11 Signs Of A Bad Federal Prison Consultant

Bad Federal Prison Consultant

It’s been a busy week. I had five clients surrender to federal prisons all across America. One of them surrendered to Pensacola Federal Prison Camp; one went to Lewisburg Federal Prison Camp; one went to Fort Dix Federal Prison Camp; and two surrendered to Sheridan Federal Prison Camp. I learned a great deal from all of these fine men. I look forward to continuing to work with them from the inside of their respective federal prison camp.

11 Signs Of A Bad Federal Prison Consultant

Most of the time when someone retains me I am the only prison consultant they have or will hire. My two clients who surrendered to Sheridan Federal Prison Camp, however, each retained separate prison consultants before hiring me. Naturally, I was intrigued into what went wrong, and why they decided I should be added to the team.

“The irony,” my client, Richard, told me, “is my wife, Lisa, has been reading your blogs for a while. She’s shared them with me. The truth is I was not ready to put in the effort. To appease her, I hired someone else. It was not a fit, and truthfully, I did not care enough to do anything about it. But as this gets closer I know the real planning should be begin. I am tired of being lazy, and I am finally ready to start working,” he was incredibly honest.

“Without getting too nosey, Richard, what was wrong with your federal prison consultant (you cannot blame me for trying to get some inside information)?

“I knew you would ask me that so I started working on a list. I am sure you have some thoughts as well. Do you want to work on it together? Perhaps we can help more people make better decisions,” he said.

“Great idea. I am in. I will create a google document and we can work on it collectively and individually,” I told him.

Let’s Learn From Mark

Well, as it turns out my other client, Mark, who also fired his federal prison consultant had a similar story. His wife, Sherry, found my work, and specifically my book, Lessons From Prison. She scheduled a call with me. When I called she handed the phone to Mark. He was not thrilled. In the end it all worked out.

Since Mark and Richard were going to the same federal prison camps, I thought they should connect. Richard and I also wanted to see if Mark had interest in contributing to our prison consulting project. Mark decided he would love to contribute.

As a team we worked on this google document. Our goal was not meant to be a puff piece to grow my prison consulting business. I make quite clear that my approach is not for everyone. I wanted something more than a selfless promotion from two prison consulting clients. We just wanted to provide some guidelines for defendants to consider.

Our Goal

Our goal was simply to help white collar defendants make better and more informed decisions. Period!
Initially our list had about 20 warning signs. I thought it was too long, too demanding. For example, no federal prison consultant should be disqualified simply because he or she had a disciplinary infraction. I was in federal prison and I understand that prison staff, aka, guards can drum up a shot pretty easily. I told my clients they would see that when they surrendered to Sheridan Federal Prison Camp.

11 Signs of a Bad Federal Prison Consultant

So, without further ado, below is the list from our project we call: 11 Signs of a Bad Federal Prison Consultant:

1. They violated their probation or were re arrested and sent back to federal prison
2. They have never been to federal prison
3. No literature, process or structure
4. “If you hire me I will teach you how to survive federal prison through my special one of a kind survival program,”
5. “I guarantee it!”
6. Cannot offer career or professional advice on how to build a business before, during or after federal prison
7. Will not put you on the phone with their current or past clients
8. Have never actually done what they are asking you to do
9. Won’t share how well they write
10. Would rather placate your lawyer to get a referral in the future, instead of helping hold them accountable
11. Testimonials on their website do not have a last name.

In my next blog, I will address each of these 11 issues to provide context and clarity.

Did you think I missed anything? If so, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at jp@whitecollaradvice.com or call me at 818-424-2220.

Justin Paperny

P.S. Mark and Richard are doing great at Sheridan. Both will also be accepted into the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) within the next two weeks.