8. Personal Narratives in Preparation for Prison
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\xa0If you\u2019ve been listening to the past four episodes, you know that we\u2019ve 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.
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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:
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- MEMORANDUM FOR ALL FEDERAL PROSECUTORS
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In the second paragraph, the Attorney General says:
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\u201cFirst, it is a core principle that prosecutors should charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense.\u201d
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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.
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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.
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Whether through an Indictment or a Criminal Information, at Prison Professors, we believe more people go to prison. That\u2019s 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.
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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\u2019t necessarily mean the end of the road.
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Staring down a lengthy prison term can bring a disheartening feeling, as if you\u2019re looking into an abyss. We\u2019ve 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\u2019ve given some initial insights about how to master prison quickly.
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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:
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- Visualize success. What\u2019s 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\u2019ve mentioned before, it\u2019s 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\u2019s nothing more than happy talk. Leaders take action every day. If you\u2019re following the Prison Professors pathway, you\u2019ll take action. You\u2019ll climb from where you are today, to the success you\u2019re determined to become tomorrow.
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Still, we recognize that it isn\u2019t 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.
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Our team shows people how to succeed through prison and beyond.
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Our personal experiences convince us that if we prepare early, we enhance prospects for success. We don\u2019t 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.
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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\u2019s 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.
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In my case, authorities took me into custody on the day of my arrest. I\u2019ll 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.
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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 \u201chouse arrest,\u201d 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.
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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.
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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.
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We ask defendants to make a decision. Will they allow prison to define them? Or will they make decisions that show they can overcome.
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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.
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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\u2019t do something about it, that story will become an immutable part of his character. A personal narrative can help to counter those allegations.
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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.
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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.
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My lawyer told me what I wanted to hear rather than what I needed to hear.
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After a jury convicted me, I realized that I made a horrific decision with my life.
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- 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.
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I\u2019ll speak more about that transformation in future episodes. I\u2019ve written a lot about it in the various books that we make available on PrisonProfessors.com.
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But this series we\u2019re creating is about you, not us. Start with a question. Are you ready to make changes? If you\u2019ve been targeted for a criminal prosecution in federal court, then decide how you want to emerge from the struggle of imprisonment.
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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.
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I started to change that outcome with my personal narrative. I had to write out the person that I aspired to become.
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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.
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You can do the same.
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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\u2019t know what he would do with the rest of his life. I shared the same secret with him that I\u2019m sharing with you. It\u2019s a secret that empowered me through each of the 9,500 days that I was locked in prison.
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Justin had to write his narrative. He had to begin writing the next chapter of his life.
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Justin didn\u2019t 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\u2019s a lesson that leaders have taught for thousands of years. Scholars attribute the following saying to Socrates:
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The unexamined life is not worth living.
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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.
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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.
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Again, at Prison Professors, we do not ask anyone to do or say anything that we didn\u2019t do or that we\u2019re not doing. Shon\u2019s book reveals how much thought he put into his future. Justin\u2019s 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.
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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.
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Those who choose not to write their own narratives should understand what transpires. Prosecutorial statements will have a longer life. From directives in Session\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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\u2019t 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.
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It\u2019s never too late and it\u2019s 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\u2019re 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.
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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.
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We also encourage people to recognize that the process doesn\u2019t 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\u2014and the prosecutor\u2019s statements\u2014when assessing the person. If an individual writes out his narrative, he can influence those eventual assessments.
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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.
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But again, it\u2019s never too early and it\u2019s 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.
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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\u2014in the eyes of many prosecutors\u2014equates 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.
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If you\u2019re 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.
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In the chapters that follow, I\u2019ll 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\u2019s the essential lesson that will recalibrate your life, restore your confidence, and give you meaning.
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But always remember, it\u2019s one thing to know the way to success. It\u2019s another thing to walk the way. Stay with us at Prison Professors to learn more.
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