penitentiary. I did not receive any disciplinary infractions. I earned an undergraduate degree. I successfully coordinated my transfer to the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution of my choice. Once I got to the next stop, I repeated the process. At the soonest possible time, I transferred from the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution to the low-security Federal Correctional Institution of my choice. By the time I arrived, I had a master's degree. While in the low-security prison, I continued the same pattern. While there, I married the love of my life. And at the soonest possible time, I transferred to a minimum-security camp. While there, I built many relationships that influenced my success in prison and beyond. Indeed, I met my co-founders at Prison Professors while I was serving time inside of those minimum-security federal prison camps. Get Ready to Master Federal Prison If you or a loved one is facing challenges with the criminal justice system, we urge you to understand the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system. You may research the entire manual by reading Program Statement 5100.08. If you want a quick assessment of how the Bureau of Prisons will score you, turn to our free calculators at PrisonProfessors.com. The more you know about the system, the stronger you will become. As you restore confidence, you'll make better decisions. Those better decisions will show that you're a master of the system. Regardless of where you serve your sentence, you can make decisions that will lead to a life of meaning and relevance. That said, we ask you to consider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. We all have the basis need of safety. If you can maneuver your way into less-volatile environments, then we urge you to do so. By understanding the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system, you'll know how to seize upon opportunities to influence the scoring level. The sooner you get started, the better off you will be. Our courses and books at Prison Professors will help. Contact us today if you want more personal assistance.
I'm Michael Santos with Prison Professors. Along with my partners, Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny, we're glad to provide more information about how to prepare for the prison journey. Earlier episodes have given extensive biographical information on us. Complete your own due diligence. You'll see why we're exceptionally well qualified to help anyone who is going into the system. More importantly, we're well qualified to help people who want to get out of the prison system successfully. Each of us succeeded after prison because we understood how to make good decisions as we worked our way through the journey. Always remember, the right decision at the wrong time is the wrong decision. This episode is part of our series that we're calling how to prepare for prison. In the previous episode, we explained a bit about the process. As Dr. Stephen Covey advised in his best-selling book, it's always best to seek to understand before we seek to be understood. In this segment of the Prison Professors podcast, we're going to discuss the importance of understanding stakeholders in the criminal justice system. Federal Prison Hierarchy To succeed in the federal prison system, it's crucial to understand how it operates. Our partner, Shon Hopwood, tells a story that might help us illustrate the point. When Shon began serving his sentence for armed bank robbery, he wanted out. Many people in prison want out. Shon read a case that highlighted a favorable decision. He thought the legal ruling might apply to him. Shon wrote a motion and he filed his motion in a court that he thought would grant relief. The judge refused to accept Shon's motion. Instead, the judge offered advice. He suggested that if Shon wanted to get relief in court, it would behoove him to file in an appropriate court that would have jurisdiction on his case. Obviously, Shon went on to master the judicial system. As Steve Kroft of 60 Minute said, while serving his sentence, Shon became the most successful “jailhouse” lawyer in history. The legal briefs that he wrote for other prisoners resulted in victories in the district courts, circuit courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. His legal victories changed laws and resulted in liberty for many people in federal prison. But if Shon did not learn how to master federal prison first, he would not have succeeded in mastering the federal judiciary, or become a skilled jailhouse lawyer. We must take first steps first. And for people going into the prison system, it's essential to understand how the Bureau of Prisons operates. Branches of Government Like the federal courts, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is a massive bureaucracy. Many years may have passed since some of our readers took a class in civics. As a quick reminder, our nation has three bodies of government. They include the following branches: The Legislative Branch The Judicial Branch The Executive Branch Our elected members of Congress make up the Legislative Branch of government. They include representatives from each of the 500+ districts in the United States, and they include the two senators that represent each state. Those members vote on legislation in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Once they're in agreement, the legislative bills go to the President. If the President signs the legislative bills, they become laws. In our country, we have more than 90 federal Judicial Districts. For example, in California, there are four separate federal Judicial Districts—including the Northern District Court, the Central District Court, the Southern District Court, and the Eastern District Court. Each of those Districts is part of a Circuit. We separate those Circuits by geographic regions. For example , California is in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. New York is in the Second Judicial Circuit. We have the U.S. Supreme Court that presides over all Circuit and District Courts. We have more than 1,000 federal judges that preside over the various courts. Each of the judges strives to ensure that people receive due process—meaning, the judges strive to apply fairness in the courts for all. The Executive Branch of government oversees the many different applications of government. Our president appoints people who oversee the different departments. For our purposes, we know that the Attorney General of the United States oversees the Department of Justice. And the Attorney General of the United States oversees the Director of the Bureau of Prisons. For that reason, we must understand how the hierarchy operates. Politics and Prisoners: Earlier, I encouraged you to complete your due diligence on my partners and me. That way you could assess the veracity of our claim to have mastered our time in federal prison. It takes a lot of discipline to grow in prison. In my case, I went through 26 years. By the time that I met our co-founder Justin Paperny in the Taft Federal Prison Camp, our country was going through a historic election. The economy was in the tank, sliding into the worst recession in recent memory. Unemployment was on the rise. Justin asked me why I followed the political race so closely. As a prisoner, I explained, we must live with decisions that come down from the top. The president's perspective on governing will influence the policies that he wants to set. As a prisoner, we must live with those policies. If the president believes that people have a capacity to change, the president will appoint an Attorney General that shares that liberal viewpoint. If the president believes that we need to preserve the systems that are in place, then the president will appoint an Attorney General that shares such a conservative viewpoint. Policy shifts in prison will reflect the perceptions of both the president and the Attorney General. To illustrate, let us provide two recent examples of such change. The Second Chance Act provided prison administrators with new discretion regarding halfway house placement. Prior to the Second Chance Act, leaders in The Bureau of Prisons could authorize prisoners to serve the final six months of their sentences in a halfway house. After The Second Chance Act, leaders in The Bureau of Prisons could authorize prisoners to serve the final 12 months of their sentences in a halfway house. Obviously, from a prisoner's perspective, 12 months in a halfway house would be better than six months in a halfway house. But it was up to the Bureau of Prisons to apply the law. The U.S. Congress passed The Second Chance Act. But leadership in the BOP has discretion. When President Obama was in office, the Attorney General was Eric Holder. Under that administration, people in prison could have some influence on how much halfway house time they could receive. As a master of federal prison, I succeeded in putting myself on a pathway to get the full 12 months of halfway house. Similarly, as a master in the federal prison system, Justin succeeded in getting the maximum halfway house placement that was available to him. In 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Jeff Sessions to serve as the Attorney General. Both President Trump and Attorney General Sessions had a different perspective. President Trump and AG Sessions had a conservative perspective, meaning that they believed that people should serve the maximum amount of time in federal prison. The 2017 administration cut funding to halfway houses. But a master of federal prison would know how to cope with such change. To prevail on maximum halfway house time—or any other matter pertaining to federal prison—Prison Professors urges people to understand the system. Pursue a strategy to get the best possible outcome, depending upon the political philosophy of the administration in power. The strategy that may result in success during a conservative administration may differ from the strategy that could result in success in a liberal administration. To master federal prison quickly, make sure that you understand the political philosophy on both a macro and a micro level. Directors of the Bureau of Prisons: The Bureau of Prisons is a massive organization. It employs more than 40,000 staff members that serve in six different regions. Those regions include federal prisons in most states, halfway houses in all states, regional offices, training centers, and headquarters in Washington D.C. The Director of the Bureau of Prisons presides over the entire bureaucracy. He reports to the Attorney General of the