Earning Freedom with Michael Santos

As a prison consultant, I speak with a lot of people when they’re in challenging times. People contact me when someone they know has been arrested and they worry that they, too, may face arrest. Other people contact me when they’re further along. They’ve been arrested, or they’ve been charged, or they’re preparing for trial, or they’re preparing for a sentencing hearing and imprisonment. In addition to working with those types of clients, I devote time speaking to students. It’s my hope that students will find some value in the message. If they grasp the relationship between the decisions they make today, and their prospects for success tomorrow, then I’m doing my job.

Our podcast today and tomorrow is specifically for students.

In today’s podcast, I send a message to students at the Central Youth Reporting Center, in Santa Ana, California. I visited the school yesterday to speak with them for an hour. I have a friendship with Keith Laszlo, a teacher at the school. He uses a program I designed to teach strategies that empowered me through 26 years in prison. Keith used that program while he taught inside of jails, prisons, and juvenile halls. He now uses it several schools across Orange County and I’m happy to support the work by visiting classes that he teaches.

I arrived at the school around 9:30 in the morning and I shared my story with six young people between the ages of 13 and 17. Each of them expressed an interest in returning to the traditional Orange County schools. They could do it, I explained. They simply needed to ask Keith for guidance and then follow the path that he would lay out for them.

They listened as I discussed the bad decisions I made as a young man and the consequences that followed. I was arrested at 23, but I began making bad decisions when I was much younger. I hope the students learn from the story. Perhaps when I return, they will share how they’re working to achieve their dreams.

I send special regards to Tony, Andrew, Alex, Andres, Samantha, and Brian. And I express gratitude to Keith Laszlo and his fellow educators in the Orange County school district.

Prison consultant teaches importance of values and goals

What does it take to succeed in prison? A lot?

As a prison consultant, I provide resources to people at every phase of the journey. Some people reach out for assistance before they’ve even been indicted. Others reach out for guidance after they’ve concluded their obligation to the prison system. I provide guidance to anyone, at any stage of the journey. It’s never too soon and it’s never too late to begin sowing seeds for a better life.

Today’s podcast features a message I recorded for men who serve time inside of Maine’s high security prison. They’re proceeding through a mastermind program that I designed specifically for people in custody. The mastermind course teaches strategies that empowered me through 26 years and that I continue adhering to today. They made all the difference for me. As I told the men in Maine’s state prison, I’m confident that anyone who uses values and goals to guide decisions will advance possibilities for emerging successfully from challenging times. 

What do I mean when I say that an individual should use values and goals to guide decisions? I mean don’t allow current challenges or circumstances to limit your possibilities. Don’t outsource decisions to other people. Don’t allow a criminal indictment, an anticipated judicial proceeding, a presentence investigation, or a sentencing hearing to cripple your life. Seize the initiative by establishing clear values. By articulating the values that define your existence, an individual can take the next step toward earning liberty, freedom, and a better life.

We lead lives of relevance and meaning when we define our success. In my work as a prison consultant, I work with people every day to teach those strategies. This strategy of using values and goals strengthened me through 26 years in federal prisons of every security level. They can strengthen you, too. In today’s Earning Freedom podcast, I delivered that message of values and goals to men in Maine’s state prison.

As an example of someone else who did the same, I retold the inspiring story of Chris Polous. Chris was a former prisoner from Maine, but currently is in his final year of law school at the University of Maine. Chris told his story on episode 20 of the Earning Freedom podcast.

Going to inspire the students of Keth Laszlo in Santa Ana.

As a prison consultant, I teach and prepare individuals who’ve been indicted. When they face criminal charges, they need guidance on how to position themselves for the lowest possible sentence. I also help them strategize so they can serve their sentences in the best possible prison. In addition to those services, however, I strive to create opportunities for those who return to society after a prison term. The Earning Freedom podcast is one of the resources I use for both ends.

Through the Earning Freedom podcast, I offer interviews that follow one of three formats. I share strategies that empowered me through 26 years in prison and that I use to build a successful life in society. I also interview other formerly incarcerated individuals and teach them how to prepare for success. I also interview CEOs to get their views on leadership and their suggestions the formerly incarcerated can follow to transition into the job market.

Today’s podcast features Ben Pouladian, CEO of DECO Lighting. Ben founded DECO lighting in the mid 1990s. The company manufactures LED lighting components and fixtures. Over the past two decades, it has built the company into a market leader. DECO lighting employs more than 100 people and it generates revenues measured in the tens of millions.

When I asked Ben whether he would consider hiring formerly incarcerated individuals who advanced through our Earning Freedom program, he said that he would consider it. I’m very excited to expand our training program with anticipation that we can open jobs for 100 people over the next 12 months.

Opening jobs for the formerly incarcerated is one way that I can live as the change that I want to see in the world.

