Podcasts about shon hopwood

What would be your mindset if your sentencing guideline was 8 years, and you receive a 213 year sentence? Meet Adam Clausen who had the "never give up" mindset to keep believing he was going to get out. He finally did after 20 years and it is one heck of a story! He transformed his life while in prison compiling an extensive list of "extraordinary and compelling" achievements that eventually earned him a "second chance" at life. None of this would have been possible without the help of his wife that he met in a chance meeting midway through his 20 year imprisonment. Ro, his wife, was able to connect Adam with one of the best known attorneys in the criminal justice arena, Shon Hopwood. Together, 20 years later, Adam walked out as a free man on compassionate release through the new language of Frist Step Act law. Adam has not stopped since he was released. He is doing impactful work with Social Purpose Corrections as the Director of Innovation and Social Impact. Adam's focus now is set on turning the corrections system upside down for the good with reentry. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brent-cassity/support

When most college-age kids need a little excitement, they do extreme sports or snap into a Slim Jim. Shon Hopwood robbed five banks in 11 months. When he was done paying his debt to society, he built himself a totally legal and totally cool new career.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shon Hopwood joins us this week to tell about his journey from bank robber to federal prisoner to U.S. Supreme Court practitioner and Georgetown law professor.What's it like in federal prison? How did Hopwood become a jailhouse lawyer? If people do in fact “age out” of criminal activity, then what should our prison system look like? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Shon Hopwood is a serial robber who spent 11 years in federal prison. But when he walked out of prison in 2008, Shon couldn't have predicted an incredulous twist: earning the title ‘Professor' at Georgetown University while raising his young family. While the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, there is little evidence to show that with more people in the prison system, crime rates are significantly reduced or that public safety is ensured. In this episode, we discuss the irony of the American criminal justice system. On the podcast, we explore if prisons are aimed to rehabilitate, the vicious cycle created by the prison industrial complex, and how one former inmate remarkably started his legal career within the four walls of prison. Featuring policy and advocacy insights from: Professor Shon Hopwood, Former Inmate and Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University; Dr. Annahita Mahdavi West, Activist and Associate Professor at Long Beach City College; and Dr. Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Senior Research Analyst at The Sentencing Project. -- This special series of Finding Humanity is a production of Humanity Lab Foundation and Hueman Group Media. Subscribe, rate, and leave us a review. For more information, visit findinghumanitypodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter @find_humanity and on Facebook @findinghumanitypod.

Shon Hopwood is a lot of things - Supreme Court lawyer, Georgetown Law professor, criminal justice reform champion, father, husband, and man of faith. Yet, he's probably still known best for an identity far removed from the man he is today: a bank robber. In this episode of In Stitches, we explore Shon's story, from robbing banks to spending a decade in prison to becoming an influential criminal justice reform advocate. Shon's story goes far beyond a cinematic tale of redemption. It's a story of the power derived from regaining a sense of purpose. It's a story of a man's tireless efforts to serve others and be defined by all the good he's done, rather than the bad choices he made as a 21 year old. And, it's a story full of humor - Shon says it well in the interview: “it was funny in hindsight, not in the moment.” Meet the human being behind the story - give the episode a listen. And, if you like it, please subscribe, share, and leave us a review! Follow Shon Twitter : @shonhopwood Facebook : @shonhopwood You can purchase his memoir, Law Man, here: https://www.amazon.com/Law-Man-Robbing-Winning-Redemption/dp/0307887839. Follow PJ Facebook : @pjwalshlive Instagram : @pjwalshlive Credits Shon Hopwood (Featured Guest) David Bobrow (Executive Producer) PJ Walsh (Host, Producer) Sam Pressler (Host, Producer) Arthur Rizer (Producer) Matt Condon (Communications, Producer) Kristen Howard (Communications, Producer) and check us out on the cool new service VURBL !! https://vurbl.com/station/63gFJbzCspJ

On today's podcast we present an exclusive interview between Amanda Knox and Shon Hopwood who has made the journey from serving time in federal prison for bank robbery to prominent Georgetown law professor and criminal justice reform advocate.

On October 28, 1988, Shon Hopwood pled guilty to robbing several banks in Nebraska. But while he was in prison, his life was changed. He became interested in law and prepared a court petition for a fellow inmate that eventually went to the Supreme Court. He earned his law degree and helped other inmates with legal advice. Today, he is a changed man, teaching at Georgetown University and advocating for prison reform. The apostle Paul was continually in awe that God had transformed his life. He had been a “blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man” (v. 13). When he was an enemy of Jesus, the Lord met him on the road to Damascus. He had been changed by God’s grace and brought to a place of faith in Christ (v. 14). He had gone from being a man who persecuted Christians to serving as a Christian missionary. This gave him a sense of gratitude and of hope for even the most hardened sinner. After all, if God could change him, no one was beyond reach. Paul described his background because he wanted to encourage Timothy to go through with church discipline of Hymenaeus and Alexander (v. 20). These men were likely leaders in the church who were engaged in false teaching. Since they had “suffered shipwreck with regard to their faith,” they should be “handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme” (v. 20). The language of handing over to Satan is a reference to church discipline. But there is a note of hope in this discipline. Paul himself was once a blasphemer. If God could reach him, He could also reach Hymenaeus and Alexander. But the process would begin with confronting their false teaching. >> The stories of how the Lord has rescued us from our past sins and addictions highlight God’s power and mercy. Thank God today for what He has done in your life and look for opportunities to share your testimony with others. No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace.

Hey Misfits, this week we are tackling the topic of prison reform. This issue has so many layers that it warrants multiple episodes, so make sure and subscribe to you don't miss a beat. The United States locks up more of its citizens than any other nation. According to PrisonPolicy.org, The American criminal justice system holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,833 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories. From police brutality and wrongful convictions to harsh sentences and overcrowding, the United States prison system is broken on so many levels. With the enactment of the First Step Act, signed into law in 2019, there have been steps in the right direction. But this new law will have a very small impact on mass incarceration as a whole as it only affects the federal system which holds about 181,000 imprisoned people. This is a small fraction of the US jail and prison population. Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes featuring prison reform activist Paul Feilmann and one of the founders of Nebraskans for Prison Reform Ashleigh Jackson. Make sure and subscribe to the podcast or sign up for our newsletter to be notified when those episodes drop. Shout out to our new pod friends Seeing Red Nebraska. Check out their website for great content regarding Nebraska politics. Lastly, if you are interested in checking out the podcast mentioned in today's episode, check out NPR's Invisibilia, about Shon Hopwood, criminal turned lawyer. You won't be disappointed! Follow us: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

One can measure a society by the way it treats its prisoners. Attorneys Shon Hopwood and Catherine Bernard join us to talk criminal justice reform, nonviolent offenders trying to escape COVID-19 in prison, and the new Supreme Court ruling on jury trials unanimity. All this and more on A Neighbor's Choice! Original airdate: April 21, 2020 Follow Shon Hopwood on Twitter @shonhopwood Follow Catherine Bernard on Twitter @Catherine4GA Email A Neighbor's Choice with a guest suggestion, story tip or question at hello@aneighborschoice.com Find David Gornoski on YouTube Visit the A Neighbor's Choice website at www.aneighborschoice.com

Shon Hopwood joins us to share his journey from robbing banks to Georgetown Law Professor.

Shon Hopwood is an American convicted felon, appellate lawyer, and professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Hopwood became well-known as a jailhouse lawyer who served time in prison for bank robbery.

