Most defendants spend the weeks before reporting to federal prison researching programs. Which courses are available. When they start. How many credits they earn. They treat prison preparation like a logistics problem.
It is not a logistics problem. It is a building problem. Here is the difference, and why it matters more than any program schedule.
What Preparing for Prison Usually Looks Like
A banker called me yesterday while I was driving to the desert for two days. (Soon, I will film a Youtube video about the call). Sentenced to more than four years. His first question was about programming: every course at his facility, start times, credit totals, enrollment numbers. He had not yet reported. He was already tracking spreadsheets.
I let it go for a while, then I told him the truth: he has no interest in programs. His only interest is getting home from from federal prison.
What he was doing is what most defendants do: preparing for compliance. Showing up. Completing courses. Avoiding problems. Collecting First Step Act credits. That is the baseline. Every attorney in the country tells their client the same thing. Do the programs. Stay out of trouble.
That advice is correct and incomplete.
The Difference Between Compliant and Extraordinary
Compliance gets you out earlier than you would have otherwise. The First Step Act is real. Earn every credit available under 18 U.S.C. § 3632. Do not skip programming.
But 500 other people at your facility are also doing the programs. They are also compliant. They also want to go home. When they stand in front of a case manager and say they have completed their programs and want to see their family, the case manager nods. She has heard that exact sentence, with minor variations, all day.
What she almost never hears: I have been building something. Here is the record.
Compliance is the floor. The record is what separates you from everyone else on that floor.
What Epictetus Understood About Prison Preparation
“Some things are in our power, and some things are not. Of the things in our power: opinion, impulse, desire, aversion. Of the things not in our power: body, reputation, office, and in a word, whatever is not our own doing.” — Epictetus, Enchiridion
Epictetus was born a slave in ancient Rome. He had no control over his legal status, where he lived, or what his master decided. What he taught for the rest of his life came directly from that condition: some things are in your power, and some things are not.
The program schedule is not in your power. Which facility the BOP assigns you is not in your power. Whether credits get processed on time is not in your power. What a case manager recommends is not in your power.
The record you build is entirely in your power. Before you report. While you are inside. Every day, whether anyone notices or not.
Most defendants preparing for prison spend all their energy on what they cannot control and almost none on the one thing they can. Epictetus called this the dichotomy of control. The banker was living the wrong side of it. So are most of the people who call us.
What CZ Did
I told the banker about CZ, founder of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
CZ served a short federal sentence at a low security facility. English is not his first language. He completed his programming. He also used his time to write a book, Freedom of Money, narrated by Michael Santos, who served 26 consecutive years in federal prison. CZ and Michael became friends. CZ has publicly credited Michael on Twitter. He has given more than $2 million to Prison Professors, the nonprofit Michael runs.
The book did not earn CZ a single additional credit. He wrote it anyway.
Since his release, more than $400,000 in Binance community donations has come into Prison Professors. The book will influence people long after the sentence is forgotten.
I asked the banker: does a defendant who connected with Prison Professors before reporting, who contributed their skills to something that helps thousands of people, look different to a case manager than someone who collected the same credits as everyone else?
He said yes. Of course it does.
What Preparing for Prison Should Actually Look Like
Start before you report. That is the first thing. The record you build before you walk through the door is the first evidence that you understand what this process actually requires.
Write. Put your name on something. Connect with us to learn more about Prison Professors. If you have skills, offer them. If you have a story, document it. Produce something a case manager or judge can read three years from now and see that you started working before you had to.
That is what extraordinary looks like. Not a completed checklist. A body of work.
Michael Santos started building inside federal prison in 1987. He had no First Step Act. Not one day of that work reduced his 26-year sentence. He built anyway. That work now runs in every BOP facility in the country. It influenced CZ. It is influencing people right now who are preparing for prison the right way.