I earn a living by providing prison-consulting services to people who’ve been indicted. I prepare those people to position themselves for the lowest possible sentence, and to serve those sentences in the best possible environment. But my work is much more than serving as a prison consultant. I also work to improve outcomes of our nation’s criminal justice system.

Many people who’ve been charged with a criminal offense struggle with reentry once they return to society. I admire Katherine Katcher, a graduate from UC Berkeley Law School. After earning her law degree and becoming a lawyer, Katherine founded Root and Rebound, a non-profit organization that strives to prepare the formerly incarcerated for success.

Katherine has put together a team of other professionals. Together, they developed the Roadmap to Reentry, a comprehensive guide for those who are returning to society. She and her colleagues train facilitators how to use the 1,200+ page manual. It includes training in nine separate areas of the law. Those who use the resource effectively arm themselves to triumph over many of the challenges that complicate adjustments for the majority of 750,000+ people who return to society each year from America’s jails and prisons.

Katherine spoke with the Earning Freedom audience today, telling us about her inspiring work and the challenges Root and Rebound faces. Next month I’ll travel to Oakland to contribute as a speaker for the group’s annual fund raising event. I’m hopeful that Root and Rebound succeeds in generating the resources it needs to combat the consequences that follow our nation’s commitment to mass incarceration.

Links: 

Root and Rebound, Oakland

Roadmap to Reentry Download

Beth is a married, 45-year old woman who built her career working for a technology company. She worked with senior executives at Fortune 500 companies. Complications in her personal life led to her crossing a line that brought severe consequences. Prosecutors targeted her. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Now, she prepares for a sentencing hearing and her eventual time in federal prison.

Hiring a Prison Consultant

Beth tried to gather information from her defense attorney about what she could expect from the journey ahead. When her defense attorney couldn’t respond to her questions, Beth began doing some research. She found Federal Prison Advice. After several conversations with Justin Paperny, Beth hired him to serve as her prison consultant.

Beth said that Justin succeeded in providing her with precisely what she needed. She was emotional, traumatized by the entire process of being charged with a serious crime. She didn’t understand what was ahead. The unknowing caused enormous amounts of stress.

Like many defense attorneys, the man who represented Beth was remiss in preparing her. She didn’t know anything about the all-important presentence investigation report (PSI). The PSI, sometimes known as the PSR, has enormous implications. Few defense attorneys understand the influence this document has on the prison experience.

When Beth retained Justin to work with her, they began preparing a strategy to amend the initial PSI. Fortunately, they succeeded in making the necessary changes and Beth is in a much better position as she waits for her sentencing date.

Beth said that she participates in regularly scheduled phone calls with Justin. She is determined to position herself to serve the lowest possible sentence, and together they’re working on a sentencing narrative. Beth understands that more complications await her after the sentencing hearing. But as a consequence of working with a trustworthy prison consultant, she feels as if she is in a much better position to succeed through prison.

Today’s Earning Freedom podcast features an interview with Julie Stewart, founder of FAMM—Families Against Mandatory Minimum Sentences. I first heard about FAMM in 1991. At the time, our nation was ramping up prison population levels with the War on Drugs. I already had served the first four years of my prison term and I was scheduled for 22 more years of confinement. In FAMM’s work, I found inspiration.

Like many Americans, Julie Stewart didn’t give much thought to criminal justice issues until the subject matter became personal. A judge sentenced her brother to a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for growing marijuana on his property. Julie became concerned when she heard of the judge’s reservations about imposing such a lengthy sentence on a nonviolent, first-time offender. Mandatory-sentencing laws required the term. At the time, she didn’t know the meaning or influence of a mandatory-minimum sentence.

At the time, our nation was ramping up its War on Drugs and embarking upon a prison-building binge. Congress passed mandatory-minimum sentences that exposed offenders to minimum sentences of five years, ten years, or longer if the crime crossed a specific threshold of drugs. Many judges opposed those mandatory-minimum sentences.

Judges were in the courtroom. Since they considered the evidence and the defendant’s personal characteristics, judges believed they were in a better position to determine an appropriate sanction. The mandatory-minimum sentencing scheme limited their ability, however. Even when they wanted to impose a lower sentence, they couldn’t if the crime required a mandatory-minimum sentence.

Julie began working to change those injustices. She and her team at FAMM have had many successes. Through her skillful leadership, FAMM has become a useful force. She has influenced legislators on the state level, on the national level, and in the sentencing commission. Some clear FAMM victories include the introduction of the Safety Valve, which allowed judges to depart from the mandatory-minimum sentences. FAMM also was instrumental in changing laws that required lengthy sentences for specific offices. 

Tens of thousands of people have benefited because FAMM does such a remarkable of advocacy. The incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated owe the team of FAMM a great deal. They’re in the forefront of helping more Americans understand why our nation’s commitment to mass incarceration is one of the greatest social injustices of our time. As a consequence of their hard work, we’re not seeing more people interested in sentence and prison reform.

