Podcast appearances and mentions of pierce county jail

Soundside host Libby Denkmann talks with incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell about his 20 years in WA State Prison compared to his time at Pierce County Jail.We can only make Soundside because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW: https://www.kuow.org/donate/soundside

Former Sonics star Shawn Kemp booked into Pierce County Jail for drive-by shooting investigation. Inslee visits Seattle neighborhood with a homeless camp nearby. // Poll shows public safety concerns for Seattle voters ahead of council elections. WA House votes to ban assault weapons. // 81 missile attacks carried out overnight by Russia in Ukraine. While U.S. continues to arm Ukraine, we face cracks in our manufacturing might. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A 30-year-old man thought he was meeting someone from a dating app when he was kidnapped, extorted, and forced to strip naked.  A man called the Pierce County Sheriff's Office on Saturday, Aug. 20, to report he had been kidnapped and robbed, according to a statement. He allegedly stated that he went to an apartment in Parkland to meet with a woman he met on the dating app Plenty of Fish, and the woman "presented herself as being similar in age to the victim."  After about five minutes, a man allegedly walked into the room, pointed a gun at the victim, and "ordered the victim to remove his clothes and give the suspect his money."  The female suspect allegedly began photographing the naked victim. The two allegedly instructed the victim to transfer $6,000 via a cash app, but the transaction was rejected because it was flagged as a potential fraudulent charge. The suspects, on the other hand, persisted.  "The suspects made the victim attempt numerous other transactions via various apps and even posed as the victim over the phone to try to get an account unlocked," according to the statement.  After three hours, the male and female suspects allegedly "threatened to send the nude photos to everyone on the victim's contact list if he told anyone what happened."  The victim approached authorities and collaborated with them to identify the two suspects.  The following day, on Aug. 21, Pierce County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a domestic violence assault call at the same address provided by the dating app victim from his incident. Deputies reportedly recognized the male suspect, and as they attempted to handcuff him, he allegedly reached into his pocket for a gun. He was apprehended before he could get the weapon.  The man allegedly broke the door panel inside the patrol car while attempting to flee after moving the handcuffs to the front of his body. He is also said to have broken the seatbelt fastener.  The male suspect was booked into the Pierce County Jail for first-degree robbery, kidnapping, extortion, unlawful possession of a firearm, and malicious mischief. His bail is set at $125,000 dollars.  The female suspect, who is reportedly 19 years old, was arrested and charged with robbery, kidnapping, and extortion, with bail set at $50,000.  When it comes to online dating, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office advises residents to "do your research and trust your instincts."  If you like TRUE CRIME TODAY - Be sure to search and subscribe wherever you download podcasts! Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-a-true-crime-podcast/id1504280230?uo=4 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/0GYshi6nJCf3O0aKEBTOPs Stitcher http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/real-ghost-stories-online-2/dark-side-of-wikipedia-true-crime-disturbing-stories iHeart https://www.iheart.com/podcast/270-Dark-Side-of-Wikipedia-Tru-60800715 Amazon https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/565dc51b-d214-4fab-b38b-ae7c723cb79a/Dark-Side-of-Wikipedia-True-Crime-Dark-History Google Podcasts https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzUwMDEyNjAucnNz Or Search "True Crime Today" for the best in True Crime ANYWHERE you get podcasts! Support the show at http://www.patreon.com/truecrimetoday

 A 49-year-old woman was recently sentenced to life in prison for her role in her pastor husband's death in 2021. Kristie Evans called Ada Police on March 22, 2021, around 1 a.m., to report that an intruder had broken into her home and shot her husband. Authorities discovered her husband, David Evans, with a fatal gunshot wound. He was declared dead at the scene. Authorities reportedly concluded that Kristie Evans and her alleged lover, 26-year-old Kahlil Square, collaborated to carry out the fatal shooting. On the day her husband was shot, Evans supplied the bullets and gun to Square. Evans and Square were arrested on March 25, 2021. Evans pleaded guilty on March 11, nearly a year later. Evans was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder on August 10, according to Pontotoc County court records. She will be held at the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Evans admitted to authorities that she, her husband, and Square had previously had a sexual relationship, but Square and Kristie Evans allegedly had a separate sexual relationship outside of the throuple. 2 OLALLA, WA (TCD) – A 40-year-old man from the Tacoma area is accused of murdering a married couple and disposing of their bodies in a trash can on their porch. Kitsap County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a call about "suspicious circumstances" at a home in the 12900 block of Shady Glen Avenue SE on Thursday, Aug. 18. The caller stated that she went to check on her parents at their home, but they were not there. She also allegedly saw signs of forced entry and blood. When Kitsap County deputies arrived on the scene, they discovered the two adults dead on the property, which they described as a "gruesome discovery." Steven and Mina Shulz, both 51, died as a result of "homicidal violence," according to the statement. On August 20, the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office named Shaun Rose as a suspect in the Shulzes' deaths and issued an arrest warrant for him. On August 21, he was arrested "after a struggle" at a gas station in Tacoma. Rose was seen driving a Buick sedan in Mason County by Kitsap County detectives and was pursued by Mason County deputies before being lost due to "erratic and dangerous driving on his part." Rose is accused of stealing another car in Pierce County and driving to Tacoma. Before going to the gas station, he allegedly got rid of that car. According to KCPQ-TV, investigators discovered the victims' bodies in a garbage can near their home's deck. They were allegedly shot to death. According to reports, Mina and Steven Shulz owned E2W Brewing and planned to open a brewery within the next month. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Rose lived next to the Shulzes in an RV on a neighboring property. "This appears to be a random act of violence," said Kitsap County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Alex Takos. According to jail records, he is being held without bail. 3 UTAH'S WEST VALLEY CITY (TCD) — Police are appealing to the public for assistance in locating a missing 99-year-old woman who they believe was murdered and then abandoned in the mountains. The West Valley City Police Department issued a statement encouraging people to search the area for evidence related to Maren Carlson's disappearance, especially now that autumn and hunting season are approaching, two popular times that "bring more Utahns to the mountains." Garman Shaun Cunningham, Carlson's grandson, police believe, murdered her and "disposed" of her body in the mountainous area. According to West Valley Police, on November 12, 2021, a woman called 911 to report that she had escaped after her husband, Cunningham, held her hostage in her home. Cunningham allegedly told the unnamed woman that he killed Carlson, who lived in their home. According to KSL-TV, the woman claimed Cunningham "beat her, cut her with knives, burned her with cigarettes, and cut her with broken glass." He allegedly strangled her "multiple times during her captivity," handcuffed her to a chair, threatened her with a gun, and strangled her "multiple times during her captivity." Cunningham allegedly shot his gun inside the house before fleeing with a sword when police arrived to arrest him. He was eventually pursued and apprehended by a K-9. According to court documents cited by KSL, Cunningham allegedly tried to smother Carlson before beating her. He allegedly caused her head to "cave in" and repeatedly threw her down the stairs. He is also accused of stabbing her with a piece of her broken walker and a steak knife. During the investigation, West Valley Police said detectives believe Cunningham dumped Carlson's body near the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest near SR 150 or SR 35. Several law enforcement agencies conducted searches for Carlson's body but were unable to locate her. Cunningham was arrested in December 2021 for aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, obstructing justice, aggravated assault, and illegal discharge of a firearm, according to reports. He allegedly committed suicide while in custody in March 2022. 4 PIERCE COUNTY, WASHINGTON (TCD) – A 30-year-old man thought he was meeting someone from a dating app when he was kidnapped, extorted, and forced to strip naked. A man called the Pierce County Sheriff's Office on Saturday, Aug. 20, to report he had been kidnapped and robbed, according to a statement. He allegedly stated that he went to an apartment in Parkland to meet with a woman he met on the dating app Plenty of Fish, and the woman "presented herself as being similar in age to the victim." After about five minutes, a man allegedly walked into the room, pointed a gun at the victim, and "ordered the victim to remove his clothes and give the suspect his money." The female suspect allegedly began photographing the naked victim. The two allegedly instructed the victim to transfer $6,000 via a cash app, but the transaction was rejected because it was flagged as a potential fraudulent charge. The suspects, on the other hand, persisted. "The suspects made the victim attempt numerous other transactions via various apps and even posed as the victim over the phone to try to get an account unlocked," according to the statement. After three hours, the male and female suspects allegedly "threatened to send the nude photos to everyone on the victim's contact list if he told anyone what happened." The victim approached authorities and collaborated with them to identify the two suspects. The following day, on Aug. 21, Pierce County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a domestic violence assault call at the same address provided by the dating app victim from his incident. Deputies reportedly recognized the male suspect, and as they attempted to handcuff him, he allegedly reached into his pocket for a gun. He was apprehended before he could get the weapon. The man allegedly broke the door panel inside the patrol car while attempting to flee after moving the handcuffs to the front of his body. He is also said to have broken the seatbelt fastener. The male suspect was booked into the Pierce County Jail for first-degree robbery, kidnapping, extortion, unlawful possession of a firearm, and malicious mischief. His bail is set at $125,000 dollars. The female suspect, who is reportedly 19 years old, was arrested and charged with robbery, kidnapping, and extortion, with bail set at $50,000. When it comes to online dating, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office advises residents to "do your research and trust your instincts."If you like TRUE CRIME TODAY - Be sure to search and subscribe wherever you download podcasts! Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-a-true-crime-podcast/id1504280230?uo=4 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/0GYshi6nJCf3O0aKEBTOPs Stitcher http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/real-ghost-stories-online-2/dark-side-of-wikipedia-true-crime-disturbing-stories iHeart https://www.iheart.com/podcast/270-Dark-Side-of-Wikipedia-Tru-60800715 Amazon https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/565dc51b-d214-4fab-b38b-ae7c723cb79a/Dark-Side-of-Wikipedia-True-Crime-Dark-History Google Podcasts https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzUwMDEyNjAucnNz Or Search "True Crime Today" for the best in True Crime ANYWHERE you get podcasts! Support the show at http://www.patreon.com/truecrimetoday