United States. For the nearly 200,000 federal prisoners, it's important to understand the different roles in the BOP. What is the role of the Director? Well, the Director must make sure that the prison system is operating in accordance with the wishes of the Attorney General. And the Attorney General wants the Director to operate the Bureau of Prisons in accordance with the political philosophy of the President. The Director is not going to express concern for individual prisoner issues. Rather, the Director focuses on systemic policies. When prisoners attempt to seek relief from the Director, the prisoner reveals a lack of understanding for how the system operates. Masters understand the system. And they learn how to succeed, given the limitations of the system itself. Unless a prisoner wants to advocate for systemic change, it doesn't make sense for him to advance arguments at the highest levels of the Bureau of Prisons. In fact, doing so can cause problems. Leaders know that the right decision at the wrong time is the wrong decision. Although people in prison may see many injustices on a systemic level, as masters, we should always have a very clear perspective. How are we defining success? What battles are we striving to win? What price are we willing to pay in pursuit of success over our battles. By focusing on victory as we define victory, we know where to concentrate our energy. It rarely works in our interest to seek relief from the highest levels of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. To oversee the Bureau of Prisons, the Director relies upon a large team. That team includes a Deputy Director, several Acting Directors, and several Regional Directors. It would be highly unusual for any of those directors to make decisions regarding any individuals in prison. Rather, the directors rely upon their subordinates. We should expect the subordinates to make decisions in accordance with the political philosophies of the people in power. Directors set policies and oversee budgets. Subordinates carry out those policies. Federal Prison, an Overview: We know that the Bureau of Prisons is a massive bureaucracy. It includes many different divisions. People who want to master federal prison should broaden their understanding of how it operates. The more people understand, the more likely they become to get on the best trajectory. Masters seek to understand more so that they can influence more. Although a later chapter discusses custody and classification levels in detail, we can provide a brief overview here. The Bureau of Prisons categorizes in accordance with security levels. Consider the following: ADX: This designation refers to an Administrative-Maximum U.S. Penitentiary. It is the highest level of security. Most people who serve time in an ADX start in a lower-security prison. They make decisions in prison that result in new criminal charges, or disciplinary problems. When a team or staff member identifies people in prison as being sufficiently disruptive, they may send them to an ADX penitentiary. SMU: This designation refers to a Special Management Unit. Like the ADX, the SMU is a highly restrictive prison. Staff members may send people to an SMU when they want to restrict their communication. Although most people who are in an SMU have violent histories, it's important to remember the adage “The pen is mightier than the sword.” If staff members consider a prisoner to be a prolific writer, and the prisoner writes content that staff members consider inflammatory, they may confine the person in an SMU. USP: This designation refers to a United States Penitentiary. In the broader community, people consider the word penitentiary as being synonymous with prison. But in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the word penitentiary has a different meaning and connotation. It means high-security. People going to a USP live in restrictive conditions. Staff members consider USPs to be more volatile. They govern USPs in response to population levels that include higher percentages of people who have violent, volatile, and disruptive histories. FCI: This designation refers to a Federal Correctional Institution. The FCI includes both medium-security and low-security prisons. FSL: This designation refers to a Federal Satellite Low Security Prison. The people in an FSL have the custody scoring of people in a camp. But they have some issue that prevents them from going to a camp. For example, they may have a detainer of some type, or they may have longer than 10 years to serve. SCP: This designation refers to a Satellite Prison Camp. The camp is adjacent to a secure prison, and the inmates in the camp provide labor that keeps the prison operating. FPC: This designation refers to a federal prison camp. It is frequently a stand-alone camp, meaning it is not tied to another prison, as with the SCP. FCC: This designation refers to a Federal Correctional Complex. A complex will have several prisons of different security levels in a single location. People in one prison do not mix with people in another prison, but they're all in the same geographical location. FDC, MCC, or MDC: These designations refer detention centers. People in detention centers, ordinarily, await outcomes of judicial proceedings. Although some people serve the entire term in detention centers, or they are assigned to the work cadre—performing maintenance on the prison, they are not necessarily serving time. FMC: This designation refers to a Federal Medical Center. People who need medical attention may serve all or a portion of their time in an FMC. FTC: This designation refers to the Federal Transfer Center, in Oklahoma. Prisoners may spend time in the FTC while traveling to other institutions, or they may serve their sentence in the FTC if they're part of a work cadre. CI: This designation refers to a privately operated federal prison. CO and RO: These designation refers to the Central Office and the Regional Office. We can use our understanding of the regional office and the central office to influence our placement, or to influence favorable outcomes. Mastering the federal prison system requires some knowledge of the different types of institutions. The more we know about the Bureau of Prisons and the staff, the better we can position ourselves to get to the best possible environment. All secure institutions include the following staff members: Warden: The warden is the CEO of the institution. Wardens have an enormous amount of influence with regard to how the prison operates. Some wardens make themselves approachable. To the extent that a person in prison positions himself well, he can influence the warden's perception. As a prisoner, it's crucial to begin with a clear understanding of success. Exercise discretion when it comes to approaching a warden—or anyone else. Lay the groundwork first, before asking the warden to intervene on anything. Understand that the warden has enormous power with regard to every person in the prison. In the various books that Prison Professors have written, we described how wardens influenced our success through the journey. Pay close attention to the extensive amounts of back work that we did, and also note how we were selective when requesting assistance. Associate Wardens: The associate wardens are part of the warden's executive staff. They oversee various departments within the prison. For example, the Associate Warden of Programs will oversee unit staff. The Associate Warden of Operations will oversee facility management. The population level of the prison will influence how many AWs are available. Department Heads: Department heads oversee specific departments. For example, the Unit Manager oversees all case managers. A Unit Manager reports directly to the Associate Warden of Programs. The Unit Manager will ask inmates to resolve matters directly with the case manager. Line Staff: Line staff includes case managers, cook supervisors, counselors, landscape foreman, maintenance leaders, and others who work in various departments. They report to their respective department heads. Case Managers: Case managers oversee all matters that pertain to a person's case. Once the judge sentences a person “To the custody of the attorney general,” that person becomes an “inmate” as far as concerns the system. And case managers will have direct oversight of the inmate. The inmate will not have a lawyer. The inmate must learn how to advocate for himself effectively. Case managers will be a key person to influence. Although policies guide decisions, there is always some discretion. A master will learn how to influence staff members in the Bureau of Prisons in a positive way. Counselors: Counselors in federal prison do not offer the type of counseling that someone outside of prison would expect. Rather, they perform jobs like approving visiting lists and assigning jobs. It's best to understand the limited role that counselors play in federal prison. That way, people spare themselves the disappointment that comes from expecting too much. Influence and Manipulation At Prison Professors, we discuss the long-term approach of influencing a positive outcome. That differs from shortsighted efforts to manipulate staff members. To influence does not mean to manipulate. For obvious reasons, staff members are extremely cynical. Every day, staff members in prison work with convicted felons. Many of those people have criminal mindsets. That is why staff members expect inmates to lie. They expect inmates to do or say anything that will ease their burden. Masters of the system do not whine or complain about this reality. Rather, they learn how to work within the system, and how to succeed in spite of the challenges. Masters know that the Bureau of Prisons invests a considerable amount of resources in staff development and staff training. Part of that training teaches staff members how “to be firm but fair.” The Bureau of Prisons wants to make sure the public is safe, the prisons are safe, and the staff members are safe. As such, it's extremely conservative. Training encourages staff members to rely upon policy when making decisions, and it trains them to interpret those policies conservatively. For that reason, it's crucial for masters to understand all policies. By understanding the opportunity costs that come with every decision, masters can make better progress than those who flounder. If you want to master federal prison, work through all of the programs available through PrisonProfessors.com. You will learn our strategies for making exceptional progress in prison. More importantly, you will learn how to succeed upon release.