From jailhouse lawyer to law professor and criminal justice reform advocate . . .   Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by Shon Hopwood, an attorney and law professor at Georgetown Law, to discuss his remarkable life story and how it brought him to understand the need for profound reform in our criminal justice system.  After Shon’s story was featured on a recent episode of “60 Minutes,” he graciously agreed to come on Good Law Bad Law to share his story and the reforms he believes are so urgently needed.   Shon served 11 years in federal prison for a series of armed bank robberies he committed in his early 20s. After securing a job in the prison law library, Shon discovered that he had quite the knack for the law and legal thinking.  After failing to get his own sentence reduced, he turned to helping other inmates with their cases.  Against all the odds, Shon wrote a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking for review of a fellow inmate’s conviction and the appeal was accepted.  This brought Shon into contact with former Solicitor General Seth Waxman, who agreed to argue the appeal.  Then . . .  well, you just have to listen to the episode to hear the rest of Shon’s incredible journey and his views on in-prison rehabilitation services, mandatory minimum sentences, and re-entry training and services.   A graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, and a Gates Public Law Scholar, Shon’s research and teaching interests include criminal law and procedure, civil rights, and the constitutional rights of prisoners. He has served as a law clerk for Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. And his legal scholarship has been published in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties, Fordham, and Washington Law Reviews, as well as the American Criminal Law Review and Georgetown Law Journal’s Annual Review of Criminal Procedure.   To find more information on Shon, visit his Georgetown web page here.   Host: Aaron Freiwald Guest: Shon Hopwood   Follow Good Law | Bad Law: YouTube: Good Law | Bad Law Instagram: @GoodLawBadLaw Website: https://www.law-podcast.com

Law Man: A Conversation with Shon Hopwood (Rob King)Highlights: We have to get over that people have done bad things. They're not bad people. We need to get back to second chances, redemption, and grace. 600,000 people are released from prison every year into society. We need to do a better job of providing some healing as they make the transition. None of us are perfect, and even people who commit crimes can be redeemed. Support the show (https://www.vineyardcincinnati.com/give)

Elizabeth Slattery briefly hits this week's SCOTUS headlines before diving into a recent interview with bank-robber-turned-law-professor Shon Hopwood. He shares about his experience writing cert. petitions from prison, clerking for Judge Janice Rogers Brown, and meeting Kim Kardashian.Follow us on Twitter @scotus101 and send comments, questions, or ideas for future episodes to scotus101@heritage.org. And don't forget to leave a 5-star rating! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Associate Law Professor at Georgetown Law School, justice reform advocate, and former federal inmate Shon Hopwood joins FreedomWorks' Jason Pye to talk about the passage of the FIRST STEP Act and the future of the justice reform movement. Sponsored by the Allied Educational Foundation (www.allieded.org)

What makes the FIRST STEP Act the most significant criminal justice reform in years? Shon Hopwood teaches law at Georgetown University. He discusses what he believes ought to be the next steps in criminal justice reform. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Shon Hopwood is both a former felon and a professor of law at Georgetown. At Cato Club 200, he detailed his case for sweeping criminal justice reform. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

with Shon Hopwood and Troy Slaten

This month GACDL President Scott Key interviewed Georgetown Associate Law Professor Shon Hopwood. Shon was a bank robber who studied law in prison and became a lawyer. In this interview, he shares some great tips on how to understand our clients' stories, how to better communicate with our clients, how to deal with "jailhouse lawyers," how prisons can improve, and more insights from the inside. We hope you enjoy this short and informative edition of the GACDL podcast. Some things discussed in the Podcast: 60 Minutes piece on Shon: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-a-convicted-felon-who-became-a-georgetown-law-professor/ Prison Professors, soon to be Yelp for prisons: https://prisonprofessors.com You can find Shon's book Law Man and other resources here: https://prisonprofessors.com/shop/ Shon's contact information: https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/hopwood-shon.cfm Host Scott Key's blog can be found here: https://www.georgiacriminalappellatelawblog.com If you are a criminal defense lawyer anywhere in the US, we would value your membership. Click JOIN on GACDL's website: www.gacdl.org The judge who sentenced Shon had a blog. You can read it here: https://herculesandtheumpire.com/ Thank you for listening.

    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.      