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    

Today Pastor Brian Headrick is a passionate minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but for 24 years of his life he was a severe criminal and drug addict who estimates he may have committed over a million felonies in his lifetime.   Brian started life in a tough situation. He was the son of a single mom and was molested as a kid. He poured everything into sports but after a motorcycle accident ended his sports career at 17, he quickly fell into drugs. This, in turn, led to a life of crime in order to support his habit.   Throughout the 24 years of this sordid life, he was in and out of prison for over 50 felony convictions and arrests for hundreds more. He estimates that it was common to commit hundreds of felonies in one night as he struggled to support an incredibly expensive habit. At one point, Brian and his wife’s habit cost $700/day.   After meeting his wife, the two settled down together, started a legitimate business and had kids, but after a period of time, the habit came back and this landed them both back in jail. This particular go-around was hard on Brian, as now his kids were fatherless just as he had been growing up.   This was the tilled soil God decided to use to pursue Brian. One day, not long before he was busted and sent back to jail, he heard God speak to him audibly and tell him the two paths that laid before him. When Brian found himself back in jail, God, once again, audibly spoke to Brian saying, “And this is going to be about faith.” God did more than just speak to him in that moment, though, Brian felt his heart heal supernaturally. He testifies that he didn’t even know how sick his heart was until God graciously reached down and healed it and he knew in that moment that all the drugs he’d ever done were to cover up the wound God just healed. He also knew, now that God had healed him, he would never get high again.   This began a seven-month journey where Brian went searching for God in every type of religion. He read the Koran, the Book of Mormon, and the Jehova’s Witness writings. He attended Jewish services and Buddhist meditation hours. He didn’t know anything about Jesus or Christianity. Brian just knew God spoke to him and he wanted God, Whoever He was.   During this time, God kept gently leading Brian back to the Bible–in spite of there being no Christian ministry in his jail. Finally, Brian had a supernatural encounter with the Book of James in the Bible where, through a series of circumstances, God led Brian to read this passage of scripture and then pray with faith, as it instructs. Very quickly Brian saw a miraculous answer to his prayer and knew from that time forward that the Bible was set apart as more than a mere religious text.   Eventually Brian served some of his time in the Pierce County Jail, where he began to be discipled by ministers of the Gospel. After Brian’s sentence was up, he began attending a small church whose pastor recognized Brian’s fire for the Lord and encouraged him to attend seminary. Brian didn’t know what seminary was and had no plans to become a pastor, but was excited to spend much of his week reading the Bible, praying and worshipping. Two years into seminary, God used certain circumstances to open Brian’s heart towards the idea of being a pastor and eventually led him to pastor the church he currently leads.   HIGHLIGHTS Brian describes the voice of God as thundering, loud and simultaneous outside and inside him. The math Brian used to calculate the amount of felonies he may have committed is thus: It only takes 10 nights of committing hundreds of felonies a night to reach 1000 felonies. Over the period of 24 years of doing this night after night, this could easily add up to a million. Brian is the pastor of a Calvary Chapel in Tacoma, WA. During the same exact prison stint, God reached Brian's wife and she also became a believer. This, in spite of neither of them knowing about the other's transformation. 

    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.      

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.