I'm Michael Santos and I want to welcome you to another Prison Professors podcast episode. Earlier episodes provided you with the background information on my partners and me. Today we're recording a series of five podcasts that will help our listeners understand a bit more about the process of going into the criminal justice system. As of now, I have five episodes planned. They include the following: Understanding the Process Understanding the stakeholders Understanding the custody and classification system How to Prepare for Prison Why Writing a Narrative Can Assist You Through the Journey Understanding the Process We're going to start by paraphrasing Stephen Covey. In his timeless bestseller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Covey advised that we should try to understand before we try to be understood. That guidance applies to anyone who wants to master prison. We're recording this series of episodes of the Prison Professors podcast specifically for people who anticipate that they may go into the criminal justice system. Those who have a solid understanding of the system may want to skip this episode. Our goal is to help listeners make decisions that will put them on the path for the best possible outcome. And the best possible outcome requires good decisions. To make good decisions going forward, we need to understand how the process works. So let's begin with some instructions on how someone goes into the criminal justice system. The Investigation: Investigators frequently start the process. Those investigators may work as part of the SEC, the IRS, the FBI, or the DEA. Allegations of misconduct can lead to an investigation. During that investigation phase, agents will collect evidence. The agents will work closely with federal prosecutors. The federal prosecutors will make a decision on how to proceed. If they want to charge a person with a crime, they have different options. But once investigators and prosecutors decide to bring charges, especially in the federal system, the person becomes a defendant. The Charge: When prosecutors choose to bring a case against someone, chances for a conviction become exceedingly high. At first, the person may be a “target” of an investigation. The investigation can take place secretly, with a grand jury. In the grand jury proceeding, a prosecutor puts together a group of citizens. Those citizens listen to evidence that the prosecutor presents. That evidence includes live testimony from investigators and other witnesses. Grand jury members listen to the witnesses respond to the leading questions from the prosecutor. At some point, the prosecutor will ask the members of the grand jury to “indict” the target of the investigation. In some cases, prosecutors use a less formal way of charging people. Rather than going through a grand jury, they may file a “criminal information.” The criminal information can result from an agreement that the prosecutor makes with the defense team. Regardless of how prosecutors bring charges, things change. To start, a person becomes a defendant. We have all heard stories that in our country, we have a presumption of innocence. Yet few people who have been charged with a federal crime recognize that distinction. Statistics show the consequences. We encourage our listeners to do their own research. Simply type into Google “United States Attorneys' Annual Statistical Report.” Or download it from our website at PrisonProfessors.com. Read the data. That data should help people make better decisions as they advance through the process. At our website, PrisonProfessors.com, we offer an abundance of articles, blogs, and videos that will help people understand more about the criminal justice system. Learn as much as possible. We do not dispense legal advice, but we provide a lot of content that will help our audience make better decisions. Our co-founder, Shon Hopwood, is a lawyer. But he does not use our site to provide legal advice. To participate in litigation, Shon would need to know details of the case. Details of a case require many hours of research, and time comes at a premium. We trust that our listeners will have a solid legal team in place to advise them. On the other hand, we members of our audience to understand the opportunity costs that come with every decision. Those who want to master prison quickly should realize implications of every decision along the way. We make better decisions when we have a more complete understanding of the process. The Defense Attorney: Once prosecutors charge a person, the defendant will need a defense attorney. If a client does not have the resources to hire a defense attorney, the Court will provide an attorney. The court-appointed attorney may be a part of the federal defenders. Or the court-appointed at torney may be a defense attorney that agrees to work on the CJA panel. Every federal judicial district has a roster of attorneys who are experienced in federal court. Regardless of whether the defense attorney serves on the panel or with the federal defenders, that person will have been exposed to extensive amounts of training and resources. Federal defenders and panel attorneys are well qualified to represent defendants in federal court. Other defendants may retain counsel. Attorneys who have extensive practice in federal court charge a premium. Hourly fees for defense attorneys with experience in federal court depend upon how long the attorney has been practicing and geographical locations. Defendants should expect to spend tens of thousands for any representation in federal court. For those who lack access to capital, we urge defendants to use federal defenders rather than hire an attorney who lacks experience in federal court. Our team has a process for vetting defense attorneys in federal court. We also offer consulting services to assist defendants who need this guidance. Your defense attorney will become an essential part of your team, so choose wisely. The Plea: If prosecutors bring charges against a defendant, a plea hearing will follow. That plea hearing can happen quickly, or it can be postponed. We work with some defendants who may wait for years before they actually face charges and enter a plea. In most cases, people enter not-guilty plea hearings. Then, after defense attorneys work out the most favorable deal, defendants change their plea to guilty in accordance with the plea agreement. Let's talk about pleading guilty. Pleading Guilty: Entering a guilty plea is a formal proceeding. There will not be much conversation. Early in the hearing, the defense attorney will let the judge know that the defendant wants to enter a plea, or a change of plea. The judge will then ask the defendant to rise. The defendant must swear to tell the truth, under penalty of perjury. The judge will let the defendant know that he is not bound by any deal the prosecutor may have made. The defendant must acknowledge that he understands. After the judge is satisfied that the defendant understands, the judge will read each criminal charge. Then the judge will ask the defendant if he is guilty of the charge. The defendant will not have an opportunity to explain or elaborate. He will simply say, “I plead guilty.” Opportunities for explanations and elaborations will come much later. Pleading Not Guilty: If the defendant persists with a “not guilty” plea, a trial will follow. The trial can last for days, weeks, or months. During the trial, prosecutors will present evidence. The defense attorney will argue to discredit the evidence. The judge will decide what evidence the jury will hear. And in time, the jury will render a verdict. If the verdict is not guilty, the judge will release the defendant—and he can go home. If the verdict is guilty, the process will continue with a Presentence Investigation. Presentence Investigation: A federal probation officer will begin the Presentence Investigation (PSI) by reviewing a report from the federal prosecutor. That prosecutor's report will present the government's version of events. Probation officers will cut and paste the prosecutor's version of events into a report that is known as the Presentence Investigation Report, or PSR. To continue the investigation, the probation officer will speak with the defendant. The defense attorney should be present during the PSI interview. If a defense attorney chooses not to prepare the defendant for the PSI, the defendant will have a red flag; he is not being advised appropriately. Defendants should take every effort to prepare for the PSI, as it will have lasting implications. Those implications stick around long after the sentencing hearing. During the PSI interview, the probation officer will ask the defendant about what he or she has to say about the offense. We advise defendants to prepare for this question. Ideally, the defendant will have written a narrative in advance. The defendant can explain the process by thinking through the content of that narrative. According to video interviews our team has done with federal judges, which are available on our YouTube channel, that PSR can have an enormous influence at sentencing. Further, it will have an influence on placement in the Bureau of Prisons. The PSR will influence the journey in prison. It will influence when the defendant transfers back into the community. And it will influence the level of liberty the defendant has while on Supervised Release. For those reasons, we urge defendants to take every opportunity to understand the presentence investigation, and to prepare. Fortune, as you know, always favors those who prepare. The probation officer will conclude the investigation with an extensive presentence investigation report. The PSR will include what the probation officer learned from the defendant and also from other people who are related to the defendant. That may include family members, it may include employers, it may include creditors, it may include victims. The PSR will include both objective and subjective information. The objective information includes information about the conviction. It will also include information that will influence the federal sentencing guidelines. Those federal sentencing guidelines are complex. We urge defendants to learn how various factors influence those guidelines. Also, it's crucial for defendants to know how they can work to get the most favorable outcome during the sentencing hearing. It all starts with the presentence investigation report. Sentencing Hearing: Learn and understand about sentencing hearings before the inevitable date. Unfortunately, when federal prosecutors bring charges, more than 80 percent of the defendants face a sentencing hearing. Influencing the outcome with a well thought-out sentence-mitigation strategy—that is essential. Learn what steps you can take to move the needle in your direction. Although every case is different, and requires a highly customized approach, we can provide some bullet point suggestions. For example: Think about the perspective of all stakeholders. Their perception is much more important than your perception. Learn more about stakeholders in the following chapter. Think about the victims of the crime. If you don't think your crime has a victim, then you're not thinking about the stakeholder's perceptions. From the stakeholders' perception, the crime has victims. Who are they? How have they suffered? Prepare to reveal what you've learned from the process. In what ways have you grown as a result of this experience? Execute a plan that will differentiate you from other defendants. Think about the judge's perception. Influence the process by showing what steps you've taken to make things right. Help the judge understand how you will adjust your life in light of this experience. Convince the judge that you'll never appear in Court as a criminal defendant again. Designation in the Bureau of Prisons: In some cases, a comprehensive strategy will result in an alternative sanction that does not include time in custody. Our team at Prison Professors does its best to help defendants who want to advance arguments for a non-custodial sentence. No one can change the past, but we all can sow seeds for a better future. Unfortunately, in most cases, sentences include prison. When prison becomes part of the journey, the next step after the sentencing hearing will be for the Bureau of Prisons to assign the appropriate prison. Several factors go into the equation of prison designations. The Bureau of Prisons relies upon the latest edition of Program Statement 5100 to determine prison designations. The complicated matrix assigns points to objective factors that include criminal history, type of offense, severity of crime, and so forth. A variance table makes additional adjustments. Public Safety Factors and Management Variables can also influence the custody and classification. Our website includes a calculator that calculates the point system. Besides custody and classification scoring, the Bureau of Prisons will also consider judicial recommendations, medical needs, prison population levels, institutional needs, and geographical locations. All of those factors go into consideration of the Bureau of Prisons' decisions. Then, the BOP will order the prisoner to begin serving the sentence in a specific prison. Defendants should learn everything they can about the designation process. The more they understand, the better prepared they become to influence where they will serve the time. Although we can master any environment, the earlier we get started in mastering the process, the better off we are. Isn't that always the case in life? Serving the Sentence: Success through any prison journey begins with a clear understanding. When we can define what success looks like on the other side of the journey, we have a start. The heart of this book will describe how to take us from where we are today, to the life we want to create. Although many of us would like to change the past, we master the system when we deal with the world as it exists—rather than as we would like it to be. Our team at PrisonProfessors.com will help you every step of the way. Outro: Thank you for listening to Chapter 1 of our free ebook, How to Master Federal Prison—Quickly. To get the entire free ebook at once, take one of the following actions: Text LIBERTY to 44222, or Simply visit PrisonProfessors.com and enter your email. We will send you a copy instantly. Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny are my partners at Prison Professors. I'm Michael Santos. Our team creates digital content and we offer consulting services. We assist people who face challenges with prosecution, sentencing, and prison. We also assist agencies that want to improve outcomes in their institutions. Our clients include individuals, law firms, state and federal prison systems, the courts, and school districts. Visit us at PrisonProfessors.com or contact Justin at 818-424-2220 to learn more. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. And please leave us an honest review! Stay tuned for another 20 to 30 minute episode with Prison Professors.