We're now into episode four of Prison Professors' five-part series on How to Master Prison. Those who aren't going into the prison system may find more interest in our interviews. Our team works with people from all types of backgrounds. Some face charges or served time for white-collar crimes. Others served time for drug offenses, or even violent crimes. Our interviews with those people show that regardless of what bad decisions a person has made in the past, it's never too early and it's never too late to begin sowing seeds for a better life.   In this series, we're offering content that will help people before they go into the criminal justice system. We know there's a lot of fear and anxiety about prison. Our team knows how to overcome it. And it's a bit thing to overcome the fear of prison, especially for those who don't know anything about it.   Howard Phillips Lovecraft, an American fiction writer, wrote a line that brought is often quoted:   “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,” he wrote. “And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”   If you've never been to prison before, then you may have some fear. That's normal. People who haven't been to prison don't really know what to expect. We've seen prisons depicted in movies. But are those representations real?   Prison population levels have soared over the past several decades. As a result, artists portray prisons in film, television, music, and literature. When artists portray scenes from prison, they feature the sensational. They produce the scenes to elicit an emotion. Frequently, film producers want to elicit the emotion of fear.   Our team at Prison Professors provides you with a different perspective. If you're going into the prison system, open your eyes to the best possible outcome. What does the best possible outcome look like in your case? If we can see the best possible outcome, we begin to realize that pathways to success exist.   Look at the success of our partners at Prison Professors.   Neither Shon nor Justin had been to prison before. One was going to prison for armed bank robbery. The other would serve time for a white-collar crime. Both men were afraid of what was to come. Prison would separate them from the people they love. It would separate them from the people who loved them. Neither knew anyone who had served time before. Yet both of them had seen the movies. They watched the television shows and they heard the stories.   Their outcomes on the other side of the journey, however, differed from what anyone would expect. Shon became the most successful jailhouse lawyer in history. He wrote briefs that won cases in District Courts, in Circuit Courts, and in the U.S. Supreme Court. Then, after completing his term, Shon went on to law school. He clerked for the D.C. Circuit Court. Georgetown Law School hired Shon. He's now a law professor and advocate for reforms.   Justin chronicled his story in Lessons From Prison. When he went to prison, he feared the type of life he would lead upon release. Justin's conviction for fraud resulted in the loss of his livelihood. He worried about how he would be able to earn a living. Like Shon, Justin, finished serving his sentence during the worst economic recession of our lifetime. Yet during the first few years since his release from prison, he began building businesses. Those businesses would generate millions in revenues. Clients for those businesses include law enforcement, the corporate sector, academia, law firms, the judiciary, and individuals who face time in prison.   Why did Shon and Justin experience a different outcome from what we see portrayed in media? They prepared for success!   I'm Michael Santos. My partners and I want to share everything we learned about mastering the prison experience. Like Shon and Justin, I went to prison as a young man. I started my prison journey in , when I was 23. I didn't get out of federal prison until 2013. Despite the 26 years that I served, every day felt productive. It felt productive because I wasn't only preparing for prison. I was preparing for the success I would want to achieve in prison and beyond.     How Do We Prepare for Prison: We prepare for prison in the same way that we prepare for anything else in life. Success begins with a definition: How do we define success? The person must ask the following question:   What is going to be the best possible outcome?   Answering that question is essential. None of us can change the past. But if we want to influence the future, we must begin by defining success. If we can define success, then we can engineer the path. That path should take us from where we are to where we want to go. Future chapters will define our methodical approach for defining success. We call it our Straight-A Guide. But for now, let's focus our preparation on defining success.   Defining a successful outcome from prison requires us to complete a self-assessment. What does our life look like now?   If we're a highly-educated person, that we may prepare in ways that differ from someone who doesn't have a high school diploma. If we have financial resources, we may prepare differently from someone who doesn't have enough money to live in prison. If we value close relationships with family, we may prepare differently from someone who wants to serve time alone. If we have a sentence in excess of 10 years, we may prepare differently from someone who is serving one year.   Preparing for a successful journey through prison requires us to define success. And as shown above, success for one person may differ from another person's success.   My partners and I all had different life experiences. Justin was a graduate from the University of Southern California and he was a licensed professional before he went to prison. Shon had a history of substance abuse and he was serving a sentence for armed bank robberies. I started selling cocaine when I was 20 and didn't have much of an education when I started.   But one fact united each of us. Justin, Shon, and I hated being in prison. We wanted a different outcome from what others would expect of us. We wanted to return to society as law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. We didn't want to live on the margins. We wanted success, and we prepared in ways that would be consistent with that outcome. Our preparations, however, began when we were already confined.     Prepare For Prison Early: The sooner a person can prepare, the better. Consider the oft-quoted adage on the best time to plant an oak tree. Do you know the best time to plant an oak tree? Some people say winter, some people say summer. Some people say fall, some people say spring.   A wise person knows the best time to plant an oak tree. It's 20 years ago. The second best time to plant an oak tree is today.   The same thing goes with preparing for prison. The sooner a person can start thinking about the outcome that he wants to achieve, the better a person can prepare for a successful journey inside.   Good preparations serve a person well. Preparations will serve a person going to prison in the in the same way that a blueprint can serve a builder. It provides a guide of what steps we must take.   Not all people get to prison the same way. Some judges allow people to surrender at some point after the sentencing hearing. Through counsel, the defendant can ask the judge for time to prepare and get affairs in order. When judges allow people to surrender, they typically allow at least 30 days to pass. Some of our clients have been able to postpone their surrender to prison for a year or longer. There may be a variety of reasons that make sense for someone to delay their surrender date. They may want to complete a class. They may have family obligations. They may need to complete a business transaction.   If there isn't a compelling reason to do the opposite, we encourage people to get started. Don't delay the surrender if there isn't a reason. While waiting to serve time, life can feel like it's on hold. It's hard to gain any traction in life when a prison term is looming ahead. For many people who must surrender to prison, the waiting can be interminable. It can feel like a person is serving time, but the time does not count. In Lessons From Prison, Justin describes how the period before surrendering to prison led to a depression. Others talk about drinking too much, or eating too much, or feeling traumatized with fear.   Each case is different, and we do not provide boilerplate guidance. But as a general rule, we find that it's best to start serving the time as soon as possible. The sooner a person starts, the sooner a person can get on a path toward building a successful future.   We provide tips through our website, through our YouTube channel, and through our podcast. Some of those tips will be specific for people who have an option to surrender to prison. Other tips apply to all people, whether they're surrendering to prison or whether they're going to be taken into custody without notice. It's important to remember that a judge has the discretion. The judge can leave a person out on bond for a lengthy period of time after the conviction. Or the judge can issue an order that results in an unexpected confinement. Consider the widely reported case of Martin Shkreli.   