10. Multiple Revenue Streams: Throughout this book, I’ve tried to share lessons I learned from masterminds. They taught me that I could advance my prospects for success if I lived in the world of reality rather than the world of fantasy. When authorities took me into custody, back in 1987, I had to live with the reality that I had made many bad decisions as a young man. While locked in the Pierce County Jail, prayers led me to the story of Socrates. From that story, I learned to think about the avatars that would influence my prospects in the future. Instead of dwelling on challenges that my bad decisions created, I had to think about the best possible outcome. With that vision, I could engineer a path that would take me from a jail cell, through multiple decades in prison, and into a life of success upon release. Certainly, I wish that I had made better decisions as a young man. If I’d made better decisions as a young man, I wouldn’t have been locked in jail. But I couldn’t deal with the world of wishes. No one advanced a station in life by wishing or complaining. Instead, we had to take action, disciplined action. Reality required that I make new decisions. By thinking about the future, I realized that if I didn’t adjust wisely in prison, I would have a very difficult time finding employment once I concluded my prison sentence. In fact, I accepted that the length of time I expected to serve might make it difficult for me to find any type of meaningful employment. Throughout the journey, I contemplated what resources I would need to start my life upon release. If I didn’t adjust wisely, I wouldn’t have anything when my term ended. I wouldn’t have clothes to wear, a car to drive, a savings account, or anything. Fortunately, decisions I made inside opened numerous opportunities. Yet when Carole and I began, I anticipated that my prison term and criminal record would always be hanging over my head. If I could create several different streams of income, I anticipated that I would advance our prospects for stability.   Financial Markets: Those who read Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Term or any of my earlier books will know that the stock market had an influence on my adjustment through prison. I wanted to speculate on stocks after my release, but I had priorities. Although trading in stocks opened opportunities to build an additional income stream, there were also inherent risks. I wasn’t prepared to take those risks until Carole and I had more stability. By early 2015, however, our asset base had grown. The San Francisco real estate market was one of the hottest markets in the United States, and soaring prices lifted our equity. The house we purchased for $390,000 was worth more than $525,000 in the fall of 2015. And with the rental income from our tenants, we paid down our mortgage each month. Our equity in that property grew to more than $200,000 since we moved to Orange County. In addition to the paper equity we had in real estate, by living frugally and saving income that I received from speaking events, consulting, and ghostwriting, we built a high balance in our savings account. When the account balance grew to exceed $200,000, I decided to open a brokerage account. With a net worth of more than $400,000, the time felt right to speculate with stocks. That turned out to be a bad decision. I traded aggressively for several months. But after bad trades in Twitter and Alibaba resulted in more than $40,000 vanishing from our stock portfolio, I decided to stop trading in stocks—at least for the time being. I’m not implying that the stock market doesn’t offer great opportunities. It’s just that I had to focus on the goal that I had set with Carole. Since I’d set a goal of earning my first million by August of 2018, I needed to think prudently about every risk and opportunity. With stock market indices rising and falling by several percentage points each day, I realized that it was too risky for my portfolio. Further, with my commitment to build a digital product strategy, the work I had to complete for clients who retained me, and responsibilities of creating regular podcasts, I couldn’t allow the ups and downs of the stock market to distract me. After liquidating my stock portfolio, I decided to take a pause. Carole and I purchased a 90-day Certificate of Deposit for $160,000 in the spring of 2015. I would need to look for more opportunities. Although the CD offered us stability, our monthly interest statement from Wells Fargo showed that the CD paid less than $9 per month in interest. Saving, it would seem, was not a prudent strategy to advance the goal we set of earning our first million by August of 2018.   Investment Real Estate: The 0-0-0 credit score I had when I walked out of prison had changed. By paying our mortgage and credit card bills on time each month, I built the score to the mid 700s. Carole and I decided to use the combination of our credit, our cash savings, and our tax returns to launch a plan of acquiring more real estate. We considered the pros and cons of investing in real estate. On the plus side, we saw how effectively real estate could advance our net worth. In 2015, we knew that more than half of the equity we had built since my release from prison in 2013 came from our real estate investment. That means we made more money while we were sleeping than we earned while we were working. If we had been able to purchase additional properties from Chis and Seth, each of those properties would’ve appreciated equally in the neighborhood. In other words, if we could have replicated our initial investment five times, we would already have a net worth of more than $1 million. We wouldn’t have had to work any harder. We simply needed to control more appreciating assets in appreciating markets. Instead of looking at the past and wishing that we had purchased more, we chose to act. We started looking for where we could replicate the strategy. Wages from earnings alone would not deliver our first $1 million. We’d need to create wealth through prudent investments, and real estate offered a great opportunity. We contemplated purchasing a house for us to live in. The compensation package that Andi offered when Carole and I moved to Orange County included housing expenses for our first year. When we began looking at houses to buy, we saw that real estate values in the Irvine / Newport Beach / Costa Mesa areas of Southern California had appreciated nearly as much as San Francisco. With prices for single-family residences in Newport starting at $1 million, and in nearby Irvine starting in the $750,000 range, we decided that it would be best for us to continue renting. Rather than buying our own house, we anticipated we could move closer to our goal if we used our savings to purchase additional rental properties outside of Orange County.

Eric’s testimonial convinced me that through digital programs like Earning Freedom, more people would find hope they needed to overcome struggle and prepare for success. My challenge was finding more purchase orders, as I would need a revenue stream to build a sustainable business.     Multiple Revenue Streams: Throughout this book, I’ve tried to share lessons I learned from masterminds. They taught me that I could advance my prospects for success if I lived in the world of reality rather than the world of fantasy. When authorities took me into custody, back in 1987, I had to live with the reality that I had made many bad decisions as a young man. While locked in the Pierce County Jail, prayers led me to the story of Socrates. From that story, I learned to think about the avatars that would influence my prospects in the future.   Instead of dwelling on challenges that my bad decisions created, I had to think about the best possible outcome. With that vision, I could engineer a path that would take me from a jail cell, through multiple decades in prison, and into a life of success upon release.   Certainly, I wish that I had made better decisions as a young man. If I’d made better decisions as a young man, I wouldn’t have been locked in jail. But I couldn’t deal with the world of wishes. No one advanced a station in life by wishing or complaining. Instead, we had to take action, disciplined action.   Reality required that I make new decisions. By thinking about the future, I realized that if I didn’t adjust wisely in prison, I would have a very difficult time finding employment once I concluded my prison sentence. In fact, I accepted that the length of time I expected to serve might make it difficult for me to find any type of meaningful employment.   Throughout the journey, I contemplated what resources I would need to start my life upon release. If I didn’t adjust wisely, I wouldn’t have anything when my term ended. I wouldn’t have clothes to wear, a car to drive, a savings account, or anything. Fortunately, decisions I made inside opened numerous opportunities. Yet when Carole and I began, I anticipated that my prison term and criminal record would always be hanging over my head. If I could create several different streams of income, I anticipated that I would advance our prospects for stability.     Financial Markets: Those who read Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Term or any of my earlier books will know that the stock market had an influence on my adjustment through prison. I wanted to speculate on stocks after my release, but I had priorities. Although trading in stocks opened opportunities to build an additional income stream, there were also inherent risks. I wasn’t prepared to take those risks until Carole and I had more stability.   By early 2015, however, our asset base had grown. The San Francisco real estate market was one of the hottest markets in the United States, and soaring prices lifted our equity. The house we purchased for $390,000 was worth more than $525,000 in the fall of 2015. And with the rental income from our tenants, we paid down our mortgage each month. Our equity in that property grew to more than $200,000 since we moved to Orange County.   In addition to the paper equity we had in real estate, by living frugally and saving income that I received from speaking events, consulting, and ghostwriting, we built a high balance in our savings account. When the account balance grew to exceed $200,000, I decided to open a brokerage account. With a net worth of more than $400,000, the time felt right to speculate with stocks.   That turned out to be a bad decision.   I traded aggressively for several months. But after bad trades in Twitter and Alibaba resulted in more than $40,000 vanishing from our stock portfolio, I decided to stop trading in stocks—at least for the time being.   I’m not implying that the stock market doesn’t offer great opportunities. It’s just that I had to focus on the goal that I had set with Carole. Since I’d set a goal of earning my first million by August of 2018, I needed to think prudently about every risk and opportunity. With stock market indices rising and falling by several percentage points each day, I realized that it was too risky for my portfolio. Further, with my commitment to build a digital product strategy, the work I had to complete for clients who retained me, and responsibilities of creating regular podcasts, I couldn’t allow the ups and downs of the stock market to distract me.   After liquidating my stock portfolio, I decided to take a pause. Carole and I purchased a 90-day Certificate of Deposit for $160,000 in the spring of 2015. I would need to look for more opportunities. Although the CD offered us stability, our monthly interest statement from Wells Fargo showed that the CD paid less than $9 per month in interest. Saving, it would seem, was not a prudent strategy to advance the goal we set of earning our first million by August of 2018.     Investment Real Estate: The 0-0-0 credit score I had when I walked out of prison had changed. By paying our mortgage and credit card bills on time each month, I built the score to the mid 700s. Carole and I decided to use the combination of our credit, our cash savings, and our tax returns to launch a plan of acquiring more real estate.   We considered the pros and cons of investing in real estate. On the plus side, we saw how effectively real estate could advance our net worth. In 2015, we knew that more than half of the equity we had built since my release from prison in 2013 came from our real estate investment. That means we made more money while we were sleeping than we earned while we were working. If we had been able to purchase additional properties from Chis and Seth, each of those properties would’ve appreciated equally in the neighborhood. In other words, if we could have replicated our initial investment five times, we would already have a net worth of more than $1 million.   We wouldn’t have had to work any harder. We simply needed to control more appreciating assets in appreciating markets.   Instead of looking at the past and wishing that we had purchased more, we chose to act. We started looking for where we could replicate the strategy. Wages from earnings alone would not deliver our first $1 million. We’d need to create wealth through prudent investments, and real estate offered a great opportunity.   We contemplated purchasing a house for us to live in. The compensation package that Tim offered when Carole and I moved to Orange County included housing expenses for our first year. When we began looking at houses to buy, we saw that real estate values in the Irvine / Newport Beach / Costa Mesa areas of Southern California had appreciated nearly as much as San Francisco. With prices for single-family residences in Newport starting at $1 million, and in nearby Irvine starting in the $750,000 range, we decided that it would be best for us to continue renting. Rather than buying our own house, we anticipated we could move closer to our goal if we used our savings to purchase additional rental properties outside of Orange County.