I started writing on October 12, 2008, at Taft Federal Prison Camp. My probation officer approved me to work with felons and travel the country speaking on ethics when I got home. Not because I completed programs. Because I had a documented record that proved I had used my time well, earned another chance.
The programs prove you followed the rules. The record proves you are different from the person the DOJ prosecuted. You need both. Most people only do one.
What Prison Consultants Get Wrong About Prison Preparation
Prison consultants sell orientation prep: what to pack, commissary tips, program schedules, facility comparisons. Fees run between $5,000 and $15,000 for information available free.
You do not need a consultant to complete programming. You show up, earn the credits, stay out of trouble. That is not a paid service.
What consultants rarely help with is the harder part: building the documented record that makes you different from everyone else who also followed instructions. That takes real work and a real framework.
White Collar Advice gives the framework away free. Free blog every day. Free webinar every Tuesday at 11am Pacific. Courses, books, videos. If you want a team to help engineer the plan, the $500 diagnostic call with me is where that starts for some; some prefer the free call. Regardless, just start building.
The banker called me back two days later. He said he was starting. I told him good, and it was about time.
Frequently Asked Questions About Preparing for Prison
What is the most important thing to do when preparing for prison?
Start building your documented record before you report. Write. Connect with Prison Professors. Produce something a case manager or judge can read and verify. Most defendants focus entirely on program schedules and compliance. Compliance is the floor. The record you build on top of it is what makes you different from everyone else who also did the minimum
Does going to programming in federal prison help you get out early?
Yes. First Step Act credits under 18 U.S.C. § 3632 are real and you should earn every one available to you. But everyone at your facility earns them. Credits make you eligible for earlier transfer to a halfway house or supervised release. They do not make you extraordinary or compelling to a case manager. The record you build does that.
Do I need a prison consultant to prepare for federal prison?
No. You do not need a consultant to earn First Step Act credits, complete programming, or stay out of trouble. That information is available free. What is harder, and what most consultants do not help with, is building the documented record that separates you from every other compliant defendant. White Collar Advice gives the framework away free at whitecollaradvice.com.
What did Epictetus teach that applies to federal defendants?
Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher born a slave. His core teaching: some things are in your power, and some things are not. For defendants preparing for prison, the facility assignment, the program schedule, and the case manager’s recommendation are outside your control. The record you build every day is entirely yours. Most defendants spend all their energy on what they cannot control and none on what they can.
What is Prison Professors and how does it help?
Prison Professors is a nonprofit founded by Michael Santos, who served 26 consecutive years in federal prison. It operates in every BOP facility and helps people document their time, develop skills, and build a profile to share with judges, case managers, and probation officers. Currently 7,000 profiles. Goal is 50,000. Connecting before you report is one of the most credible things you can do when preparing for prison. Free at prisonprofessors.org.
When should I start preparing for prison?
The day you are sentenced, or before. The record you build before you report is the first evidence that you understand what this process requires. Defendants who start building after they arrive are already behind the defendants who started at sentencing. Justin Paperny started writing his first day at Taft Federal Prison Camp, October 12, 2008. That record is why his probation officer approved him to work with felons and speak on ethics when he came home.
What did CZ do to prepare for and make the most of his federal sentence?
CZ, founder of Binance, completed his programming and also wrote Freedom of Money during his sentence, narrated by Michael Santos. The book did not earn additional credits. He wrote it because building matters regardless of outcome. Since his release, more than $400,000 in Binance community donations has come into Prison Professors. The work he did during his sentence will outlast the sentence by decades.
About the Author
Justin Paperny is the founder of White Collar Advice and an ambassador of the work of Michael Santos. He served 18 months at Taft Federal Prison Camp beginning April 2008 after being convicted of securities fraud as a stockbroker at Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch. He has written a blog every day since October 12, 2008. He ghostwrites for clients, hosts a free public webinar every Tuesday at 11am Pacific, and runs the leading national crisis management practice for executives and public figures facing federal criminal matters. Free resources on this site or schedule a $500 diagnostic call.