Martin Shkreli was widely castigated in the media. Headlines labeled him as the “Pharma Bro.” In 2017, a jury convicted him on charges related to fraud. While out on bond, he repeatedly appeared on social media. One post, supposedly, offered payment to anyone who could provide a piece of hair from Hillary Clinton. That post led prosecutors to say that Martin posed a thread. The judge agreed. He ordered the U.S. Marshals to take Martin into custody in September, long before his sentencing hearing. As a result, the Bureau of Prisons locked him inside a New York detention center.   Had Martin prepared better, the judge likely would have allowed him to surrender to a minimum-security camp. Life in a minimum-security camp offers considerably more liberty, and considerably less volatility than life inside of a detention center.   It's always best to prepare. Knowledge translates into better decisions, and better decisions translate into better experiences.     Designation Details: Many defense attorneys will stop their representation at the sentencing hearing. Others will be willing to assist their clients a bit further. For those who have a good legal team in place, we offer some advice. Ask the defense attorney to get some confirmations from the Marshals and the BOP regarding the designation. A process unfolds after sentencing. The U.S. Marshals will forward the Judgment Order and the Presentence Investigation Report to the Bureau of Prisons designation center in Grand Prairie, Texas. Administrators in Texas will consider many different factors. Then they will identify an appropriate prison for the person to serve the sentence.   The staff in Grand Prairie will be responsible for submitting the appropriate paperwork to the designated prison. Sometimes human errors occur. Those errors can mean that the paperwork is not in order. If the paperwork is not in order when the defendant arrives at the institution, staff members may lock the individual in the Special Housing Unit. That means the person will be held on lockdown, without access to the telephone or recreation. Time will be much more difficult.   If possible, prepare in advance. Ask the defense attorney to confirm with the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshal service that all paperwork is in order. Our team has known many defendants who suffered because they were locked unnecessarily in Special Housing Units because they did not prepare in advance.     Point of Contact (POC): Identify a point of contact prior to confinement. Defendants may have a family member or friend who will serve as this point of contact. Let the POC know that they should expect to hear from you within two days. Defendants should understand that the Bureau of Prisons might not activate the phone or email system immediately. Still, if a defendant is on a prison compound, he will be in a community. Depending on the prison, a population level of between 100 and more than 1,000 people will serve time in the community. Someone will agree to help. They can have a family member reach out to your POC and let them know that you arrived safely and that you're okay.   Create a plan for your POC to follow. If your POC does not hear from you after three days, ask your POC to take action. Your POC should contact your attorney. If you don't have an attorney, you need an advocate who will help you. Your advocate should contact the Bureau of Prisons. Effective advocacy will lead the BOP to investigate why you're not able to communicate. If you're being held in the SHU because of misplaced paperwork, your advocate can take steps to correct the problem.   Alan was a client who could have used an advocate. Alan was convicted of healthcare fraud. He surrendered to a minimum-security camp to serve a 36-month sentence. Besides the instant offense, Alan did not have a criminal history. He expected to serve his time in the camp. Unfortunately, the BOP in Grand Prairie did not forward his presentence investigation report to the camp. As a result, when he surrendered to the camp, staff member locked him the Special Housing Unit. He remained in the Special Housing Unit for six weeks because the staff did not have a sense of urgency to fix the problem. Alan didn't know any better, and he didn't have a plan to fix the problem.     Finances: Create a finance plan as soon as possible. The plan should take into consideration the financial responsibilities outside of prison, and the financial needs while in prison.   Every individual has a unique situation. Some people have family members to support. Others do not have any financial responsibilities outside of prison. Think this through. Craft a plan that works for the support group. Coordinate a budget, or plan to assist through the journey.   It's possible to live in prison without any financial resources. Yet financial resources can ease the burden significantly. Remember that prison is a microcosm of our broader society. An underground economy will exist in every prison. By understanding how that economy works, a person can avoid problems that can complicate life inside.   In our book Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, I wrote about my experiences with the prison economy. I describe why I would spend about $600 each month to live in prison. Those expenditures allowed me to pay for the email system, the telephone system, postage, and to purchase commissary.   Other people live without resources. Some people have “hustles” in prison that allow them to function in that economy. They wash clothes, they clean, they cook for other people. Other people earn an income while working on prison jobs. Those jobs may pay anywhere from $5 a month to $200 per month. Jobs that pay $200 or more a month are relatively scarce, and staff members award those jobs in accordance with seniority. It may take ten years in prison before a person can get into one of the higher paying jobs.   A good plan will keep a person on track. Take steps to understand the financial opportunities and limitations in prison. I've written extensively about my experience in prison. When I left prison, after 26 years inside, I had more than $100,000 in after-tax savings. Those resources allowed me to start my life. The financial resources reflected my preparation. The preparations began with a visualization of how I wanted to emerge. Then I put my plan in place. Then I set priorities. Then I executed the plan. Make sure that you do the same.     Reading: A good planner will see advantages everywhere. We encourage you to plan your reading list. That plan worked well for our partner Shon Hopwood. He chose to read selectively in prison. That selected reading plan led to his developing knowledge of the law. By reading, he became an expert in writing appellate motions. While in prison, Shon wrote briefs that led to liberty for many people. His briefs won in U.S. District Courts, in Circuit Courts, and in the United States Supreme Court.   Likewise, Justin followed a disciplined reading schedule while in prison. He read books that would lead to his success upon release. What books will you read while you're in prison? How will reading contribute to your success while in prison, and beyond?   In several of our programs, I describe the strategy that empowered me through prison. Each time I read a book, I would document the experience with a book report. The book report would follow a simple plan. I would answer three questions:   Why did I read the book?   What did I learn from reading the book?   How will reading the book contribute to my success upon release?   By responding to those questions, we show a disciplined, deliberate path to make time in prison work for you. It's part of an excellent preparation strategy.     Journaling and Reputation Management: At the soonest possible time, anticipate the challenges that you'll face upon release. Use your time inside to begin crafting your personal image. Anticipate the how prospective employers, creditors, business associates, and anyone else will perceive you. What will they find when they search your name on Google?   If you anticipate challenges in the future, you can begin sowing seeds today to overcome those challenges. That strategy worked well for Shon. It worked well for Justin. It worked well for me.   Each of us documented our journey in prison. Each of us chronicled our journey to show our disciplined, deliberate preparations inside. Those initiatives allowed us to overcome enormous obstacles. Shon persuaded a law school to admit him, he persuaded Bar to admit him, and he persuaded a federal judge to hire him. Justin's journaling and strategies for reputation management while in prison opened enormous opportunities. Within three weeks of concluding 26 years in prison, I was teaching as an adjunct professor at San Francisco State University.   What led to those opportunities? Our journaling and our efforts to redefine our image made all the difference. Rather than judging us for the bad decisions that led to our prison term. People judged us for our how we responded. We prepared while in prison.    