Prison to Society That initial meeting with my case manager, Charles, went well. Why? The roots for that successful meeting extended way back to the 1980s, when I was still locked inside of the Pierce County Jail. Recap? While in my cell I read about Socrates. From his story, I learned the importance of living for something greater than myself. Instead of dwelling on the challenges that had come from my own decisions, I could empower myself by thinking about others. Through Socratic questioning, I could learn the relationship between my decisions and the ways that others would perceive me. With that insight, I began contemplating people like Charles—case managers and probation officers—before my judge even imposed my 45-year sentence. They were my avatars. By thinking about what they would expect, I could create plans to influence their perceptions. Then, by executing those plans every day of my sentence, I believed that I could influence a better outcome upon release. Some readers may be familiar with the social scientist Abraham Maslow and his theory about the hierarchy of needs. Maslow wrote that in order to advance to our highest potential, we first needed to satisfy our basic needs. For example, in order to appreciate the value of education, or art, we first needed to satisfy the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. The same principle would apply to my adjustment in society. In order to make a full adjustment after a quarter century of confinement, I would need to start with identification. Charles agreed.   DMV Before the meeting concluded, Charles authorized me to walk to the Department of Motor Vehicles, a few miles away. I needed to obtain a driver’s license. A driver’s license would be essential for the development of my career. Some people may think that once you know how to drive, you never forget. In my case, that wasn’t true. I didn’t know I forgot how to drive, or when I forgot. It may have happened after 10 years of imprisonment, maybe after 20. I can only say that when Carole and I went out to practice for my driving test, it became clear really quickly that I didn’t have any confidence behind the wheel. I passed the written exam first, then took some lessons with Carole before taking the driving portion of the exam. Fortunately, I passed the exam and received my license. Once I had the license in hand, I felt as if I’d crossed off one of the first challenges of my return to society. With a driver’s license, I could advance.   The First Job: Several years prior to my release from prison, I met Lee. Lee is an amazing human being and I consider him one of my closest friends and mentors. He built several remarkable businesses that employ hundreds of people and generate billions in revenue. While I was incarcerated, I explained my situation to Lee. When I returned to society, I explained, I would need to satisfy specific conditions that included employment. In other words, before I could build my own business, I would need to show that I had a steady paycheck. I asked him if there were any opportunities for me to provide value to one of his businesses so that I could earn a paycheck. Lee was incredible. He offered me a desk and a paycheck. While I served my final year in the halfway house, one of Lee’s businesses would pay me $10 per hour to satisfy the halfway house. But instead of doing any work for him, he tasked me with the responsibility of building my own venture. “I’ll give you a year to build a business,” he said. “If after a year you can’t make something happen, then come work with me and we’ll build a business together.” What’s the takeaway here? Some people would say that I’m lucky to have a friend like Lee. Without a doubt, there is truth in that. As many wise men who lived before me have found, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Lee embodied all of the good characteristics and traits that I aspired to develop while I was in prison. He was incredibly smart and a gifted businessman. Further, he was a community leader, providing opportunities and resources that influenced thousands of lives. When I contemplated avatars, or thought about the types of people I wanted to surround myself with upon release, Lee was exactly the type of person I had in mind. Because I had a vision of connecting with people like Lee, I had to figure out what Lee and leaders like him would expect of me. Obviously, he didn’t know me when I was beginning my prison term. In the 1980s, I was a reckless young man who sold cocaine. A judge sentenced me to serve decades in prison. If I didn’t do something to change perceptions, people would always see me as a criminal. Yet by focusing on avatars and contemplating what they would expect of me, I could create new pathways. Masterminds convinced me that if I worked to educate myself, contribute to society, and build a support network, I could persuade influential and successful people to believe in me. This “mastermind” strategy characterized the life of every successful person I met. I first met Lee at the federal prison camp in Lompoc, California. He served about a year in the camp for an offense related to taxes. When I met Lee, I didn’t know the extraordinary levels of his success. We were both prisoners. Yet during the time we served together, we developed a friendship that would last a lifetime. I’ll always work hard to prove worthy of the trust that Lee placed in me. In reality, anyone who served time in Lompoc had an opportunity to earn support from Lee. In fact, opportunities that opened for me throughout my journey were available to anyone in prison. When I started serving my sentence, I didn’t have any financial resources. Nor did I have an education. I had the advantage of hope. Hope for a better future led me to seek wisdom. I found the recipe for that wisdom from masterminds, first Socrates, then many others. They taught me the art of question-based learning. By contemplating the best possible outcome, and questioning what my avatars would expect, I crafted a strategy that would lead to success.

