“Just get him home.”
A mother of two in the Midwest said that to me for about 20 months while her husband was going through his federal case. Before prison, he blamed the court, his lawyers, the judge and the co-defendant who cooperated against him. It was never his fault. His wife kept saying the same thing: just get him home.
Then he went to prison. He didn't like his bunkie, the food, commissary or his job. He would call home asking why he was sitting in a minimum-security camp with no fences or barbed wire. He could walk off at any time. He owed restitution and said he should be working in the community and paying it.
His wife kept saying, “Just get him home.”
In time, he did come home. Now he didn't like his probation officer. They wouldn't approve his work (like many people he sort of wished he was back in prison to finish his sentence, instead of the halfway house). Probation wanted too much toward restitution. Then he didn't like how his wife was parenting their children. He didn't like the dinner she cooked. I asked him, if having your freedom and family doesn't make you any happier, was prison really the problem?
About nine months after he came home, his wife very quietly said something to him.
9 Months After Prison, His Wife Said This
In February, I was driving home from Santa Barbara and stopped near Ojai to meet a woman whose husband had just been surrendered to federal prison for ten years. I describe the meeting in Chapter 14 of After the Fall.
She knew he was under investigation, but she didn't know how severe it was. He kept her in the dark. She thought it would be two or three years: he got 10 years.
Now he calls from prison and says, “I'm in prison. I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do.” She has to manage the kids, the bills, the fallout and the shame. She eventually called her father for money.
Her father said yes, but it came with two conditions.
Federal Prison Gave Her Father an Opening
Justin PapernyFounder, White Collar Advice
Written by
Justin Paperny
Founder White Collar Advice