Our nation’s commitment to mass incarceration has had devastating consequences. We incarcerate more people per capita than any other place on earth. According to Emily Baxter, our guest on today’s Earning Freedom podcast, the system doesn’t treat everyone fairly.

Emily served as a public defender in Minnesota. She became frustrated because her work revealed that poor people of color were more likely to be charged, convicted, and exposed to time in custody. They were not necessarily more likely to commit crime, just more likely to experience complications from the criminal justice system.

Wanting to change, Emily began working to influence legislation and policy. Wanting to do more, she launched her own initiative called “We Are All Criminals.”

Through this innovative program, Emily interviews people who admit to having committed crimes. Authorities never caught them, so they never had to suffer the harsh consequences that follow for those who’ve been convicted of a crime, or even charged with a crime.

As a prison consultant, I strive to educate people who have the unfortunate experience of having to answer to the criminal justice system. I work with people at all stages of the proceedings. I work with people who have been charged with crimes. I work with people who’ve been convicted of crimes. I work with people who’re being proceeding through supervised release. And I work with people who are striving to position themselves for success upon release, despite having a history of problems with the criminal justice system.

Many people believe that problems with the criminal justice system don’t have any influence on their lives. That’s inaccurate. As Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I’m working hard to spread awareness on what steps we can take to improve outcomes of America’s prison system. And I am impressed with leaders like Emily Baxter. She is doing her part to end the greatest social injustice of our time—which I consider our nation’s misguided commitment to mass incarceration. 

On August 11, 1987, DEA agents pointed guns at my head and arrested. A grand jury had indicted me for trafficking in cocaine. I was 23. At the time, the only thought I had was to get out of jail. The charges I faced carried a possible sentence of life without parole.

I proceeded through trial and perjured myself on the witness stand. The jury saw through the lies that I told and convicted me on every count. During the awkward transition between my conviction and sentencing, I began to see the world from a different perspective. 

Prayers for strength led me to a book, and I found that strength when I read the story of Socrates. In the story, he was locked in a jail cell awaiting his execution. When given an opportunity to escape, Socrates chose to remain. When I read his reason for wanting to stay, I felt a surge of hope. The response to a question of why he would choose death to life, a surge of inspiration ran through me. Like Socrates, I wanted to live with my dignity intact.

I began to think of how I could serve my sentence with dignity. In today’s podcast, I describe the process that led to an adjustment that would carry me through multiple decades in prison. I thought of my “avatars,” the people I wanted to will into my corner. Rather than trying to fit in with the culture of negativity, I thought about people in the society I wanted to join. Those people lived as law-abiding, contributing citizens. Although I didn’t know those people, and they didn’t know me, I thought about steps that I could take while in custody to prove worthy of their support. 

Those thoughts led to my three-part plan. Each day of my journey through prison, I’d focus on working: 

Such focus would guide my every thought, my every action, my every spoken word through the lengthy prison term I would serve.

In today’s Earning Freedom podcast, I describe those initial stages of my journey.

Today I spoke with Douglas James Forte, criminologist and expert witness in drug, urban, and gang culture. Although Douglas has the academic credentials that lawyers and law enforcement respect, he also has the street credibility that allow to serve urban communities across America. Douglas tells a story of growing up in East Palo Alto, a community that has been rife with violence, drug trafficking, and inner city crime. Douglas grew up in that community. As a young man, he ran the streets, selling drugs and hustling.

Douglas said that he recognized God had a higher calling for his life. Once he received that message, Douglas made a 100% commitment to leave the street life and begin repairing the damage that his criminal activities had caused. He started focusing on his education. He didn’t only graduate high school, Douglas continued with his education, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree from Jackson State University.

Douglas’s undergraduate de4gree is in criminal justice and urban affairs. He used that education to begin organizing community events in an effort to provide alternatives for those who were wrapped up in the street violence. When a police officer mislabeled Doug as a gang member, Doug took action, lodging formal complaints against the police officer. He shows how easily a mislabeling can derail a man’s future.

Rather than allowing such an experience to anger him, Doug used it to help others. He launched “The Gang Expert” as a service for defendants and law firms that defend people who can be charged with gang enhancement. In California, when an individual is charged with a crime, and authorities impose a “gang enhancement,” the defendant can have the prison term extended by decades. The Gang Expert helps defendants and defense attorneys argue against such sentencing enhancements.

In addition to his work with defense counsel, The Gang Expert provides community service by helping the formerly incarcerated transition into sustainable, law-abiding lives. He teaches soft-skills that the formerly incarcerated need and he opens doors with employers. Listen to his inspiring story on today’s Earning Freedom podcast.

For more information on The Gang Expert, contact Douglas Fort at the following locations:

Website: The Gang Expert Website

Twitter: @thegangexpert