  That initial meeting with Charles went well. Why? The roots for that successful meeting extended way back to the 1980s, when I was still locked inside of the Pierce County Jail. Recap? While in my cell I read about Socrates. From his story, I learned the importance of living for something greater than myself. Instead of dwelling on the challenges that had come from my own decisions, I could empower myself by thinking about others. Through Socratic questioning, I could learn the relationship between my decisions and the ways that others would perceive me.   With that insight, I began contemplating people like Charles—case managers and probation officers—before my judge even imposed my 45-year sentence. They were my avatars. By thinking about what they would expect, I could create plans to influence their perceptions. Then, by executing those plans every day of my sentence, I believed that I could influence a better outcome upon release.   Some readers may be familiar with the social scientist Abraham Maslow and his theory about the hierarchy of needs. Maslow wrote that in order to advance to our highest potential, we first needed to satisfy our basic needs. For example, in order to appreciate the value of education, or art, we first needed to satisfy the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. The same principle would apply to my adjustment in society. In order to make a full adjustment after a quarter century of confinement, I would need to start with identification. Charles agreed.   Before the meeting concluded, Charles authorized me to walk to the Department of Motor Vehicles, a few miles away. I needed to obtain a driver’s license. A driver’s license would be essential for the development of my career. Some people may think that once you know how to drive, you never forget. In my case, that wasn’t true. I didn’t know I forgot how to drive, or when I forgot. It may have happened after 10 years of imprisonment, maybe after 20. I can only say that when Carole and I went out to practice for my driving test, it became clear really quickly that I didn’t have any confidence behind the wheel. I passed the written exam first, then took some lessons with Carole before taking the driving portion of the exam.   Fortunately, I passed the exam and received my license. Once I had the license in hand, I felt as if I’d crossed off one of the first challenges of my return to society. With a driver’s license, I could advance.     The First Job: Several years prior to my release from prison, I met Lee. Lee is an amazing human being and I consider him one of my closest friends and mentors. He built several remarkable businesses that employ hundreds of people and generate billions in revenue. While I was incarcerated, I explained my situation to Lee. When I returned to society, I explained, I would need to satisfy specific conditions that included employment. In other words, before I could build my own business, I would need to show that I had a steady paycheck. I asked him if there were any opportunities for me to provide value to one of his businesses so that I could earn a paycheck.   Lee was incredible. He offered me a desk and a paycheck. While I served my final year in the halfway house, one of Lee’s businesses would pay me $10 per hour to satisfy the halfway house. But instead of doing any work for him, he tasked me with the responsibility of building my own venture. “I’ll give you a year to build a business,” he said. “If after a year you can’t make something happen, then come work with me and we’ll build a business together.”   What’s the takeaway here?   Some people would say that I’m lucky to have a friend like Lee. Without a doubt, there is truth in that. As many wise men who lived before me have found, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”   Lee embodied all of the good characteristics and traits that I aspired to develop while I was in prison. He was incredibly smart and a gifted businessman. Further, he was a community leader, providing opportunities and resources that influenced thousands of lives. When I contemplated avatars, or thought about the types of people I wanted to surround myself with upon release, Lee was exactly the type of person I had in mind.   Because I had a vision of connecting with people like Lee, I had to figure out what Lee and leaders like him would expect of me. Obviously, he didn’t know me when I was beginning my prison term. In the 1980s, I was a reckless young man who sold cocaine. A judge sentenced me to serve decades in prison. If I didn’t do something to change perceptions, people would always see me as a criminal. Yet by focusing on avatars and contemplating what they would expect of me, I could create new pathways. Masterminds convinced me that if I worked to educate myself, contribute to society, and build a support network, I could persuade influential and successful people to believe in me.   This “mastermind” strategy characterized the life of every successful person I met. I first met Lee at the federal prison camp in Lompoc, California. He served about a year in the camp for an offense related to taxes. When I met Lee, I didn’t know the extraordinary levels of his success. We were both prisoners. Yet during the time we served together, we developed a friendship that would last a lifetime. I’ll always work hard to prove worthy of the trust that Lee placed in me.   In reality, anyone who served time in Lompoc had an opportunity to earn support from Lee. In fact, opportunities that opened for me throughout my journey were available to anyone in prison. When I started serving my sentence, I didn’t have any financial resources. Nor did I have an education. I had the advantage of hope. Hope for a better future led me to seek wisdom. I found the recipe for that wisdom from masterminds, first Socrates, then many others. They taught me the art of question-based learning. By contemplating the best possible outcome, and questioning what my avatars would expect, I crafted a strategy that would lead to success.

Sentenced to 45-Years: Now I have a question for readers. If you could influence someone, who would you want to influence? What do you know about that person? In what ways would influencing that person change your life? What steps could you take today to influence that person? My judge chose not to impose a life sentence. Instead, he sentenced me to 45 years. I was sentenced under a different set of laws than the sentencing laws that exist today. Under the laws that existed for crimes committed in 1987, I could earn 19-years worth of good-time credits. For readers who don’t know about good time, they’re rewards for avoiding disciplinary infractions. A prisoner didn’t need to do anything particularly good to earn good time. He simply needed to avoid being convicted of violating disciplinary infractions. So long as I didn’t lose any good time during my journey through prison, I would satisfy my sentence after 26 years of imprisonment. Since I was 23-years-old when authorities took me into custody, I didn’t quite know how to process the concept of serving 26 years. Thankfully, by reading Socrates I had a vision and a strategy. By thinking about my avatars, I could craft a strategy that would allow me emerge successfully. I would focus on that three-pronged goal of working to educate myself, to contribute to society, and to building a support network. I began serving my sentence in the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, thousands of miles away from where I grew up, in Seattle. While locked inside those high walls, I embarked upon the first prong of my plan. Although I’d been a lousy student in high school, I was determined to become a good student in prison. Why? Because I believed that if I could earn a university degree while incarcerated, people in society would respect me. And if more people respected me, I believed that more opportunities would open. Since I didn’t have any financial resources, I began writing letters to universities. I wrote to hundreds of universities, not knowing whether anyone would read the letters. Still, I knew that if I didn’t write letters, I wouldn’t stand a chance of connecting with my avatars who lived on the other side of prison walls. Each letter expressed the same message: I made bad decisions as a young man. As a consequence of those decisions, I served a lengthy term in prison. I wrote that I wanted to educate myself while inside and I asked for help. In time, I found universities to work with me. Those relationships I opened from inside prison walls resulted in my earning an undergraduate in 1992, and a master’s degree in 1995. After Hofstra University awarded my master’s degree, I began studying toward a Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut. Then a warden determined that my education had gone far enough. He put a stop to my formal studies by prohibiting the prison’s mailroom from receiving books that the University of Connecticut’s library would send for my coursework. Fortunately, by then I had eight years of imprisonment behind me. That experience conditioned me to cope well with obstacles. When my formal studies came to an end, I shifted focus. As I wrote in Earning Freedom and other books, I went through a phase where the stock market consumed all of my time. By studying how investors valued stocks I learned about business. I became fluent with “technical analysis,” learning how to assess a stock’s value in accordance with various trading patterns. By reading financial newspapers and magazines and books, I also learned about “fundamental analysis,” learning the importance of more objective metrics like growth rates, profit margins, return on equity, and other factors. Studying the stock market, I knew, would be a poor substitute for real business experience. But serving a lengthy term in prison required that I look for “unorthodox” ways to prepare myself for success upon release. And the more I could learn about business, the more I would arm myself for the challenges I anticipated upon release. What lessons could you learn with the resources you have around you? In the pages and chapters that follow, you’ll see how asking questions inspired me to learn as much as possible. It’s crucial that we use resources around us to prepare for success in our future. Without a deliberate plan, however, we sometimes fail to see the resources. Later, I’ll show the strategy that worked so well for me. As we approached the turn of the century I crossed over into the second half of my sentence. I had 13 years of prison behind me and 13 years of prison ahead of me. I shifted attention to writing, wanting to advance purposely toward the other two prongs of my adjustment strategy. First I wrote articles and I submitted them for publication. Then I began writing chapters for academic books. In time, one of my mentors offered to introduce me to his publisher. Professor George Cole, from the University of Connecticut, presided over my Ph.D. program and he authored the leading textbook on corrections. George suggested that I write a book for an academic audience that his publisher could package as a supplemental text for university students who were studying corrections. His suggestion led to my first book, About Prison. Key Point: I hope you will connect the dots here. Early in the book I wrote how I contemplated my avatars. What was that? While still in the county jail, before I’d even been sentenced, I thought about the people I would want to influence in my future. I didn’t know George Cole then, and George Cole didn’t know me. He was a distinguished author and he led the criminal justice department at the University of Connecticut. But while I was locked in the Pierce County Jail, masterminds like Socrates inspired me. They taught me to ask “Socratic questions” about what steps I could take during my imprisonment to prepare for success. Those questions led to my three-part adjustment strategy: My avatars would expect me to educate myself. My avatars would expect me to contribute to society. My avatars would expect me to build a support network. By sticking to that three-pronged strategy, I could open more opportunities. Since I executed that plan, I earned university degrees. Since I earned university degrees, I found it easier to open opportunities to publish articles. Since I published articles, I found mentors like George Cole. He didn’t judge me for the bad decisions that brought me to prison. Instead, he looked upon me as someone who could add value to society. George then introduced me to his publisher. She issued a contract to publish About Prison. When About Prison came out, thousands of people became aware of my work. My support network grew. Since the prison system didn’t allow me to “run a business,” I assigned royalties from About Prison to family members. Those resources opened opportunities I could leverage and create more opportunities. The cycle of success began for me while I served time inside of a jail cell, before I was even sentenced to prison. When will your cycle of success begin? It will begin as soon as you start living by this same model: Visualize success by contemplating your avatars. Create a plan that will persuade your avatars to invest time, energy, and resources in your development. Execute your plan with every thought that goes through your mind, with every word that comes out of your mouth, and with every decision you make while serving your sentence. After writing my first book, I reached to another mentor of mine. Dr. Marilyn McShane. Marilyn taught criminal justice courses at several universities and she also advised publishing companies. She opened an opportunity for me to publish my second book, Profiles From Prison, through Greenwood/Praeger, another well-respected academic publishing house. With two publishing credentials behind me, I aspired to reach a wider audience. Prison populations had been growing and I thought it would be helpful to write a general nonfiction book about the prison system. I pulled books from prison library shelves and researched how to go about publishing a mainstream book. The first step would be to write a book proposal. Then I would need to write sample chapters. Next, I would need to write a cover letter and begin sending self-addressed-stamped envelopes to literary agents.