Are you facing a term in federal prison? I'm Michael Santos, and along with my two co-founders, Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny, we want to help you master the system. The more you know about the system, the better you can position yourself to succeed.   We're now in our third episode of our five-part series, How to Master Prison. In our two previous episodes, we offered some insight. We discussed the process that brings someone into the system. Then we discussed how people going into the system should work to influence leaders. In this episode, we cover Custody and Classification. Those who have never been to federal prison may not know anything about custody and classification systems. But understanding the system can make all the difference in the world.   It's something that each of our partners knows a lot about. For those who are reading the chapters independently, rather than sequentially, I encourage you to tune into earlier episodes to learn about the members of our Prison Professors team. All readers should know why we're qualified to teach lessons on mastering the federal prison system. Our website at PrisonProfessors.com features a full bio on each of us.   As stated in the previous episodes, to master the federal prison system, start with an understanding of the massive bureaucracy. The system employs more than 40,000 staff members, and it confines more than 200,000 people. In an effort to keep decisions in harmony, the BOP relies about an extensive library of Program Statements and Policy Statements. The BOP invests heavily to train staff members so that they can make decisions in accordance with those Program Statements and Policy Statements.   The Bureau of Prisons operates a website at www.BOP.Gov. Through that website, visitors can access the Program Statements. The BOP published Program Statement 5100.08 on September 12, 2006. This Program Statement covers Inmate Designation and Custody Classification. It is the eighth version of the program statement. In time, the BOP will likely revise the Program Statement. When the BOP revises the Program Statement, it will be known as 5100.09. For now we will provide a primer on the system that is in use as of December 2017.     Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification Our team at Prison Professors has thousands of stories that reveal why an understanding of Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification is so crucial. We'll start with the case of Erik.   A federal judge sentenced Erik to serve a 48-month sentence for wire fraud. Prior to being charged, Erik said that he didn't know the meaning of wire fraud. He didn't consider himself a criminal. Many people make bad decisions during the course of their careers. Sometimes, those bad decisions lead to criminal prosecution. Erik owned, for example, a small finance company. Some financial structuring problems led prosecutors to indict Erik. Inappropriate use of Email and the Internet led to his guilty conviction. Regardless of his self-perception of not being a criminal, a federal judge ordered Erik to surrender to a Federal Prison Camp so that he could serve a 48-month sentence.   Had Erik understood the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system, he would have behaved differently, he said. Instead, Erik made decisions inside that really complicated his journey.   As anyone can see from the free calculators that we make available at PrisonProfessors.com, Erik should have finished his time in prison early. With credit for good time, credit for completion of the Residential Drug Abuse Program, and credit for halfway house, Erik should have served about two years in prison. Then he should have transferred to a halfway house. But Erik didn't understand the prison system. He made decisions inside that resulted in his serving the entire 48 month sentence.   Further, authorities prosecuted Erik a second time for possession of contraband in prison. Although he could have returned to his family in less than two years, he Erik ended up serving the entire four-year sentence. He also received a new felony conviction, and an additional six-month term. Instead of serving his time in a minimum-security camp, he served substantial portions locked in the segregated housing unit and then in a low-security prison.   How did that happen?   Erik's struggle came because he did not know the importance of decisions in prison. He did not consider himself a criminal. And he thought that others wouldn't consider him a criminal.   Yet Erik's self perception didn't have any bearing on how prison staff would treat him. Staff members would consider him an “inmate.” As such, they would judge him in accordance with what the various Program Statements prescribed.   The following sequence of events occurred. Erik surrendered to prison in accordance with the judge's order. As soon as he settled in, he wanted to use the phone. He didn't know the rules associated with the phone system. To use the phone, Erik had to wait for staff members to set up a list of approved numbers that he could call from his account. Erik grew frustrated. He wanted to talk with his parents, but the phone number wasn't approved. Not knowing the rules, Erik asked his wife to patch him through on a conference call. Staff members learned about the three-way call. After finding him guilty of violating the phone rules, a Disciplinary Hearing Officer sanctioned him with the loss of telephone privileges for six months. Erik responded by using a cell phone that he borrowed from another prisoner. Cell phones are contraband. Staff members caught him. Possession of a cell phone brought a series of new problems. Because it wasn't only contraband, it was also new criminal conduct. As a result of his decisions:   Erik lost his good time. He lost eligibility for RDAP and the time off that would have resulted had he completed the program successfully. Prosecutors charged him with new criminal conduct. He underwent more expenses with legal fees. He pleaded guilty to a second felony and he received a new six-month sentence that ran consecutive to his first sentence. He served more than a year in the Special Housing Unit—otherwise known as the hole. He served the remainder of his time in a low-security prison, where he faced other problems.   Erik liked to say that he wasn't a criminal. Yet those who worked in the system did not concern themselves with Erik's self-perception. They judged him in accordance with objective information.   He pleaded guilty to the white-collar crime of wire fraud. A judge sentenced him to serve a 48-month sentence. BOP staff members relied upon Program Statement 5100.08 for his Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification. The objective scoring showed that he should serve his time inside of a minimum-security Federal Prison Camp. Yet his adjustment in prison resulted in a new scoring. He received a Public Safety Factor that resulted in his serving the remainder of his time in a higher-security environment.     Security in The Federal Bureau of Prisons: At the time of this writing, at the end of 2017, The Federal Bureau of Prisons confines about 185,000 people. About 83% of those people, or 154,844 inmates, serve their time inside Bureau of Prisons facilities. The other people serve their time in privately managed prisons or other types of facilities. Males make up more than 93% of the federal prison population. Those people serve sentences in the following types of security levels:   Minimum-security Federal Prison Camps: 32,189 people, or about 17% of the population Low-security Federal Correctional Institutions: 69,437 people, or about 37% of the population Medium-security Federal Correctional Institutions: 55,377 or about 30% of the population High-security United States Penitentiaries: 21,524 people, or about 12% of the population Unclassified: 6,980 people, or about 4% of the population   Our partner Justin Paperny served time for a white-collar crime. He served his entire sentence in at the Taft Federal Prison Camp, a minimum-security camp. Shon Hopwood served time for armed bank robbery, and he served his entire sentence inside the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Illinois. I served time for convictions related to selling cocaine. And over the course of 26 years, I served time in every security level.   Developing literacy of Program Statement 5100, also known as the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system, or the Custody and Classification Manuel, helps people who want to master the federal prison system. No one can change the past. At any time, however, we can start sowing seeds for a better future. In our book Earning Freedom: Conquering a 45-Year Prison Term, I show how I started sowing the seeds very early during my journey. The seeds I sowed allowed me to make significant progress in prison.   I took the opposite approach of Erik. He started in a camp. Once he surrendered, Erik made bad decisions that led him to higher-security prisons. I say they're bad decisions, because he told me they were bad decisions.   I started in a high-security United States Penitentiary. As soon as I got there, I started making decisions that would put me on a path to ease my adjustment. By understanding the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system, I laid the foundation carefully. That foundation would allow me to transfer to a medium-security Federal Correctional Institution. Then I transferred to a low-security Federal Correctional Institution. Then, at the soonest possible time, I transferred to a minimum-security Federal Prison Camps.     Understanding Program Statement 5100.08: The Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system is an objective system. On our website, we offer a free calculator to help people determine how staff members in the BOP will score them. Simply visit PrisonProfessors.com, click on the “Calculators” button in the main menu, and respond to the questions.   The calculators simulate Program Statement 5100.08, seeking responses to questions on two separate levels:   Base Scoring Custody Scoring   To arrive at the scoring level, respond to 10 separate questions. The response to each question will provide an objective score. Those questions include the following:   What type of detainer do you have, if any? What is the severity of your current offense? How many months do you expect to serve before your scheduled release? What will the BOP say about your criminal history? Do you have a history of escape attempts? Do you have a history of violence? Will staff in the BOP recognize that I voluntarily surrendered to prison? What will the BOP say about your age? What will the BOP say about your education level? What will the BOP say with regard to your history of alcohol or substance abuse during the past five years?   Notice that we always ask what the BOP will say. It's not important what you or anyone else says. We need to assess what the BOP will say in order to calculate your score appropriately.   Program Statement 5100.08 will attach a score to each of your responses to those questions. This score will be known as your “Base Score.” When it comes to the base score, you will note that the questions focus on your past. For the most part, you will notice that they require static answers—meaning that you will not have opportunities to change the outcome. Since you cannot change the past, you must wait for calendar pages to turn to influence the Base Score.   It's important to understand this score as early as possible. You may be able to influence the score during the presentence investigation process.   Once you calculate the Base Score, the next step will require you to answer questions that will lead to your Custody Score. Those questions follow:   What will the BOP say with regard to how much time you've served as a percentage of your sentence? With regard to program participation, will the BOP assess you as average or good? How will the BOP assess your living skills? What will the BOP say with regard to your record of disciplinary infractions? What will the BOP say about the frequency of disciplinary reports you've received in the past year? What will the BOP say about your community ties? What will the BOP say about your gender?   Program Statement 5100.08 will assign a score to each answer that you provide. The sum of those scores will result in your Custody Score. Then, Program Statement 5100.08 will require you to consult a variance table that may either add or subtract from your score.   By taking all factors into consideration, you receive a scoring. That scoring reflects all of your security points. Those security points will determine the type of prison where you will serve your sentence. Your behavior in prison will determine whether you move to higher security levels, and potentially extend your release date, as was the case with Erik. Or if you pursue the path of a master, your behavior in prison will result in your moving to a lower-security prison, and potentially advancing your release date.   These scores will come from your Presentence Investigation Report. If you want to influence these scores, then learn as much as possible before the PSI. We urge you to review the information available on our website. It will help you understand the importance of the PSR, and it will offer guidance on how to influence that PSR. If you need guidance, contact us today.   Higher-Security Prisons as Compared to Lower-Security Prisons The security-level of a prison influences the level of liberty. As stated earlier in this chapter, about 18% of the federal prison population serves time in a minimum-security camp. More than 80% of the federal prison population serves time in higher-security prisons. Regardless of where a person starts the sentence, various factors can influence the security scoring. A change in security scoring can result in a transfer to either higher or lower security prison.   Learn how behavior in prison influences the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification. Although nothing but the passing of time will influence the Base Score, the Custody Score is more dynamic. In other words, behavior in prison can result in lowering or raising the Custody Score. By understanding how the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system works, a person can choose to behave in ways that reflects a mastery of the system.     Experience in Different Security Levels: As a founder of Prison Professors, I would be remiss if I did not share what I learned from serving time in prisons of every security level. I started my term in 1987. Initially authorities locked me inside a detention center in Miami. At the time, it was called the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Since then, the BOP changed MCC Miami into FCI Miami. When I started, I didn't understand the system at all. I only cared about getting out of prison. Later, after a jury convicted me and a judge sentenced me, I changed my thought process. I wanted to leave prison successfully. Every decision that I made inside would put me on the trajectory of success.   What types of decisions will you make?   After being sentenced, authorities transferred me to the United States Penitentiary, in Atlanta. I had a 45-year term. Under the laws that existed at the time, I could earn credit for good behavior. As long as I didn't lose any of those credits for good behavior, I could complete that term in 26 years. I started to set goals. I wanted to get out of prison at the soonest possible time. Further, I wanted to make sure that when I returned to society, I would be in the best possible position to succeed. I understood that there were some things I could not control. But I had opportunities to make decisions every day. Those decisions would lead me closer to success, or further away from success.   Coincidentally, Program Statement 5100.08 rewards decisions that I consider to be consistent with success. By avoiding disciplinary infractions in prison, I could put myself on a path to move to lower security levels. It wasn't going to happen overnight. Yet by gradually working through programs in prison, I could begin to influence change. I could assess my environment. Although I couldn't avoid the volatility of prison, I could make choices that would minimize my exposure to problems. I could choose jobs that would be more consistent with my goals. I could maneuver my way into the best possible housing situation. By understanding Program Statement 5100.08, I could succeed in a high-security penitentiary. I did not receive any disciplinary infractions. I earned an undergraduate degree. I successfully coordinated my transfer to the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution of my choice.   Once I got to the next stop, I repeated the process. At the soonest possible time, I transferred from the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution to the low-security Federal Correctional Institution of my choice. By the time I arrived, I had a master's degree. While in the low-security prison, I continued the same pattern. While there, I married the love of my life. And at the soonest possible time, I transferred to a minimum-security camp. While there, I built many relationships that influenced my success in prison and beyond. Indeed, I met my co-founders at Prison Professors while I was serving time inside of those minimum-security federal prison camps.     Get Ready to Master Federal Prison If you or a loved one is facing challenges with the criminal justice system, we urge you to understand the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system. You may research the entire manual by reading Program Statement 5100.08. If you want a quick assessment of how the Bureau of Prisons will score you, turn to our free calculators at PrisonProfessors.com. The more you know about the system, the stronger you will become. As you restore confidence, you'll make better decisions. Those better decisions will show that you're a master of the system.   Regardless of where you serve your sentence, you can make decisions that will lead to a life of meaning and relevance. That said, we ask you to consider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. We all have the basis need of safety. If you can maneuver your way into less-volatile environments, then we urge you to do so. By understanding the Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification system, you'll know how to seize upon opportunities to influence the scoring level. The sooner you get started, the better off you will be. Our courses and books at Prison Professors will help.   Contact us today if you want more personal assistance.  