Justin Paperny is a co-founder of Prison Professors. He leads our marketing and consulting divisions. Justin Paperny went to federal prison after he pleaded guilty to violating securities laws. As a graduate of the University of Southern California, Justin, and a licensed stockbroker, Justin didn't have insight. As a white collar offender, he didn't know where to turn for guidance. Without guidance, he was lost, without a pathway to prepare. Justin surrendered to the minimum-security federal prison camp in Taft, California. He didn't have a plan. In his interview today on the Prison Professors podcast, Justin describes his initial thoughts. He wanted to spend time exercising. He simply wanted the time to pass. During his first several weeks in prison, Justin says that he found a new path. He describes learning how to serve his sentence in a deliberate manner. Insteading of waiting for time to pass, he started working toward goals. Those goals would lead Justin to return to society successfully. The methodical activities Justin pursued while he served his sentence for securities fraud led Justin to build confidence. Rather than wasting time, he began investing time. He wrote to document his journey. When he left prison, he had a book to help launch his career. With Lessons From Prison, Justin began building platforms that would we would use to build digital businesses. Justin concluded his sentence in 2009. With Lessons From Prison, he began building the new business. He connected with many lawyers. Those lawyers represented white collar offenders. Justin began to provide mentoring and coaching to those people. With his help, those people prepared. They put themselves on a path to get the lowest possible sentence and have the best possible experience. Since concluding his sentence for securities fraud, Justin has mentored, coached, and consulted several hundred people. Besides PrisonProfessors.com, Justin operates WhiteCollarAdvice.com. He also operates BrandingFast.com. All of those ventures help people in struggle make better decisions.
Hello, hello. My name is Michael Santos and I welcome you to our new Prison Professors podcast. As stated in the intro, I'm part of a team that includes two co-founders, Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny. Every day we'll publish a new Prison Professors episode. What do we mean by every day? We mean every day. Why would we do this? Well, we have a lot of reasons. Primarily, we want to teach our audience about America's prison system, the people it holds, and strategies for growing through prison successfully. Over the past few years, we've seen a lot more interest in the prison system. The big interest began when Michele Alexander published her amazing book, The New Jim Crow. Ms. Alexander's book launched an entire movement that brought awareness to mass incarceration. Since then, Netflix dramatized Piper Kernan's book, Orange is the New Black. At the same time, television networks began publishing all types of shows that sensationalized the prison experience. Recently, Ear Hustle became all the rage by profiling lives of men serving time inside of San Quentin. Prisons have become mainstream. But the message of intergenerational failure isn't something that we want to promote. At Prison Professors, we offer something different. When we prepared to launch Prison Professors, people questioned the graphics we chose. Overall, people didn't relate to people in suits going to prison. And it's true. Our prisons incarcerate disenfranchised people of color more than anyone else. Our team does a lot of work to reform prison and sentencing systems across the United States. With our Prison Professors podcast, however, we strive to disrupt the thinking about America's prison system. Our logo may be one way to start. Our nation confines more than 2 million people. We incarcerate more people per capita than any nation on earth. At Prison Professors, we don't complain about these troubling statistics. Nor do we make any judgment on the influences or decisions that led people to prison. We know that anyone can go to prison. With our podcast, we strive to show people the best possible outcomes. We strive to disrupt the thinking of taxpayers and anyone going into the prison system. Rather than complaining about how bad our prison system is, or why mass incarceration represents one of the greatest social injustices of our time, we strive to show people pathway to success. Our team has always believed that we need to live in the world as it exists—not as we would like it to be. The truth is, our government has passed thousands of laws that can lead people to prison. And a felony conviction can result in lifelong complications. Those complications derail prospects for happiness. They can have ancillary consequences that include under employment upon release—or no employment. They can lead to a lack of access to housing, to financing, to social services. Those are realities. At Prison Professors, we want to help people who must content with such struggles. We want to show pathways to success in spite of such struggles. For that reason, we offer new content every day. We will structure our Prison Professors podcast in one of two formats. Either I'll narrate an episode or I'll interview a guest. Some episodes will stand-alone. Other episodes will work together as part of a series on a specific subject. For example, you may enjoy our upcoming multi-part series on how to master prison quickly. Or you may want to learn from our series on Scott Tucker, which we title Billionaires Preparing for Prison. At Prison Professors, our team helps people master the prison experience. Through our podcast, we'll bring more awareness. And we'd like to offer suggestions on how people can make it through the journey strong, with their dignity in tact. Our Prison Professors podcast offers daily insight for people who want the best possible outcome. My co-founders and I have a great deal of experience with the prison system. Through our website at PrisonProfessors.com, we offer an index with notes on all shows. We encourage you to visit PrisonProfessors.com. Enter your name to become a member of our mailing list, or follow us on social media. Subscribe to our channel on YouTube and you'll receive a notice each time we feature a new video. If you subscribe to our Prison Professors Facebook page, you'll learn about efforts we're making to improve outcomes of our nation's prison system. In episodes two and three, I'll introduce you to my two co-founders. You may be familiar with their work already In October of 2017, 60-Minutes featured a segment on Shon Hopwood. Shon also describes his story in his best-selling book, Law Man: Memoirs of a Jailhouse Lawyer. Law Man is relevant to listeners of the Prison Professors podcast for many reasons. Shon's inspiring story shows that regardless of what bad decisions a person has made in the past, an individual can start sowing seeds that lead to success. The FBI arrested Shon in 1998 for a series of armed bank robberies. A U.S. District Court Judge sentenced him to a term that would require Shon to spend more than 10 years in federal prison. Yet Shon found a way to prosper inside. He studied case law. He wrote briefs that brought victories for people in district courts, in circuit courts, and in the U.S. Supreme Court. After his release, Shon earned his undergraduate degree and he earned a law degree. He clerked for two federal judges. Now Shon serves as a tenure-track professor at Georgetown Law School. Without a doubt, Shon Hopwood is a success story. He is also a co-founder with Justin and me at PrisonProfessors.com and the Prison Professors podcast. Justin Paperny is our other co-founder. His skills as a young baseball player led to Justin's scholarship at the University of Southern California. After earning an undergraduate degree, Justin went on to a career as a stockbroker. He managed assets for professional athletes and hedge funds. As a result of his failure to report a Ponzi scheme, authorities charged Justin with the crime of violating securities laws. I met Justin at the Taft Federal Prison Camp, in California. We became friends soon after he arrived, in 2008. We began to engineer a strategy that would lead to Prison Professors and other business opportunities while we were still serving time. Justin and I understood that many people face challenges with the criminal justice system. A lack of understanding can make matters worse. In some cases, the wrong decisions can bring disastrous results. While serving time in the Taft camp, Justin and I worked together. We crafted plans that would lead to the best possible outcome for anyone who has concerns about the criminal justice system. Upon Justin's release, he began building the properties we would need to bring our products and services to market. We now have several platforms that include: PrisonProfessors.com MichaelSantos.com WhiteCollarAdvice.com PrisonNewsBlog.com BrandingFast.com, as well as our Prison Professors YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Twitter feed. We encourage you to follow us everywhere. You'll learn all about Shon and Justin in episodes two and three. I'll share my story with listeners during the remainder of this episode. As I said at the start, my name is Michael Santos. My journey through the criminal justice system followed some bad decisions I began making when I was a young man. In 1984, I was 20 years old and I started selling cocaine. When I was 23, in 1987, authorities arrested me. After a lengthy trial, a jury convicted me of operating a Continuing Criminal Enterprise. We were at the dawn of our nation's war on drugs and I faced a possible sentence of life in prison. I'd never been incarcerated before, and I didn't know what to expect. Like many people who go into the criminal justice system for the first time, I only wanted one thing. That was to get out! My ignorance of the system led to some bad decisions, and those bad decisions resulted in my serving much longer than I should have served. During an awkward transition between the conviction and my sentencing date, I decided to begin preparing for a better outcome. Rather than worrying about what was going to happen to me, I started thinking about ways that I could prepare for a brighter future. We reveal this story in our book: Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term. Earning Freedom, along with our other books, are available through our website at PrisonProfessors.com. Readers of Earning Freedom will learn that leaders like Socrates, Viktor Frankl, Nelson Mandela, and others inspired me. Leaders like Steve Jobs and Bill gates taught me to think differently, Instead of dwelling on the problems, I needed to focus on solutions. From those leaders, I learned to chart my own path from struggle to prosperity. That path through prison included a three-pronged focus. I would work to: Earn academic credentials. 