Sentenced to 45-Years: My judge chose not to impose a life sentence. Instead, he sentenced me to 45 years. I was sentenced under a different set of laws than the sentencing laws that exist today. Under the laws that existed for crimes committed in 1987, I could earn 19-years worth of good-time credits. For readers who don’t know about good time, they’re rewards for avoiding disciplinary infractions. A prisoner didn’t need to do anything particularly good to earn good time. He simply needed to avoid being convicted of violating disciplinary infractions. So long as I didn’t lose any good time during my journey through prison, I would satisfy my sentence after 26 years of imprisonment.   Since I was 23-years-old when authorities took me into custody, I didn’t quite know how to process the concept of serving 26 years. Thankfully, by reading Socrates I had a vision and a strategy. By thinking about my avatars, I could craft a strategy that would allow me emerge successfully. I would focus on that three-pronged goal of working to educate myself, to contribute to society, and to building a support network.   I began serving my sentence in the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, thousands of miles away from where I grew up, in Seattle. While locked inside those high walls, I embarked upon the first prong of my plan. Although I’d been a lousy student in high school, I was determined to become a good student in prison. Why? Because I believed that if I could earn a university degree while incarcerated, people in society would respect me. And if more people respected me, I believed that more opportunities would open.   Since I didn’t have any financial resources, I began writing letters to universities. I wrote to hundreds of universities, not knowing whether anyone would read the letters. Still, I knew that if I didn’t write letters, I wouldn’t stand a chance of connecting with my avatars who lived on the other side of prison walls. Each letter expressed the same message:   I made bad decisions as a young man. As a consequence of those decisions, I served a lengthy term in prison. I wrote that I wanted to educate myself while inside and I asked for help. In time, I found universities to work with me. Those relationships I opened from inside prison walls resulted in my earning an undergraduate in 1992, and a master’s degree in 1995.   After Hofstra University awarded my master’s degree, I began studying toward a Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut. Then a warden determined that my education had gone far enough. He put a stop to my formal studies by prohibiting the prison’s mailroom from receiving books that the University of Connecticut’s library would send for my coursework. Fortunately, by then I had eight years of imprisonment behind me. That experience conditioned me to cope well with obstacles.   When my formal studies came to an end, I shifted focus. As I wrote in Earning Freedom and other books, I went through a phase where the stock market consumed all of my time. By studying how investors valued stocks I learned about business. I became fluent with “technical analysis,” learning how to assess a stock’s value in accordance with various trading patterns. By reading financial newspapers and magazines and books, I also learned about “fundamental analysis,” learning the importance of more objective metrics like growth rates, profit margins, return on equity, and other factors.   Studying the stock market, I knew, would be a poor substitute for real business experience. But serving a lengthy term in prison required that I look for “unorthodox” ways to prepare myself for success upon release. And the more I could learn about business, the more I would arm myself for the challenges I anticipated upon release.   What lessons could you learn with the resources you have around you? In the pages and chapters that follow, you’ll see how asking questions inspired me to learn as much as possible. It’s crucial that we use resources around us to prepare for success in our future. Without a deliberate plan, however, we sometimes fail to see the resources. Later, I’ll show the strategy that worked so well for me.   As we approached the turn of the century I crossed over into the second half of my sentence. I had 13 years of prison behind me and 13 years of prison ahead of me. I shifted attention to writing, wanting to advance purposely toward the other two prongs of my adjustment strategy. First I wrote articles and I submitted them for publication. Then I began writing chapters for academic books. In time, one of my mentors offered to introduce me to his publisher. Professor George Cole, from the University of Connecticut, presided over my Ph.D. program and he authored the leading textbook on corrections. George suggested that I write a book for an academic audience that his publisher could package as a supplemental text for university students who were studying corrections. His suggestion led to my first book, About Prison.     Key Point: I hope you will connect the dots here. Early in the book I wrote how I contemplated my avatars. What was that? While still in the county jail, before I’d even been sentenced, I thought about the people I would want to influence in my future. I didn’t know George Cole then, and George Cole didn’t know me. He was a distinguished author and he led the criminal justice department at the University of Connecticut. But while I was locked in the Pierce County Jail, masterminds like Socrates inspired me. They taught me to ask “Socratic questions” about what steps I could take during my imprisonment to prepare for success. Those questions led to my three-part adjustment strategy:   My avatars would expect me to educate myself. My avatars would expect me to contribute to society. My avatars would expect me to build a support network.   By sticking to that three-pronged strategy, I could open more opportunities. Since I executed that plan, I earned university degrees. Since I earned university degrees, I found it easier to open opportunities to publish articles. Since I published articles, I found mentors like George Cole. He didn’t judge me for the bad decisions that brought me to prison. Instead, he looked upon me as someone who could add value to society. George then introduced me to his publisher. She issued a contract to publish About Prison. When About Prison came out, thousands of people became aware of my work. My support network grew. Since the prison system didn’t allow me to “run a business,” I assigned royalties from About Prison to family members. Those resources opened opportunities I could leverage and create more opportunities.   The cycle of success began for me while I served time inside of a jail cell, before I was even sentenced to prison. When will your cycle of success begin? It will begin as soon as you start living by this same model:   Visualize success by contemplating your avatars. Create a plan that will persuade your avatars to invest time, energy, and resources in your development. Execute your plan with every thought that goes through your mind, with every word that comes out of your mouth, and with every decision you make while serving your sentence.   After writing my first book, I reached to another mentor of mine. Dr. Marilyn McShane. Marilyn taught criminal justice courses at several universities and she also advised publishing companies. She opened an opportunity for me to publish my second book, Profiles From Prison, through Greenwood/Praeger, another well-respected academic publishing house.   With two publishing credentials behind me, I aspired to reach a wider audience. Prison populations had been growing and I thought it would be helpful to write a general nonfiction book about the prison system. I pulled books from prison library shelves and researched how to go about publishing a mainstream book.   The first step would be to write a book proposal. Then I would need to write sample chapters. Next, I would need to write a cover letter and begin sending self-addressed-stamped envelopes to literary agents.