I'm Michael Santos with Prison Professors. Along with my partners, Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny, we're glad to provide more information about how to prepare for the prison journey. Earlier episodes have given extensive biographical information on us. Complete your own due diligence. You'll see why we're exceptionally well qualified to help anyone who is going into the system.   More importantly, we're well qualified to help people who want to get out of the prison system successfully. Each of us succeeded after prison because we understood how to make good decisions as we worked our way through the journey. Always remember, the right decision at the wrong time is the wrong decision.   This episode is part of our series that we're calling how to prepare for prison. In the previous episode, we explained a bit about the process. As Dr. Stephen Covey advised in his best-selling book, it's always best to seek to understand before we seek to be understood.   In this segment of the Prison Professors podcast, we're going to discuss the importance of understanding stakeholders in the criminal justice system.     Federal Prison Hierarchy To succeed in the federal prison system, it's crucial to understand how it operates. Our partner, Shon Hopwood, tells a story that might help us illustrate the point. When Shon began serving his sentence for armed bank robbery, he wanted out. Many people in prison want out.   Shon read a case that highlighted a favorable decision. He thought the legal ruling might apply to him. Shon wrote a motion and he filed his motion in a court that he thought would grant relief. The judge refused to accept Shon's motion. Instead, the judge offered advice. He suggested that if Shon wanted to get relief in court, it would behoove him to file in an appropriate court that would have jurisdiction on his case.   Obviously, Shon went on to master the judicial system. As Steve Kroft of 60 Minute said, while serving his sentence, Shon became the most successful “jailhouse” lawyer in history. The legal briefs that he wrote for other prisoners resulted in victories in the district courts, circuit courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. His legal victories changed laws and resulted in liberty for many people in federal prison.   But if Shon did not learn how to master federal prison first, he would not have succeeded in mastering the federal judiciary, or become a skilled jailhouse lawyer. We must take first steps first. And for people going into the prison system, it's essential to understand how the Bureau of Prisons operates.     Branches of Government Like the federal courts, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is a massive bureaucracy. Many years may have passed since some of our readers took a class in civics. As a quick reminder, our nation has three bodies of government. They include the following branches:   The Legislative Branch The Judicial Branch The Executive Branch   Our elected members of Congress make up the Legislative Branch of government. They include representatives from each of the 500+ districts in the United States, and they include the two senators that represent each state. Those members vote on legislation in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Once they're in agreement, the legislative bills go to the President. If the President signs the legislative bills, they become laws.   In our country, we have more than 90 federal Judicial Districts. For example, in California, there are four separate federal Judicial Districts—including the Northern District Court, the Central District Court, the Southern District Court, and the Eastern District Court. Each of those Districts is part of a Circuit. We separate those Circuits by geographic regions. For example , California is in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. New York is in the Second Judicial Circuit. We have the U.S. Supreme Court that presides over all Circuit and District Courts. We have more than 1,000 federal judges that preside over the various courts. Each of the judges strives to ensure that people receive due process—meaning, the judges strive to apply fairness in the courts for all.   The Executive Branch of government oversees the many different applications of government. Our president appoints people who oversee the different departments. For our purposes, we know that the Attorney General of the United States oversees the Department of Justice. And the Attorney General of the United States oversees the Director of the Bureau of Prisons. For that reason, we must understand how the hierarchy operates.     Politics and Prisoners: Earlier, I encouraged you to complete your due diligence on my partners and me. That way you could assess the veracity of our claim to have mastered our time in federal prison. It takes a lot of discipline to grow in prison. In my case, I went through 26 years.   By the time that I met our co-founder Justin Paperny in the Taft Federal Prison Camp, our country was going through a historic election. The economy was in the tank, sliding into the worst recession in recent memory. Unemployment was on the rise. Justin asked me why I followed the political race so closely.   As a prisoner, I explained, we must live with decisions that come down from the top. The president's perspective on governing will influence the policies that he wants to set. As a prisoner, we must live with those policies. If the president believes that people have a capacity to change, the president will appoint an Attorney General that shares that liberal viewpoint. If the president believes that we need to preserve the systems that are in place, then the president will appoint an Attorney General that shares such a conservative viewpoint. Policy shifts in prison will reflect the perceptions of both the president and the Attorney General.   To illustrate, let us provide two recent examples of such change.   The Second Chance Act provided prison administrators with new discretion regarding halfway house placement. Prior to the Second Chance Act, leaders in The Bureau of Prisons could authorize prisoners to serve the final six months of their sentences in a halfway house. After The Second Chance Act, leaders in The Bureau of Prisons could authorize prisoners to serve the final 12 months of their sentences in a halfway house.   Obviously, from a prisoner's perspective, 12 months in a halfway house would be better than six months in a halfway house. But it was up to the Bureau of Prisons to apply the law.   The U.S. Congress passed The Second Chance Act. But leadership in the BOP has discretion. When President Obama was in office, the Attorney General was Eric Holder. Under that administration, people in prison could have some influence on how much halfway house time they could receive. As a master of federal prison, I succeeded in putting myself on a pathway to get the full 12 months of halfway house. Similarly, as a master in the federal prison system, Justin succeeded in getting the maximum halfway house placement that was available to him.   In 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Jeff Sessions to serve as the Attorney General. Both President Trump and Attorney General Sessions had a different perspective. President Trump and AG Sessions had a conservative perspective, meaning that they believed that people should serve the maximum amount of time in federal prison. The 2017 administration cut funding to halfway houses.   But a master of federal prison would know how to cope with such change.   To prevail on maximum halfway house time—or any other matter pertaining to federal prison—Prison Professors urges people to understand the system. Pursue a strategy to get the best possible outcome, depending upon the political philosophy of the administration in power. The strategy that may result in success during a conservative administration may differ from the strategy that could result in success in a liberal administration.   To master federal prison quickly, make sure that you understand the political philosophy on both a macro and a micro level.     Directors of the Bureau of Prisons: The Bureau of Prisons is a massive organization. It employs more than 40,000 staff members that serve in six different regions. Those regions include federal prisons in most states, halfway houses in all states, regional offices, training centers, and headquarters in Washington D.C. The Director of the Bureau of Prisons presides over the entire bureaucracy. He reports to the Attorney General of the United States.   For the nearly 200,000 federal prisoners, it's important to understand the different roles in the BOP. What is the role of the Director?   Well, the Director must make sure that the prison system is operating in accordance with the wishes of the Attorney General. And the Attorney General wants the Director to operate the Bureau of Prisons in accordance with the political philosophy of the President.   The Director is not going to express concern for individual prisoner issues. Rather, the Director focuses on systemic policies. When prisoners attempt to seek relief from the Director, the prisoner reveals a lack of understanding for how the system operates. Masters understand the system. And they learn how to succeed, given the limitations of the system itself.   Unless a prisoner wants to advocate for systemic change, it doesn't make sense for him to advance arguments at the highest levels of the Bureau of Prisons. In fact, doing so can cause problems. Leaders know that the right decision at the wrong time is the wrong decision. Although people in prison may see many injustices on a systemic level, as masters, we should always have a very clear perspective. How are we defining success? What battles are we striving to win? What price are we willing to pay in pursuit of success over our battles.   