Prison Preparation
If you or a loved one have been charged with a federal offense and are facing a prison sentence for the first time, you’re most likely nervous, maybe scared, and don’t know what to expect. You might be wondering how to prepare for prison. There are a lot of questions and concerns related to going to prison and not nearly enough comprehensive resources to help guide you. This is where the services of a prison consultant can be invaluable.
Answers in Your Darkest Hours
The first step to conquering your fear of incarceration and preparing for prison is to seek out reliable information on the topic. We’ve been there and can teach you everything you need to know to build a solid informational foundation. This foundation is key to preparing for prison.
By understanding what is to come, you will not only alleviate much of the fear and anxiety you are currently experiencing. You will also build a knowledge base to make good decisions once in prison.
How to Prepare for Prison
There are many schools of thought concerning how to prepare for prison. At the Freedom Fighters Prison Consultants, we find that building an informational foundation about federal incarceration is the best starting point. As such, when you hire our firm, we start by taking a three-pronged approach.
First, we speak with you to fully understand your unique situation and needs. Second, we provide you with detailed reading materials about all facets of federal incarceration so that you can quickly get up to speed on the subject. And third, as you read the provided materials, we have a series of consulting sessions where we answer all of your questions and emphasize topics of immediate concern.
While videos and podcasts about preparing for prison are available, we find it best to provide individualized counseling supplemented by quality reading materials. The individualized counseling sessions allow us to directly answer your questions and provide personalized prison preparation services based on your unique needs. And the background reading materials will enable you to prepare for prison even outside of consulting sessions. Coupled together, this results in a highly personalized yet economical solution to prison preparation.
Federal Prison Topics Covered
We start by discussing our prison preparation clients’ most immediate concerns. Usually, these include personal safety in federal prison, how to prepare for prison, how the self-surrendering process works, and what to expect on your first day.
We then delve into more nuanced topics with these basics out of the way. For example, we discuss inmate housing units, medical care, inmate work assignments, disciplinary matters, recreation, and more.
During your consulting sessions, you will learn about these broad categories of information:
prison security levels
where you will likely be housed
types of prison housing
how to communicate with your loved ones
what you can buy at the prison commissary
how to obtain healthcare and psychological care
recreation opportunities
prison work assignments
educational classes
and more
In addition to these broad categories of information, which broadly apply to everyone preparing for prison, we will also discuss with you more specific matters which are unique to your unique situation:
how to greet a cellmate for the first time
how to address what you are in prison for
strategies for avoiding conflict and violence
how to occupy your time in prison
how to seek a favorable prison placement
how to handle your finances
how to serve the least amount of time possible
and more
While the above lists are certainly not comprehensive, this unique blend of broad and specific information will allow you to understand what is to come and how to handle situations even before walking through the prison gates. This is how to prepare yourself for prison intelligently and proactively.
While there are many nuanced topics to discuss, we find that we can effectively and thoroughly prepare our clients over a few weeks. Our approach not only teaches you how to prepare for going to prison; it cements an informational foundation in your mind which allows you to avoid problems and have as smooth of a period of incarceration as possible.
Emotional Preparation
Whether you’ve been handed a prison sentence or are the loved one of someone going to prison, it can take a heavy emotional toll. Anger, sadness, denial, and other emotions are very common. Often prisoners and their loved ones need help dealing with this emotional turmoil when faced with a prison sentence.
The understanding team at Freedom Fighters is very familiar with the emotions associated with going to prison. All of our team members have contended with this situation directly including Chad himself.
We will sit down with you and your family to help you emotionally prepare. We’ll help you come to terms with what is going on and how you will make it through. We typically bring on a therapist to help ensure that you and your family are heard and supported through this troublesome time.
Financial Planning
One of the many stressors prisoners and their loved ones contend with is the family’s primary breadwinner being out of the workforce. This brings the front of mind many pressing questions, including:
Who is going to bring income to the family?
How can a prisoner and their family financially prepare for a loved one’s prison sentence?
How is the prisoner going to pay for things while in prison?
These and many other financial planning aspects are a reality of an impending prison sentence. The team at the Freedom Fighters can help you deal with financial issues surrounding a prison sentence.
We can also refer you to financial experts, such as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and other quality financial planners, to help you and your family deal with the financial stress associated with family members going to federal prison.
Additionally, our team is well versed in Federal Bureau of Prisons policy regarding financial accountability (i.e., the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program). We can also coordinate with you and your family to deposit funds to your Trust Fund Accounts, so you and your loved ones have everything you could need while in prison.
Getting Physically Ready for Prison
While this is a somewhat taboo topic, fitness and self-defense training are beneficial to those heading to prison. While it’s always a good idea to be physically fit, appearing physically fit can actually help prisoners avoid physical violence. It can also aid as a mental safeguard against others by deterring others from initiating violence.
The ability to protect yourself can also be very beneficial if you’re going to prison. After all, you can look and even be fit, but if you can’t protect yourself, you may be at a significant disadvantage in prison. Even basic self-defense training can make a big difference in your self-esteem and in protecting yourself in a violent situation.
If taking a self-defense training class is something you are interested in, we can ensure you are working with a suitable local personal trainer and self-defense expert. This will be someone who understands your goals and can work with you at the level you desire.
There are many different types of self-defense training. So, we must understand your goals and current fitness level to make sure you are matched with the best trainer possible.
With the above discussion in mind, violence is rarely the correct answer (there are some exceptions in prison). Our prison preparation service is designed around conflict resolution, as we find this the best preventative measure against violence. Even so, self-defense training can act as an insurance policy for when situations escalate.
Our team can also provide counsel on when it is appropriate to engage in self-defense actions. But always remember, you want to make sure you are never accused of initiating, or escalating, violence. These are dangerous practices that make you less safe in prison.
Our Prison Preparation Objective
Accolades aside, you should hire us because we have significant experience in successfully helping people just like you prepare for prison. Additionally, we answer our phones, respond to emails, and are available to help you right now.
Don’t continue living in fear of what is to come. Please speak with our federal prison consultants today to start preparing for prison. The sooner you start preparing, the better off you’ll be when it comes time to enter prison.
Ready to get answers from qualified prison consultants?
Contact us about your case, or your loved one’s case, or send us your questions and suggestions!