Success After PrisonI’m Michael Santos and I’m typing this manuscript on an awesome Mac Pro computer. When I served my sentence, I had to write all of my manuscripts by hand. Now I’m addicted to Apple products and word processors. These tools allow me to write much more efficiently, but I no longer have the time that was available to me while I was in prison. Again, that’s why I won’t devote hundreds of hours to editing this manuscript. At least for this draft, what you see is what you get. I started typing this manuscript on Saturday morning, December 4, 2015. I don’t know how long it will take for me to finish, but I’m going to do my best to finish a solid draft before the end of this year. Why? Well, it may seem strange, but I’m scheduled to visit the United States Penitentiary in Atwater on January 8, 2016. After speaking at a judicial conference in Sacramento that I wrote about in the introduction, I had a conversation with Warden Andre Matevousian. He extended an open invitation for me to return to Atwater—the prison that released me in 2013—so I could meet his team and make an address to the prisoners inside. I welcomed the opportunity. Twenty-eight months have passed since I concluded my 9,500-day journey as a federal prisoner. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, which I’ll explain in the chapters that follow. But in order to help readers understand more about how I opened opportunities that few would expect for a man who served so much time in prison, I need to provide some context—at least an abbreviated background. If you’ve read my earlier books, particularly Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, you won’t be learning anything new in this chapter. I won’t take the time to provide the same level of detail as I wrote in that book. Those who want a more comprehensive glimpse of my prison journey will find value in Earning Freedom. After this initial chapter, the remainder will show how decisions in prison related to opportunities and success I’ve been building since my release. We’ll start with the backstory.Background:In 1982, I graduated from Shorecrest High School in Seattle as a mediocre student. Then I started working with my father in a contracting company he established when I was a young boy. My father escaped from Cuba and worked hard to build his company, hoping he would pass the business along to me after I matured. Unfortunately, I disappointed both my father and mother. When I was 20, in 1984, I saw the movie Scarface, with Al Pacino. Pacino played the character Tony Montana, a super cool Cuban immigrant who built a fortune trafficking in cocaine. Rather than wanting to follow in my father’s footsteps, I made the bad decision to follow guidance from Tony Montana. “In this country, first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the woman.” I admired Tony’s philosophy. His outlook on life didn’t work out so well. After seeing the film, I coordinated a scheme to earn quick money by distributing cocaine. Foolishly, I believed that I could shield myself from prosecution. By limiting my role to negotiating transactions and hiring other people to transport the cocaine, or storing the cocaine, I convinced myself that I could avoid the criminal justice system. On August 11, 1987, I learned how badly I had misinterpreted the criminal justice system. In the late afternoon, I saw three DEA agents pointing guns at my head. They told me I was under arrest. Soon I felt an officer pulling my wrists behind my back and locking them in steel cuffs. My journey began. Over subsequent decades, I’d go through: Federal holding centers Court proceedings Pierce County Jail Kent Jail Puyallup Jail USP Atlanta FCI McKean Federal correctional Institution, Fairton United States Penitentiary Lewisburg FCI Fort Dix Federal Prison Camp in Florence Federal prison camp in Lompoc Federal prison camp Taft, Federal Prison Camp Atwater Federal Prison Camp San Francisco Halfway house Supervised Release Parole, and Special paroleThe pages that follow will show how decisions I made inside influenced my life outside. It’s my hope that this message will inspire you to begin preparing for your successful outcome. Transformation after Trial:Wanting nothing more than to get out of jail, I welcomed my attorney’s optimism. When he told me that a big difference existed between an indictment and a conviction, I put my future in his hands. Then I proceeded to make every bad decision a defendant could make.I refused to accept responsibility.I didn’t contemplate expressing remorse.While in custody, I stayed involved with the criminal enterprise that I had begun.I took the witness stand to testify during my trial and I lied to the jury.Members of the jury saw through my perjury and convicted me of every count. A New Philosophy:After the jury convicted me, the U.S. Marshals returned me to the Pierce County Jail. While in my cell, for the first time, I came to terms with the bad decisions that I had made. I began to pray for guidance. Those prayers led me to a book of philosophy and I came across the story of Socrates. At that time, I didn’t know anything about philosophy or Socrates. He was a teacher in ancient Athens. Laws of that era made it a crime to teach people who were not from the ruling class. Socrates broke that law. He believed that every human being had value and a right to learn. Authorities convicted Socrates for breaking the law of teaching and judges sentenced him to death. While being held in jail until his execution date, Socrates received a visit from his friend Crito. Crito presented Socrates with an opportunity to escape. Instead of taking the easy way out of escape, Socrates chose to accept his punishment—accepting death before dishonor. From Socrates, I learned a great deal. His wisdom came through asking brilliant questions—which spawned the term “Socratic questioning.” After reading several stories about his life, I stretched out on the concrete slab in one of Pierce County’s jail cells and I thought about the decisions I had made that put me in my predicament. While staring at the ceiling, I contemplated the many bad decisions of my youth.I made a poor choice of friendsI lived a fast lifestyle, andI lacked discipline.As a consequence of my convictions for leading an enterprise that trafficked in cocaine, I faced a possible sentence of life in prison. Even though my conviction carried the possibility of a life sentence without parole, I believed that I would return to society at some point. I began to question whether I could do anything while I served my sentence to prepare for a better life when my prison term ended. As I learned from Socrates, the secret to success wasn’t to ask questions about my own life. Instead, I needed to ask questions about my relationship to the broader society. Later, I learned from many other masterminds that taught me the timeless value of asking the right questions. For example, a well known sales coach and motivational speaker, Zig Zigler, is famous for having said: If I can ask questions to help other people get what they want, I can get everything that I want. Reading about Socrates taught me to ask questions that would help me understand the people I wanted in my life. I hated confinement and didn’t want to be a prisoner forever. Although I couldn’t undo the bad decisions of my past, I started thinking about the people I wanted to interact with in the future. Ironically, although I faced a life sentence, I didn’t want to think of myself as a criminal. In the future, I wanted others to judge me for the way that I responded to my problems—not for the bad decisions that resulted in my imprisonment.Socratic Questioning and Avatars:Who were the people I would want to interact with in the future?What did they do for a living?What influence would they have in my life?Those kinds of questions led me to “humanize” my avatars. What’s an avatar? From my perspective, an avatar was the type of person I wanted to meet in the future. That person would influence aspects of my life. Although the avatar didn’t exist as a flesh-and-blood person, in my mind the avatar was real—even though I didn’t know who he or she would be. I thought about my future probation officer because that person would have an influence on my life whenever my prison term ended. I thought about my future employer. I thought about future lenders. I thought about the woman I would marry and the friends I would choose.Who were those people? What characterized their lives? What level of education would they have? What could I do to earn their respect? The more questions I asked of my avatars, the more insight I had as I contemplated the way that I would adjust through my prison journey. I began with questions about whether there would be anything that I could do from prison to influence the way those avatars would perceive me in the future. The initial answer to my question was a resounding yes. If I acted appropriately, I believed that I could influence the perceptions of my avatars. As Socrates taught, one question always led to another. What then could I do to influence the ways that those avatars would see me? What would they expect from me if they were going to see me as something more than the bad decisions I made when I was 20? Those questions led to a three-part plan: My avatars would expect me to educate myself. My avatars would expect me to contribute to society. My avatars would expect me to build a support network.If I kept the expectations of my avatars at the forefront of my mind, and if I turned to those thoughts with every decision, I believed that I would influence perceptions. Instead of judging me for my criminal conviction, being a prisoner, or an ex convict, my avatars would respect me. They would perceive me as a man of discipline and integrity, as someone who worked to earn his freedom. Now I have a question for readers. If you could influence someone, who would you want to influence? What do you know about that person? In what ways would influencing that person change your life? What steps could you take today to influence that person?