By focusing on victory as we define victory, we know where to concentrate our energy. It rarely works in our interest to seek relief from the highest levels of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.   To oversee the Bureau of Prisons, the Director relies upon a large team. That team includes a Deputy Director, several Acting Directors, and several Regional Directors. It would be highly unusual for any of those directors to make decisions regarding any individuals in prison. Rather, the directors rely upon their subordinates. We should expect the subordinates to make decisions in accordance with the political philosophies of the people in power. Directors set policies and oversee budgets. Subordinates carry out those policies.   Federal Prison, an Overview: We know that the Bureau of Prisons is a massive bureaucracy. It includes many different divisions. People who want to master federal prison should broaden their understanding of how it operates. The more people understand, the more likely they become to get on the best trajectory.   Masters seek to understand more so that they can influence more.   Although a later chapter discusses custody and classification levels in detail, we can provide a brief overview here. The Bureau of Prisons categorizes in accordance with security levels. Consider the following:   ADX: This designation refers to an Administrative-Maximum U.S. Penitentiary. It is the highest level of security. Most people who serve time in an ADX start in a lower-security prison. They make decisions in prison that result in new criminal charges, or disciplinary problems. When a team or staff member identifies people in prison as being sufficiently disruptive, they may send them to an ADX penitentiary.   SMU: This designation refers to a Special Management Unit. Like the ADX, the SMU is a highly restrictive prison. Staff members may send people to an SMU when they want to restrict their communication. Although most people who are in an SMU have violent histories, it's important to remember the adage “The pen is mightier than the sword.” If staff members consider a prisoner to be a prolific writer, and the prisoner writes content that staff members consider inflammatory, they may confine the person in an SMU.   USP: This designation refers to a United States Penitentiary. In the broader community, people consider the word penitentiary as being synonymous with prison. But in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the word penitentiary has a different meaning and connotation. It means high-security. People going to a USP live in restrictive conditions. Staff members consider USPs to be more volatile. They govern USPs in response to population levels that include higher percentages of people who have violent, volatile, and disruptive histories.   FCI: This designation refers to a Federal Correctional Institution. The FCI includes both medium-security and low-security prisons.   FSL: This designation refers to a Federal Satellite Low Security Prison. The people in an FSL have the custody scoring of people in a camp. But they have some issue that prevents them from going to a camp. For example, they may have a detainer of some type, or they may have longer than 10 years to serve.   SCP: This designation refers to a Satellite Prison Camp. The camp is adjacent to a secure prison, and the inmates in the camp provide labor that keeps the prison operating.   FPC: This designation refers to a federal prison camp. It is frequently a stand-alone camp, meaning it is not tied to another prison, as with the SCP.   FCC: This designation refers to a Federal Correctional Complex. A complex will have several prisons of different security levels in a single location. People in one prison do not mix with people in another prison, but they're all in the same geographical location.   FDC, MCC, or MDC: These designations refer detention centers. People in detention centers, ordinarily, await outcomes of judicial proceedings. Although some people serve the entire term in detention centers, or they are assigned to the work cadre—performing maintenance on the prison, they are not necessarily serving time.   FMC: This designation refers to a Federal Medical Center. People who need medical attention may serve all or a portion of their time in an FMC.   FTC: This designation refers to the Federal Transfer Center, in Oklahoma. Prisoners may spend time in the FTC while traveling to other institutions, or they may serve their sentence in the FTC if they're part of a work cadre.   CI: This designation refers to a privately operated federal prison.   CO and RO: These designation refers to the Central Office and the Regional Office. We can use our understanding of the regional office and the central office to influence our placement, or to influence favorable outcomes.   Mastering the federal prison system requires some knowledge of the different types of institutions. The more we know about the Bureau of Prisons and the staff, the better we can position ourselves to get to the best possible environment.   All secure institutions include the following staff members:     Warden: The warden is the CEO of the institution. Wardens have an enormous amount of influence with regard to how the prison operates. Some wardens make themselves approachable. To the extent that a person in prison positions himself well, he can influence the warden's perception.   As a prisoner, it's crucial to begin with a clear understanding of success. Exercise discretion when it comes to approaching a warden—or anyone else. Lay the groundwork first, before asking the warden to intervene on anything. Understand that the warden has enormous power with regard to every person in the prison. In the various books that Prison Professors have written, we described how wardens influenced our success through the journey. Pay close attention to the extensive amounts of back work that we did, and also note how we were selective when requesting assistance.   Associate Wardens: The associate wardens are part of the warden's executive staff. They oversee various departments within the prison. For example, the Associate Warden of Programs will oversee unit staff. The Associate Warden of Operations will oversee facility management. The population level of the prison will influence how many AWs are available.   Department Heads: Department heads oversee specific departments. For example, the Unit Manager oversees all case managers. A Unit Manager reports directly to the Associate Warden of Programs. The Unit Manager will ask inmates to resolve matters directly with the case manager.   Line Staff: Line staff includes case managers, cook supervisors, counselors, landscape foreman, maintenance leaders, and others who work in various departments. They report to their respective department heads.   Case Managers: Case managers oversee all matters that pertain to a person's case. Once the judge sentences a person “To the custody of the attorney general,” that person becomes an “inmate” as far as concerns the system. And case managers will have direct oversight of the inmate. The inmate will not have a lawyer. The inmate must learn how to advocate for himself effectively. Case managers will be a key person to influence. Although policies guide decisions, there is always some discretion. A master will learn how to influence staff members in the Bureau of Prisons in a positive way.   Counselors: Counselors in federal prison do not offer the type of counseling that someone outside of prison would expect. Rather, they perform jobs like approving visiting lists and assigning jobs. It's best to understand the limited role that counselors play in federal prison. That way, people spare themselves the disappointment that comes from expecting too much.     Influence and Manipulation At Prison Professors, we discuss the long-term approach of influencing a positive outcome. That differs from shortsighted efforts to manipulate staff members. To influence does not mean to manipulate.   For obvious reasons, staff members are extremely cynical. Every day, staff members in prison work with convicted felons. Many of those people have criminal mindsets. That is why staff members expect inmates to lie. They expect inmates to do or say anything that will ease their burden. Masters of the system do not whine or complain about this reality. Rather, they learn how to work within the system, and how to succeed in spite of the challenges.   Masters know that the Bureau of Prisons invests a considerable amount of resources in staff development and staff training. Part of that training teaches staff members how “to be firm but fair.” The Bureau of Prisons wants to make sure the public is safe, the prisons are safe, and the staff members are safe. As such, it's extremely conservative. Training encourages staff members to rely upon policy when making decisions, and it trains them to interpret those policies conservatively. For that reason, it's crucial for masters to understand all policies. By understanding the opportunity costs that come with every decision, masters can make better progress than those who flounder.   If you want to master federal prison, work through all of the programs available through PrisonProfessors.com. You will learn our strategies for making exceptional progress in prison. More importantly, you will learn how to succeed upon release.    