2. I would work to Contribute to society in meaningful, measurable ways, and 3, I would work to Build a support network. That three-pronged path led me through 9,500 days as federal prisoner, number 16377-004. I concluded my prison term on August 12, 2013. When I went into the prison system, I didn't know what to expect. My judge sentenced me to serve a 45-year sentence. I learned that if I avoided disciplinary infractions, I could conclude that sentence in 26 years. But that was a long time for me to contemplate. I was only 23 when I started, so I hadn't yet been alive as long as the system would expect me to serve. What was the best possible outcome? I didn't know at the time. But I started to think. Instead of dwelling on the time that I had to serve, I began thinking about the life I would lead when I got out of prison. How would society judge me? Would I be able to find employment? Would the decades I served in prison anchor me in a cycle of failure? To put the length of time into context, take today's date. Add 26 years. Think of the challenges to maintain a high level of energy and a high level of discipline over that length of time. It's not easy to maintain a positive attitude while weeks turn into months, months turn into years, and years turn into decades. By reading about others, I found a key to keeping a strong mental attitude. It begins with defining success. If we train our mind to see the best possible outcome, we can start engineering a new path. That path can lead us from where we are to where we want to go. To become successful, regardless of where we are, we need to define success. I learned that lesson from Socrates. I was still lying in the Pierce County Jail awaiting sentencing when I read a story of The Crito. Socrates lived longer than 2,500 years ago. Back then, laws prohibited people in the elite class from teaching the poor. Yet Socrates believed that every human being had value. He willingly taught everyone. Despite warnings from authorities, Socrates continued to teach. Eventually, he was tried and convicted. Judges sentenced him to death. At the time that I found the story on Socrates, I didn't have much of an education. I never would have read a philosophy book if I were not beginning my life in struggle. Yet when I read Socrates, I learned a great deal. I learned lessons that would frame my adjustment decisions through prison. Socrates made principled decisions. Through him, I learned how to make principled decisions. Rather than run away like a coward from problems he created, Socrates said that he would stand and face his punishment. He would die with his dignity intact. Socrates taught me to think differently. Instead of whining about problems that my own decisions created, I would need to take the punishment. I would need to figure out how I could get the best possible outcome. I especially value Socrates' lessons on how to ask better questions. Many people have heard about the art of Socratic questioning. As I began to serve my lengthy term in prison, the questions I asked had a monumental influence on how I would adjust inside. As a young man going into the prison system, I felt as if my world was completely imploding. I was married, but my wife was divorcing me. All of the ill-gotten gains I received from selling cocaine were gone. I was starting a journey that would require decades in prison. I'd spend it alone, without any money. What would my life be like when I got out? That was a good question. It prompted me to think in terms of how my life would be if I didn't make some changes. I learned to stop dwelling on my own problems. Instead, I began to focus on the best possible outcome. It's important to remember the qualifiers: “best possible outcome,” with the keyword being “possible.” Obviously, I would have liked to get out. But getting out wasn't a possibility. My conviction carried a mandatory-minimum sentence of 10 years. The statute gave my judge discretion to impose a life sentence. Regardless of what decision my judge made, I had to make better decisions. Since the law required my judge to sentence me to a minimum of 10 years, I had to think about that. What would be the best possible outcome in 10 years? I began thinking about the people I would meet. The world would move on over a decade. I would be stuck in prison. If I didn't create a deliberate adjustment plan, after 10 years, I would only know other people who were in prison. And how would those people influence my future? I hated being in prison. I mean I really hated it. I wanted out. But I couldn't get out. What kind of life would I have after 10 years if I adjusted to the ways of the prison? How would I talk? How would the words I chose influence the way that other people perceived me? Unless I adjusted well while inside, I would face real problems when I got out. I wouldn't have any money. I wouldn't have a support network. I wouldn't have any work experience. I could get stuck in a cycle of failure unless I created a course of action that would lead to success. By reading about Socrates, I learned how to introspect. I learned how to assess influences that led to my troubles. I was in prison because a jury convicted me for crimes related to selling cocaine. Yet in truth, my bad decisions began long before I sold cocaine. If I made better decisions, Socrates convinced me that I could get out of prison as a better man, with more opportunities. Better decisions would begin by thinking about the people I would meet in the future. Or rather, thinking about the people I wanted to meet in the future. If I were going to persuade employers to believe in me, what would they expect me to accomplish while I was in prison? That was one question I had to answer. If I wanted more liberty from a probation officer, what could I do while in prison to influence his decisions? That was another question that I had to answer. If I wanted to launch businesses in the future, how could I persuade customers to believe in me even though I'm a convicted felon? I had to overcome challenges for the rest of my life. Those questions inspired me. They set me on the three-pronged approach that I described earlier in this introductory episode. I would work to: Earn academic credentials. 2. I would work to Contribute to society in meaningful, measurable ways, and 3, I would work to Build a support network. Those three concepts became my compass. I tried to make every decision inside in accordance with those three principles. It's a strategy that Rick Warren later wrote about in his book The Purpose Filled Life. Even from the depths of a prison cell, I could ask questions that would improve my outcome. I wanted the best possible outcome. For me, that meant being able to return to society successfully. Even if I served multiple decades in prison, I wanted to return unscathed. Regardless of how much time I served, I didn't want others to know by looking at me that I was once a prisoner. With that guidance from Socrates and others, I began to find my way. The strategy influenced the books I read. Strategy influenced the social network I developed, and every other decision I made while serving my sentence. As a result, I earned university degrees. I became a published author. I built a strong support network. I even got married to the love of my life, Carole. Work that I completed in prison allowed me to earn an income to support Carole. When I finished my sentence after 26 years, I returned to society more than $100k in the bank. I could use those funds to launch my life. That didn't happen by accident. It convinced me that success comes with good strategy. And good strategy is what my partners and I teach through the Prison Professors podcast. We teach a pursuit of excellence. And we show that if we could do it, anyone can do it. I concluded my obligation to the Bureau of Prisons on August 12, 2013. A few weeks later, I began teaching as an adjunct professor at San Francisco State University. While working there, I began creating products and services to help improve outcomes of our nation's prison system. Those products and services now contribute to our company at PrisonProfessors.com. Our clients include individuals who are going into the system. We also have contractual relationships with the Bureau of Prisons, the California Department of Corrections, the Washington State Department of Corrections, and many other large groups. Federal judges, federal probation officers, and U.S. Attorneys, as well as many law firms have purchased our products and services. We sell to the corporate sector, to sales organizations, and to anyone who wants to succeed after struggle. It's a big market. Because regardless of where we are today, we all face struggle at one time or another in our lives. If you research our team at Prison Professors, you'll see our authenticity. Both Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny have my 100% confidence. And I consider it an honor to work with each of them. Each of us will work hard to prove worthy of your trust. We look forward to revealing more through our Prison Professors podcast. Expect us to launch new episodes every day. We will publish show notes on our website at PrisonProfessors.com. When we conduct interview-style podcasts, to the extent possible, we'll record in both a video format and an audio format. You can watch the videos on our YouTube channel or on our website. We'll ask you to support the Prison Professors podcast by subscribing to us on iTunes. If you choose to subscribe, please rate the show with the number of stars you deem appropriate. Leave us an honest review. Your reviews and subscriptions will persuade iTunes to increase our distribution. The more distribution we have, the more effective we will be at spreading the message on steps we can take to improve outcomes of America's prison system. That is my story. In future episodes, opportunities will open for me to reveal more. Let me tell you what you can expect in the upcoming episodes. As I mentioned, episodes two and three will introduce you to my partners, Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny. After that, we're going to present a series on how to master prison. Then we'll follow with interviews. If you'd like to be a guest on our show, please reach out through Prison Professors.com. Check out our podcast link. And connect.