I’m Michael Santos and I’m typing this manuscript on an awesome Mac Pro computer. When I served my sentence, I had to write all of my manuscripts by hand. Now I’m addicted to Apple products and word processors. These tools allow me to write much more efficiently, but I no longer have the time that was available to me while I was in prison. Again, that’s why I won’t devote hundreds of hours to editing this manuscript. At least for this draft, what you see is what you get. I started typing this manuscript on Saturday morning, December 4, 2015. I don’t know how long it will take for me to finish, but I’m going to do my best to finish a solid draft before the end of this year. Why? Well, it may seem strange, but I’m scheduled to visit the United States Penitentiary in Atwater on January 8, 2016. After speaking at a judicial conference in Sacramento that I wrote about in the introduction, I had a conversation with Warden Andre Matevousian. He extended an open invitation for me to return to Atwater—the prison that released me in 2013—so I could meet his team and make an address to the prisoners inside. I welcomed the opportunity. Twenty-eight months have passed since I concluded my 9,500-day journey as a federal prisoner. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, which I’ll explain in the chapters that follow. But in order to help readers understand more about how I opened opportunities that few would expect for a man who served so much time in prison, I need to provide some context—at least an abbreviated background. If you’ve read my earlier books, particularly Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, you won’t be learning anything new in this chapter. I won’t take the time to provide the same level of detail as I wrote in that book. Those who want a more comprehensive glimpse of my prison journey will find value in Earning Freedom. After this initial chapter, the remainder will show how decisions in prison related to opportunities and success I’ve been building since my release. We’ll start with the backstory. Background: In 1982, I graduated from Shorecrest High School in Seattle as a mediocre student. Then I started working with my father in a contracting company he established when I was a young boy. My father escaped from Cuba and worked hard to build his company, hoping he would pass the business along to me after I matured. Unfortunately, I disappointed both my father and mother. When I was 20, in 1984, I saw the movie Scarface, with Al Pacino. Pacino played the character Tony Montana, a super cool Cuban immigrant who built a fortune trafficking in cocaine. Rather than wanting to follow in my father’s footsteps, I made the bad decision to follow guidance from Tony Montana. “In this country, first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the woman.” I admired Tony’s philosophy. His outlook on life didn’t work out so well. After seeing the film, I coordinated a scheme to earn quick money by distributing cocaine. Foolishly, I believed that I could shield myself from prosecution. By limiting my role to negotiating transactions and hiring other people to transport the cocaine, or storing the cocaine, I convinced myself that I could avoid the criminal justice system. On August 11, 1987, I learned how badly I had misinterpreted the criminal justice system. In the late afternoon, I saw three DEA agents pointing guns at my head. They told me I was under arrest. Soon I felt an officer pulling my wrists behind my back and locking them in steel cuffs. My journey began. Over subsequent decades, I’d go through: Federal holding centers Court proceedings Jails: Pierce County Jail, Kent Jail, Puyallup Jail, USP Atlanta, FCI McKean, Federal correctional Institution, Fairton, United States Penitentiary Lewisburg, Fort Dix, Federal Prison Camp in Florence, Federal prison camp in Lompoc, Federal prison camp, Taft, Federal Prison Camp Atwater. Residential Drug Abuse Program Prisons Halfway house Supervised Release Parole, and Special parole The pages that follow will show how decisions I made inside influenced my life outside. It’s my hope that this message will inspire you to begin preparing for your successful outcome. Transformation after Trial: Wanting nothing more than to get out of jail, I welcomed my attorney’s optimism. When he told me that a big difference existed between an indictment and a conviction, I put my future in his hands. Then I proceeded to make every bad decision a defendant could make. I refused to accept responsibility. I didn’t contemplate expressing remorse. While in custody, I stayed involved with the criminal enterprise that I had begun. I took the witness stand to testify during my trial and I lied to the jury. Members of the jury saw through my perjury and convicted me of every count. A New Philosophy: After the jury convicted me, the U.S. Marshals returned me to the Pierce County Jail. While in my cell, for the first time, I came to terms with the bad decisions that I had made. I began to pray for guidance. Those prayers led me to a book of philosophy and I came across the story of Socrates. At that time, I didn’t know anything about philosophy or Socrates. He was a teacher in ancient Athens. Laws of that era made it a crime to teach people who were not from the ruling class. Socrates broke that law. He believed that every human being had value and a right to learn. Authorities convicted Socrates for breaking the law of teaching and judges sentenced him to death. While being held in jail until his execution date, Socrates received a visit from his friend Crito. Crito presented Socrates with an opportunity to escape. Instead of taking the easy way out of escape, Socrates chose to accept his punishment—accepting death before dishonor. From Socrates, I learned a great deal. His wisdom came through asking brilliant questions—which spawned the term “Socratic questioning.” After reading several stories about his life, I stretched out on the concrete slab in one of Pierce County’s jail cells and I thought about the decisions I had made that put me in my predicament. While staring at the ceiling, I contemplated the many bad decisions of my youth. I made a poor choice of friends I lived a fast lifestyle, and I lacked discipline. As a consequence of my convictions for leading an enterprise that trafficked in cocaine, I faced a possible sentence of life in prison. Even though my conviction carried the possibility of a life sentence without parole, I believed that I would return to society at some point. I began to question whether I could do anything while I served my sentence to prepare for a better life when my prison term ended. As I learned from Socrates, the secret to success wasn’t to ask questions about my own life. Instead, I needed to ask questions about my relationship to the broader society. Later, I learned from many other masterminds that taught me the timeless value of asking the right questions. For example, a well known sales coach and motivational speaker, Zig Zigler, is famous for having said: If I can ask questions to help other people get what they want, I can get everything that I want. Reading about Socrates taught me to ask questions that would help me understand the people I wanted in my life. I hated confinement and didn’t want to be a prisoner forever. Although I couldn’t undo the bad decisions of my past, I started thinking about the people I wanted to interact with in the future. Ironically, although I faced a life sentence, I didn’t want to think of myself as a criminal. In the future, I wanted others to judge me for the way that I responded to my problems—not for the bad decisions that resulted in my imprisonment. Socratic Questioning and Avatars: Who were the people I would want to interact with in the future? What did they do for a living? What influence would they have in my life? Those kinds of questions led me to “humanize” my avatars. What’s an avatar? From my perspective, an avatar was the type of person I wanted to meet in the future. That person would influence aspects of my life. Although the avatar didn’t exist as a flesh-and-blood person, in my mind the avatar was real—even though I didn’t know who he or she would be. I thought about my future probation officer because that person would have an influence on my life whenever my prison term ended. I thought about my future employer. I thought about future lenders. I thought about the woman I would marry and the friends I would choose. Who were those people? What characterized their lives? What level of education would they have? What could I do to earn their respect? The more questions I asked of my avatars, the more insight I had as I contemplated the way that I would adjust through my prison journey. I began with questions about whether there would be anything that I could do from prison to influence the way those avatars would perceive me in the future. The initial answer to my question was a resounding yes. If I acted appropriately, I believed that I could influence the perceptions of my avatars. As Socrates taught, one question always led to another. What then could I do to influence the ways that those avatars would see me? What would they expect from me if they were going to see me as something more than the bad decisions I made when I was 20? Those questions led to a three-part plan: My avatars would expect me to educate myself. My avatars would expect me to contribute to society. My avatars would expect me to build a support network. If I kept the expectations of my avatars at the forefront of my mind, and if I turned to those thoughts with every decision, I believed that I would influence perceptions. Instead of judging me for my criminal conviction, being a prisoner, or an ex convict, my avatars would respect me. They would perceive me as a man of discipline and integrity, as someone who worked to earn his freedom. Now I have a question for readers. If you could influence someone, who would you want to influence? What do you know about that person? In what ways would influencing that person change your life? What steps could you take today to influence that person?