I'm Michael Santos and I want to welcome you to another Prison Professors podcast episode. Earlier episodes provided you with the background information on my partners and me. Today we're recording a series of five podcasts that will help our listeners understand a bit more about the process of going into the criminal justice system.   As of now, I have five episodes planned. They include the following:   Understanding the Process Understanding the stakeholders Understanding the custody and classification system How to Prepare for Prison Why Writing a Narrative Can Assist You Through the Journey   Understanding the Process   We're going to start by paraphrasing Stephen Covey. In his timeless bestseller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Covey advised that we should try to understand before we try to be understood.   That guidance applies to anyone who wants to master prison. We're recording this series of episodes of the Prison Professors podcast specifically for people who anticipate that they may go into the criminal justice system. Those who have a solid understanding of the system may want to skip this episode.   Our goal is to help listeners make decisions that will put them on the path for the best possible outcome.   And the best possible outcome requires good decisions. To make good decisions going forward, we need to understand how the process works. So let's begin with some instructions on how someone goes into the criminal justice system.     The Investigation: Investigators frequently start the process. Those investigators may work as part of the SEC, the IRS, the FBI, or the DEA. Allegations of misconduct can lead to an investigation. During that investigation phase, agents will collect evidence. The agents will work closely with federal prosecutors. The federal prosecutors will make a decision on how to proceed. If they want to charge a person with a crime, they have different options.   But once investigators and prosecutors decide to bring charges, especially in the federal system, the person becomes a defendant. The Charge: When prosecutors choose to bring a case against someone, chances for a conviction become exceedingly high. At first, the person may be a “target” of an investigation. The investigation can take place secretly, with a grand jury.   In the grand jury proceeding, a prosecutor puts together a group of citizens. Those citizens listen to evidence that the prosecutor presents. That evidence includes live testimony from investigators and other witnesses. Grand jury members listen to the witnesses respond to the leading questions from the prosecutor. At some point, the prosecutor will ask the members of the grand jury to “indict” the target of the investigation.   In some cases, prosecutors use a less formal way of charging people. Rather than going through a grand jury, they may file a “criminal information.” The criminal information can result from an agreement that the prosecutor makes with the defense team.   Regardless of how prosecutors bring charges, things change. To start, a person becomes a defendant. We have all heard stories that in our country, we have a presumption of innocence. Yet few people who have been charged with a federal crime recognize that distinction.   Statistics show the consequences. We encourage our listeners to do their own research. Simply type into Google “United States Attorneys' Annual Statistical Report.” Or download it from our website at PrisonProfessors.com. Read the data. That data should help people make better decisions as they advance through the process.   At our website, PrisonProfessors.com, we offer an abundance of articles, blogs, and videos that will help people understand more about the criminal justice system. Learn as much as possible. We do not dispense legal advice, but we provide a lot of content that will help our audience make better decisions.   Our co-founder, Shon Hopwood, is a lawyer. But he does not use our site to provide legal advice. To participate in litigation, Shon would need to know details of the case. Details of a case require many hours of research, and time comes at a premium. We trust that our listeners will have a solid legal team in place to advise them.   On the other hand, we members of our audience to understand the opportunity costs that come with every decision. Those who want to master prison quickly should realize implications of every decision along the way. We make better decisions when we have a more complete understanding of the process.       The Defense Attorney: Once prosecutors charge a person, the defendant will need a defense attorney. If a client does not have the resources to hire a defense attorney, the Court will provide an attorney. The court-appointed attorney may be a part of the federal defenders. Or the court-appointed at torney may be a defense attorney that agrees to work on the CJA panel. Every federal judicial district has a roster of attorneys who are experienced in federal court.   Regardless of whether the defense attorney serves on the panel or with the federal defenders, that person will have been exposed to extensive amounts of training and resources. Federal defenders and panel attorneys are well qualified to represent defendants in federal court.   Other defendants may retain counsel. Attorneys who have extensive practice in federal court charge a premium. Hourly fees for defense attorneys with experience in federal court depend upon how long the attorney has been practicing and geographical locations. Defendants should expect to spend tens of thousands for any representation in federal court. For those who lack access to capital, we urge defendants to use federal defenders rather than hire an attorney who lacks experience in federal court.   Our team has a process for vetting defense attorneys in federal court. We also offer consulting services to assist defendants who need this guidance. Your defense attorney will become an essential part of your team, so choose wisely.     The Plea: If prosecutors bring charges against a defendant, a plea hearing will follow. That plea hearing can happen quickly, or it can be postponed. We work with some defendants who may wait for years before they actually face charges and enter a plea. In most cases, people enter not-guilty plea hearings. Then, after defense attorneys work out the most favorable deal, defendants change their plea to guilty in accordance with the plea agreement.   Let's talk about pleading guilty.     Pleading Guilty: Entering a guilty plea is a formal proceeding. There will not be much conversation. Early in the hearing, the defense attorney will let the judge know that the defendant wants to enter a plea, or a change of plea. The judge will then ask the defendant to rise. The defendant must swear to tell the truth, under penalty of perjury. The judge will let the defendant know that he is not bound by any deal the prosecutor may have made. The defendant must acknowledge that he understands. After the judge is satisfied that the defendant understands, the judge will read each criminal charge. Then the judge will ask the defendant if he is guilty of the charge. The defendant will not have an opportunity to explain or elaborate. He will simply say, “I plead guilty.” Opportunities for explanations and elaborations will come much later.     Pleading Not Guilty: If the defendant persists with a “not guilty” plea, a trial will follow. The trial can last for days, weeks, or months. During the trial, prosecutors will present evidence. The defense attorney will argue to discredit the evidence. The judge will decide what evidence the jury will hear. And in time, the jury will render a verdict. If the verdict is not guilty, the judge will release the defendant—and he can go home. If the verdict is guilty, the process will continue with a Presentence Investigation.     Presentence Investigation: A federal probation officer will begin the Presentence Investigation (PSI) by reviewing a report from the federal prosecutor. That prosecutor's report will present the government's version of events. Probation officers will cut and paste the prosecutor's version of events into a report that is known as the Presentence Investigation Report, or PSR.   To continue the investigation, the probation officer will speak with the defendant. The defense attorney should be present during the PSI interview. If a defense attorney chooses not to prepare the defendant for the PSI, the defendant will have a red flag; he is not being advised appropriately. Defendants should take every effort to prepare for the PSI, as it will have lasting implications. Those implications stick around long after the sentencing hearing.   During the PSI interview, the probation officer will ask the defendant about what he or she has to say about the offense. We advise defendants to prepare for this question. Ideally, the defendant will have written a narrative in advance. The defendant can explain the process by thinking through the content of that narrative.   According to video interviews our team has done with federal judges, which are available on our YouTube channel, that PSR can have an enormous influence at sentencing. Further, it will have an influence on placement in the Bureau of Prisons. The PSR will influence the journey in prison. It will influence when the defendant transfers back into the community. And it will influence the level of liberty the defendant has while on Supervised Release. For those reasons, we urge defendants to take every opportunity to understand the presentence investigation, and to prepare.   Fortune, as you know, always favors those who prepare.   The probation officer will conclude the investigation with an extensive presentence investigation report. The PSR will include what the probation officer learned from the defendant and also from other people who are related to the defendant. That may include family members, it may include employers, it may include creditors, it may include victims.   The PSR will include both objective and subjective information. The objective information includes information about the conviction. It will also include information that will influence the federal sentencing guidelines. Those federal sentencing guidelines are complex. We urge defendants to learn how various factors influence those guidelines. Also, it's crucial for defendants to know how they can work to get the most favorable outcome during the sentencing hearing. It all starts with the presentence investigation report.     Sentencing Hearing: Learn and understand about sentencing hearings before the inevitable date. Unfortunately, when federal prosecutors bring charges, more than 80 percent of the defendants face a sentencing hearing. Influencing the outcome with a well thought-out sentence-mitigation strategy—that is essential. Learn what steps you can take to move the needle in your direction. Although every case is different, and requires a highly customized approach, we can provide some bullet point suggestions.   For example:   Think about the perspective of all stakeholders. Their perception is much more important than your perception. Learn more about stakeholders in the following chapter. Think about the victims of the crime. If you don't think your crime has a victim, then you're not thinking about the stakeholder's perceptions. From the stakeholders' perception, the crime has victims. Who are they? How have they suffered? Prepare to reveal what you've learned from the process. In what ways have you grown as a result of this experience? Execute a plan that will differentiate you from other defendants. Think about the judge's perception. Influence the process by showing what steps you've taken to make things right. Help the judge understand how you will adjust your life in light of this experience. Convince the judge that you'll never appear in Court as a criminal defendant again.     Designation in the Bureau of Prisons: In some cases, a comprehensive strategy will result in an alternative sanction that does not include time in custody. Our team at Prison Professors does its best to help defendants who want to advance arguments for a non-custodial sentence. No one can change the past, but we all can sow seeds for a better future. Unfortunately, in most cases, sentences include prison. When prison becomes part of the journey, the next step after the sentencing hearing will be for the Bureau of Prisons to assign the appropriate prison.   Several factors go into the equation of prison designations. The Bureau of Prisons relies upon the latest edition of Program Statement 5100 to determine prison designations. The complicated matrix assigns points to objective factors that include criminal history, type of offense, severity of crime, and so forth. A variance table makes additional adjustments. Public Safety Factors and Management Variables can also influence the custody and classification. Our website includes a calculator that calculates the point system.   Besides custody and classification scoring, the Bureau of Prisons will also consider judicial recommendations, medical needs, prison population levels, institutional needs, and geographical locations. All of those factors go into consideration of the Bureau of Prisons' decisions. Then, the BOP will order the prisoner to begin serving the sentence in a specific prison.   Defendants should learn everything they can about the designation process. The more they understand, the better prepared they become to influence where they will serve the time. Although we can master any environment, the earlier we get started in mastering the process, the better off we are.   Isn't that always the case in life?     Serving the Sentence: Success through any prison journey begins with a clear understanding. When we can define what success looks like on the other side of the journey, we have a start. The heart of this book will describe how to take us from where we are today, to the life we want to create. Although many of us would like to change the past, we master the system when we deal with the world as it exists—rather than as we would like it to be.   Our team at PrisonProfessors.com will help you every step of the way.     Outro: Thank you for listening to Chapter 1 of our free ebook, How to Master Federal Prison—Quickly. To get the entire free ebook at once, take one of the following actions:   Text LIBERTY to 44222, or Simply visit PrisonProfessors.com and enter your email.   We will send you a copy instantly.   Shon Hopwood and Justin Paperny are my partners at Prison Professors. I'm Michael Santos. Our team creates digital content and we offer consulting services.   We assist people who face challenges with prosecution, sentencing, and prison.   We also assist agencies that want to improve outcomes in their institutions. Our clients include individuals, law firms, state and federal prison systems, the courts, and school districts.   Visit us at PrisonProfessors.com or contact Justin at 818-424-2220 to learn more. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. And please leave us an honest review!   Stay tuned for another 20 to 30 minute episode with Prison Professors.  

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.

Shon Hopwood joins us this week to tell about his journey from bank robber to federal prisoner to U.S. Supreme Court practitioner and Georgetown law professor.What’s it like in federal prison? How did Hopwood become a jailhouse lawyer? If people do in fact “age out” of criminal activity, then what should our prison system look like?Show Notes and Further ReadingHopwood’s book is Law Man: My Story of Robbing Banks, Winning Supreme Court Cases, and Finding Redemption (2012).Here’s the New York Times article by Adam Liptak that Hopwood mentions, “A Mediocre Criminal, but an Unmatched Jailhouse Lawyer.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Shon Hopwood spent over a decade in federal prison for a series of bank robberies. While incarcerated, Hopwood became the most successful jailhouse lawyer in recent American history, writing two successful petitions to the United States Supreme Court. Join us for part two of our interview, where we discuss Hopwood's experience as a jailhouse lawyer and his transition back into society.

Shon Hopwood spent over a decade in federal prison for a series of bank robberies. While incarcerated, Hopwood became the most successful jailhouse lawyer in recent American history, writing two successful petitions to the United States Supreme Court. Join us for part one of a very special two-part series, where we first discuss both Hopwood's bank robberies and his time behind bars.