Developing strength of mind is crucial to overcoming any challenge in life. On today’s episode, Justin Paperny, who was once in prison for making bad decisions, is going to share his experience and tell us how he was able to build strength of mind and persevere through the tough days. He made himself whole again, despite all the odds being against him. According to Justin, we need to embrace perspective and rejections, which will get us closer to our goals. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at https://www.thrivinglaunch.com
Donald Gridiron is on his way to prison. It's a big challenge for anyone, especially for a well educated man who didn't have any previous experience with the criminal justice system. In today's Earning Freedom episode, Donald describes how a gambling addiction led him into the criminal justice system. He also talks about help he received from Justin Paperny at White Collar Prison Advice.
Scott Clark had been a successful businessman. Some decisions he made regarding raising capital led him to the crosshairs of prosecutors. Soon after agreeing to plead guilty, Scott contacted Justin Paperny of White Collar Prison Advice. That call brought Scott hope. In today's Earning Freedom podcast, Scott speaks about the strategies he learned from Justin on preparing for prison.
5. Support Networks Accelerate Growth Opportunities Earlier, I wrote about rules in the halfway house that required me to have a job. So long as I had a job that paid a steady paycheck, my case manager in the halfway house authorized me to leave. My friend Lee was more like a sponsor for me than an employer. He set a schedule for me to work 10—hour shifts, Monday through Saturday. I reported to an office and sat at a desk, but instead of doing work for Lee, I focused on creating a business. First, I needed Lee to see the vision. I persuaded Lee that our nation’s commitment to mass incarceration was one of the greatest social injustices of our time. Although it would take time, I convinced him that a need existed for programs and services to help people emerge from prison successfully. He encouraged me to develop a plan that would lead to a sustainable business providing products and services that would improve outcomes of our nation’s prison system. Technology: My first challenge was learning how to use technology effectively. The world had changed during the decades that I served. I went to prison at a time when Bill Gates was talking about a time when there would be a computer in every home and on every desk. When I returned to society his vision had become a reality. We didn’t only have computers in every home and on every desk, but also in everyone’s pockets. Since I’d been away during the hyper-growth era of technology, I had to learn how to use computers and the Internet effectively. Although most people used personal computers powered by Microsoft operating systems, I’d read that Apple products were easier to learn. On the Saturday after I transitioned to the halfway house, Carole and I visited the Apple store. I purchased a MacBook Pro and a 27” iMac desktop computer. Knowing that technology could help me reach a wider audience, I spent my first weeks on the job learning how to use these fascinating products. While I was in prison I didn’t have much access to computers. I read many books about the development of the Internet, search engines, social media, and software applications. Yet when I began working with my computers, I realized that I would need to invest hundreds of hours to become proficient. Fortunately, I had Carole to tutor me. When she wasn’t at the hospital, she would sit at desk beside me to work on her studies. I liked having her close by and she was always willing to assist when I had questions about technology. Websites: I began learning about WordPress, the powerful platform for building websites. When Carole first came into my life, we purchased the domain name MichaelSantos.net because the dot-com domain wasn’t available. Carole retained a web developer to build our new website. I published thousands of articles to document progress I made through my final decade in prison. Toward the end of my journey, we were able to purchase the domain name MichaelSantos.com for $1,000 and we began making the transition from MichaelSantos.net to MichaelSantos.com. I wanted to have a central location that would demonstrate my authenticity. Since Carole was busy with her career and school work, I needed to educate myself quickly on how to use WordPress so that I could manage my own websites. I made some critical errors in the beginning. By switching hosting companies and redesigning MichaelSantos.com, I lost thousands of articles and journal entries that I’d made over the years. For decades, I wrote a daily journal entry and sent my journals home. Carole published each entry as my “daily log” on the website. I wanted people to see the path, that through hard work, an individual could triumph over prison. Unfortunately, I lost all of those records with my decision to switch from one web-hosting company to another. We pay a price for inexperience. In time, I became more fluent with WordPress and with social media. Building Networks: Although I didn’t understand much about using technology or computer networks, my adjustment through prison gave me other skills. One prong of my adjustment strategy was building support networks. If I could build strong support networks, I believed that more opportunities would open in prison and upon release. The goal of building strong support networks influenced my Socratic questioning: What steps could I take today to influence people to believe in me tomorrow? Those types of questions influenced my adjustment. The accomplishments I made while inside persuaded other people to believe in me. I could leverage those relationships to open new relationships. For example, earlier I wrote about my friendship with Justin Paperny. Justin was a graduate from USC and he had built a career as a stockbroker. Although he made some bad decisions that resulted in his being convicted of securities fraud, Justin’s crime didn’t characterize his entire life. He’d been successful in society once and as we built our friendship, I sensed that he would be successful again. When Justin concluded his obligation he launched the Michael G. Santos Foundation and he invested time to build that nonprofit. He attended schools, workshops, and conferences that exposed him to problems people in underserved communities faced. By relaying those findings to me, I had information I could use in ways that would help us contribute solutions. Through our work, Justin met new people and he introduced those people to me. Scott Budnick was one of the people Justin brought into my support network. Scott is famous for his role as a Hollywood producer of many blockbuster films, including The Hangover series, Starsky and Hutch, and other big-budget films. Scott’s passion, however, is juvenile justice. Scott founded The Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC), a nonprofit that strives to reduce recidivism. When I returned to society, Scott invited me to visit him in Hollywood. Rules of the halfway house, however, precluded me from being able travel. Until I concluded my obligation to the Bureau of Prisons, I could only go from the halfway house to my place of employment. Travel limitations and halfway house restrictions were a problem. Human support networks were a solution. Scott said that since I lived in San Francisco, I had to meet Chris Redlitz. Scott then wrote an introductory email to Chris and I followed up by writing Chris about my background, telling him about my vision of building a business around my journey. I wanted to teach other people how to emerge from prison successfully. Chris responded within hours and he invited me to meet him. Turns out that Chris Redlitz is an influential figure from the San Francisco Bay area. As a professional, he was a successful venture capitalist. Through his firm Transmedia Capital, Chris and his partners matched investors with technology entrepreneurs who wanted to build compelling businesses that changed the world. But in addition to providing funding, Chris also ran a series of business incubators, providing resources for technology startups. Besides his business career as a venture capitalist, Chris also had a passion for improving outcomes of our nation’s prison system. When not putting multi-million dollar investments together, he and his wife volunteered at the San Quentin state prison. Initially, he went in to give a speech about entrepreneurialism. The prisoners inspired him. Chris then went home and convinced his wife and business partner, Beverly Parenti, to join him. Together they launched The Last Mile, an organization that would invest in human beings. They created a comprehensive curriculum that would teach business principles to people in prison. Later, participants in The Last Mile could learn how to write computer code from inside of the prison system.
Support Networks Accelerate Growth Opportunities Earlier, I wrote about rules in the halfway house that required me to have a job. So long as I had a job that paid a steady paycheck, my case manager in the halfway house authorized me to leave. My friend Lee was more like a sponsor for me than an employer. He set a schedule for me to work 10—hour shifts, Monday through Saturday. I reported to an office and sat at a desk, but instead of doing work for Lee, I focused on creating a business. First, I needed Lee to see the vision. I persuaded Lee that our nation’s commitment to mass incarceration was one of the greatest social injustices of our time. Although it would take time, I convinced him that a need existed for programs and services to help people emerge from prison successfully. He encouraged me to develop a plan that would lead to a sustainable business providing products and services that would improve outcomes of our nation’s prison system. Technology: My first challenge was learning how to use technology effectively. The world had changed during the decades that I served. I went to prison at a time when Bill Gates was talking about a time when there would be a computer in every home and on every desk. When I returned to society his vision had become a reality. We didn’t only have computers in every home and on every desk, but also in everyone’s pockets. Since I’d been away during the hyper-growth era of technology, I had to learn how to use computers and the Internet effectively. Although most people used personal computers powered by Microsoft operating systems, I’d read that Apple products were easier to learn. On the Saturday after I transitioned to the halfway house, Carole and I visited the Apple store. I purchased a MacBook Pro and a 27” iMac desktop computer. Knowing that technology could help me reach a wider audience, I spent my first weeks on the job learning how to use these fascinating products. While I was in prison I didn’t have much access to computers. I read many books about the development of the Internet, search engines, social media, and software applications. Yet when I began working with my computers, I realized that I would need to invest hundreds of hours to become proficient. Fortunately, I had Carole to tutor me. When she wasn’t at the hospital, she would sit at desk beside me to work on her studies. I liked having her close by and she was always willing to assist when I had questions about technology. Websites: I began learning about WordPress, the powerful platform for building websites. When Carole first came into my life, we purchased the domain name MichaelSantos.net because the dot-com domain wasn’t available. Carole retained a web developer to build our new website. I published thousands of articles to document progress I made through my final decade in prison. Toward the end of my journey, we were able to purchase the domain name MichaelSantos.com for $1,000 and we began making the transition from MichaelSantos.net to MichaelSantos.com. I wanted to have a central location that would demonstrate my authenticity. Since Carole was busy with her career and school work, I needed to educate myself quickly on how to use WordPress so that I could manage my own websites. I made some critical errors in the beginning. By switching hosting companies and redesigning MichaelSantos.com, I lost thousands of articles and journal entries that I’d made over the years. For decades, I wrote a daily journal entry and sent my journals home. Carole published each entry as my “daily log” on the website. I wanted people to see the path, that through hard work, an individual could triumph over prison. Unfortunately, I lost all of those records with my decision to switch from one web-hosting company to another. We pay a price for inexperience. In time, I became more fluent with WordPress and with social media. Building Networks: Although I didn’t understand much about using technology or computer networks, my adjustment through prison gave me other skills. One prong of my adjustment strategy was building support networks. If I could build strong support networks, I believed that more opportunities would open in prison and upon release. The goal of building strong support networks influenced my Socratic questioning: What steps could I take today to influence people to believe in me tomorrow? Those types of questions influenced my adjustment. The accomplishments I made while inside persuaded other people to believe in me. I could leverage those relationships to open new relationships. For example, earlier I wrote about my friendship with Justin Paperny. Justin was a graduate from USC and he had built a career as a stockbroker. Although he made some bad decisions that resulted in his being convicted of securities fraud, Justin’s crime didn’t characterize his entire life. He’d been successful in society once and as we built our friendship, I sensed that he would be successful again. When Justin concluded his obligation he launched the Michael G. Santos Foundation and he invested time to build that nonprofit. He attended schools, workshops, and conferences that exposed him to problems people in underserved communities faced. By relaying those findings to me, I had information I could use in ways that would help us contribute solutions. Through our work, Justin met new people and he introduced those people to me. Scott Budnick was one of the people Justin brought into my support network. Scott is famous for his role as a Hollywood producer of many blockbuster films, including The Hangover series, Starsky and Hutch, and other big-budget films. Scott’s passion, however, is juvenile justice. Scott founded The Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC), a nonprofit that strives to reduce recidivism. When I returned to society, Scott invited me to visit him in Hollywood. Rules of the halfway house, however, precluded me from being able travel. Until I concluded my obligation to the Bureau of Prisons, I could only go from the halfway house to my place of employment. Travel limitations and halfway house restrictions were a problem. Human support networks were a solution. Scott said that since I lived in San Francisco, I had to meet Chris Redlitz. Scott then wrote an introductory email to Chris and I followed up by writing Chris about my background, telling him about my vision of building a business around my journey. I wanted to teach other people how to emerge from prison successfully. Chris responded within hours and he invited me to meet him. Turns out that Chris Redlitz is an influential figure from the San Francisco Bay area. As a professional, he was a successful venture capitalist. Through his firm Transmedia Capital, Chris and his partners matched investors with technology entrepreneurs who wanted to build compelling businesses that changed the world. But in addition to providing funding, Chris also ran a series of business incubators, providing resources for technology startups. Besides his business career as a venture capitalist, Chris also had a passion for improving outcomes of our nation’s prison system. When not putting multi-million dollar investments together, he and his wife volunteered at the San Quentin state prison. Initially, he went in to give a speech about entrepreneurialism. The prisoners inspired him. Chris then went home and convinced his wife and business partner, Beverly Parenti, to join him. Together they launched The Last Mile, an organization that would invest in human beings. They created a comprehensive curriculum that would teach business principles to people in prison. Later, participants in The Last Mile could learn how to write computer code from inside of the prison system.
Prison Release to California: As we approached the end of my term, we had to figure out where we wanted to live. When a man served longer than a quarter century, he didn’t really have roots anywhere. We chose California because I’d built a strong support network that would be easier to leverage from a large state. Further, California was a big market and the state had some significant problems with its prison system. Since we wanted to live in a place that offered the best opportunity, California seemed perfect. Besides the opportunity, I liked the weather. I had another reason to choose California as the place where Carole and I would begin our life together. Toward the end of my sentence I met Justin Paperny, a former stockbroker who served a relatively brief sentence for violating securities laws. We became friends. Justin’s conviction meant that he would need to create a new career for himself upon release. At the time, in 2008, the nation’s economy was sinking. I used Socratic questioning to help Justin see the challenges that awaited him. “How do you plan on earning a living when you get out?”“How will the market respond to your conviction?”“Why would a manager hire you when so many people without felony convictions are looking for employment?”“In what ways could you turn your experience of going through the criminal justice system as a strength?” Those questions helped Justin and I figure out a problem. Once we identified the problem, we could figure out solutions. Millions of formerly incarcerated individuals would face the same challenges that were about to complicate Justin’s life. Prison isn’t the only problem. We saw a massive problem with all that transpired after prison. People would need to transition into the job market. I suggested that Justin join efforts I’d been making to create programs and services that improve outcomes for the formerly incarcerated. When Justin completed his prison term, he established a nonprofit that he named The Michael G. Santos Foundation. We wrote a plan, then began writing proposals for grants to fund our work. Those efforts led to us receiving a two-year grant from The California Wellness Foundation for $140,000. The foundation agreed to provide resources that would pay Justin a salary to manage the foundation, and pay me to write literature and programs we could use to teach strategies for overcoming struggle. Through our work, we anticipated that we could improve outcomes of our nation’s criminal justice system. Had I not learned to ask the write types of questions early on during my prison journey, I would not have been able to figure out a plan to guide me through the decades. Without a plan, I wouldn’t have been able to educate myself or build credentials. And if I hadn’t earned credentials, I wouldn’t have been able to persuade The California Wellness Foundation to believe in the vision expressed through our grant requests. I’d need to continue that same strategy upon release. Setting clear goals characterized my entire journey through prison. When I came to the end of my sentence, I knew I had to set goals that would ease my transition into society. At a minimum, I wanted: Sufficient savings to sustain me for the first year of my transition into society. A job waiting. A clear plan to guide me through the first year. I’m hopeful that readers in custody will see the relationship between decisions and success. Those who make principled, values-based, goal-oriented decisions have a far greater chance of success than those who simply allow the calendar pages to turn. As a consequence of skills I developed during the first decade of imprisonment, I found ways to add value in society. Although prison rules prevented me from “running a business,” there were other rules that allowed me to write for publication. By understanding how the system operated, I could create strategies that I knew would ease my transition upon release. Executing that strategy every day allowed me to return to society strong. Carole and I had more than $85,000 in the bank on the day of my release. More importantly, we had a plan to guide our future. Final Takeaways: I’d like to say the I originated the patterns of success I wrote about in my books. In truth, I learned from masterminds. Lessons from masterminds empowered me through the journey and they can empower you. In writing my books, all I did was rewrite the importance of applying lessons from the world’s leaders. Even in the context of a prison experience, those lessons advanced prospects for success. Through those books, I showed the result of living in accordance with values-based, goal-oriented decisions. The remainder of this book will show how you can do the same. Regardless of where you are today, regardless of what decisions you’ve made in the past, regardless of what conditions you’re living at present, you have the power within to begin sowing seeds for a brighter future. Remember that every decision comes with opportunity costs. To the extent that you adhere to a disciplined, deliberate, strategic path, you can build a life of significance, relevance, and meaning. In moving forward, begin asking the types of Socratic questions that will lead to the future you want to create: Who are your avatars? What would they expect of you? In what ways are the decisions you’re making today leading you closer to earning support tomorrow?
California: As we approached the end of my term, we had to figure out where we wanted to live. When a man served longer than a quarter century, he didn’t really have roots anywhere. We chose California because I’d built a strong support network that would be easier to leverage from a large state. Further, California was a big market and the state had some significant problems with its prison system. Since we wanted to live in a place that offered the best opportunity, California seemed perfect. Besides the opportunity, I liked the weather. I had another reason to choose California as the place where Carole and I would begin our life together. Toward the end of my sentence I met Justin Paperny, a former stockbroker who served a relatively brief sentence for violating securities laws. We became friends. Justin’s conviction meant that he would need to create a new career for himself upon release. At the time, in 2008, the nation’s economy was sinking. I used Socratic questioning to help Justin see the challenges that awaited him. “How do you plan on earning a living when you get out?” “How will the market respond to your conviction?” “Why would a manager hire you when so many people without felony convictions are looking for employment?” “In what ways could you turn your experience of going through the criminal justice system as a strength?” Those questions helped Justin and I figure out a problem. Once we identified the problem, we could figure out solutions. Millions of formerly incarcerated individuals would face the same challenges that were about to complicate Justin’s life. Prison isn’t the only problem. We saw a massive problem with all that transpired after prison. People would need to transition into the job market. I suggested that Justin join efforts I’d been making to create programs and services that improve outcomes for the formerly incarcerated. When Justin completed his prison term, he established a nonprofit that he named The Michael G. Santos Foundation. We wrote a plan, then began writing proposals for grants to fund our work. Those efforts led to us receiving a two-year grant from The California Wellness Foundation for $140,000. The foundation agreed to provide resources that would pay Justin a salary to manage the foundation, and pay me to write literature and programs we could use to teach strategies for overcoming struggle. Through our work, we anticipated that we could improve outcomes of our nation’s criminal justice system. Had I not learned to ask the write types of questions early on during my prison journey, I would not have been able to figure out a plan to guide me through the decades. Without a plan, I wouldn’t have been able to educate myself or build credentials. And if I hadn’t earned credentials, I wouldn’t have been able to persuade The California Wellness Foundation to believe in the vision expressed through our grant requests. I’d need to continue that same strategy upon release. Setting clear goals characterized my entire journey through prison. When I came to the end of my sentence, I knew I had to set goals that would ease my transition into society. At a minimum, I wanted: Sufficient savings to sustain me for the first year of my transition into society. A job waiting. A clear plan to guide me through the first year. I’m hopeful that readers in custody will see the relationship between decisions and success. Those who make principled, values-based, goal-oriented decisions have a far greater chance of success than those who simply allow the calendar pages to turn. As a consequence of skills I developed during the first decade of imprisonment, I found ways to add value in society. Although prison rules prevented me from “running a business,” there were other rules that allowed me to write for publication. By understanding how the system operated, I could create strategies that I knew would ease my transition upon release. Executing that strategy every day allowed me to return to society strong. Carole and I had more than $85,000 in the bank on the day of my release. More importantly, we had a plan to guide our future. Final Takeaways: I’d like to say the I originated the patterns of success I wrote about in my books. In truth, I learned from masterminds. Lessons from masterminds empowered me through the journey and they can empower you. In writing my books, all I did was rewrite the importance of applying lessons from the world’s leaders. Even in the context of a prison experience, those lessons advanced prospects for success. Through those books, I showed the result of living in accordance with values-based, goal-oriented decisions. The remainder of this book will show how you can do the same. Regardless of where you are today, regardless of what decisions you’ve made in the past, regardless of what conditions you’re living at present, you have the power within to begin sowing seeds for a brighter future. Remember that every decision comes with opportunity costs. To the extent that you adhere to a disciplined, deliberate, strategic path, you can build a life of significance, relevance, and meaning. In moving forward, begin asking the types of Socratic questions that will lead to the future you want to create: Who are your avatars? What would they expect of you? In what ways are the decisions you’re making today leading you closer to earning support tomorrow?
Many people who contact my partner Justin Paperny and me mistakenly believe that we’re defense attorneys. We’re not. Instead, we provide guidance to help people who anticipate that they may spend time in prison. We launched Etika Connect as a service for defendants who visit our various websites. When we feature a defense attorney, we’re validating that attorney. We’re also giving our listeners an opportunity to learn more about the attorney’s expertise and honesty. Today we feature David Rosenfield, a partner at the distinguished firm Herrick Feinstein. From our conversation today, I learned that David attended undergraduate school at Ohio State University. He advanced to The University of Pennsylvania to earn his law degree. After graduating from Penn in 1982, David began his career working in government. He has worked as a Staff Attorney in the Division of Enforcement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Further, prior to becoming a defense attorney, David earned numerous awards for his work as a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s office. From our conversation today, listeners will learn about David’s commitment to honesty. He advises our listeners to communicate openly and honestly with the defense counsel they choose. The defendant can then work closely with the lawyer to choose the best possible scenario given an individual’s particular circumstances. David and I spoke about the influence cooperation can have on the eventual outcome of a case. For those who are convicted, David spoke about the importance of preparing for the presentence investigation, the sentencing hearing, and the journey through prison. A lawyer like David has the knowledge and experience to help defendants understand all options ahead. That’s why we’re proud to introduce him to our listeners through the Earning Freedom podcast. If you’re facing a criminal charge, take advantage of the invaluable guidance that David Rosenfield offered. You may contact David at the following numbers: Phone: 212-592-1513 Email: drosenfield@herrick.com Help spread the word on why we should reform our prison system by subscribing, rating, and reviewing the Earning Freedom podcast on iTunes. Click this link to subscribe, rate, and review.
In this episode of the Lions of Liberty Podcast, host Marc Clair is joined by federal prison consultant Justin Paperny. Justin describes how his involvement in a Ponzi scheme led to his 18 month prison sentence, and how meeting past Lions of Liberty Podcast guest Michael Santos helped him better himself and truly “earn” his freedom during his time behind bars. Justin then explains how he came to dedicate his post-prison life to not only helping people prepare for life behind bars as a federal prison consultant, but also to help them rejoin society through the creation of the Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of the Lions of Liberty Podcast, host Marc Clair is joined by federal prison consultant Justin Paperny. Justin describes how his involvement in a Ponzi scheme led to his 18 month prison sentence, and how meeting past Lions of Liberty Podcast guest Michael Santos helped him better himself and truly “earn” his freedom during his time behind bars. Justin then explains how he came to dedicate his post-prison life to not only helping people prepare for life behind bars as a federal prison consultant, but also to help them rejoin society through the creation of the
What can we expect from Jen Shah's upcoming prison sentencing? How much time will she serve? When will she report? Can she appeal? How has her recent behavior (on RHOSLC, at BravoCon, etc) affect her sentencing? Justin Paperny of White Collar Advice is here to dive into it.Order some Housewives Watching Wine (in collab with Eliqs), on sale @ www.NoFilterWine.comGet access to our 'Reality TV Tea' Private Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3h0nykDLike the show? Subscribe at: https://apple.co/2DxTKe6 and listen every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. Don't forget to leave us a nice review, because you love us! Keep up the latest show happenings at @nofilterwithzackCouldn't get enough of us? Follow Zack @justplainzack on Twitter and Instagram & justplainzack.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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