Prison consultant

A prison consultant provides newly convicted criminals with advice on how to cope and survive in the unfamiliar surroundings of prison. Prison consultants may also provide a client's attorney with advice on how to lobby the sentencing judge for a shorter sentence, and how to get a client sentenced to a lower security level prison (the higher a prison's security level, the more violent and dangerous). They may advise white-collar and celebrity criminals, high-level drug dealers and disgraced politicians. Consultants charge anywhere from several hundred to many thousands of dollars, with no promises made. Among their past clients have been Bernard Madoff, John Rigas, Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Mike Tyson, Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress, Martha Stewart, and Leona Helmsley.

Practitioners

Becoming a prison consultant requires no formal training or certification, and no agency tracks those in the business. Many, but not all, prison consultants learned the ropes by serving prison time themselves. The Federal Bureau of Prisons takes no position on consulting.

Frank Sweeney

Frank Sweeney is a convicted swindler and veteran of 17 federal prisons. Sweeney's first prison sentence came after he reflexively shot and wounded an investigating police officer while testing a reactivated collector's-edition submachine gun. In 1993, after reading that one of the officers charged in the Rodney King beating was "terrified" at the prospect of going to prison, he got the idea of charging first-time convicts $200 for prison advice. He ran advertisements in USA Today that said, "Going to prison for the first time? We will tell you what to expect and how to survive. Our consultants are graduates of the Federal prison system."

Sweeney tells his clients, most of them males over 40, not to worry about being raped in prison because "by the time you're in your late thirties, you've lost your boyishness." He warns them to stay away from prison gangs, the drug culture, and avoidable disputes such as over failure to repay a loan. He advises them they can get a better bunk by feigning epilepsy. His own experiences in gaming the system include feigning mental illness to get a private cell and severe arthritis to get easier work assignments. In order to get a more desirable kosher diet, he persuaded a prison rabbi that his mother, a Lutheran whose maiden name was Schellhammer, was a Jew.

Jimmy Tayoun

Jimmy Tayoun, a white-collar felon and former Philadelphia City Councilman, says he realized that such a service was needed when he saw a new arrival surrender at his prison wearing a fur coat. While Tayoun was incarcerated, he wrote a 64-page guide called "Going to Prison?" After his release in 1995, and perhaps using the term "prison consultant" for the first time in a press release, he set up a 1-900 number to answer the questions he kept getting from fearful first-timers. For $2.50 a minute, callers selected from a menu of seven topics. Tayoun's recorded advice included getting a doctor's note to avoid being assigned a top bunk, and arranging private transportation to prison to avoid being handcuffed on the trip.

Larry Jay Levine

Larry Jay Levine of Wall Street Prison Consultants spent ten years in various federal prisons on securities fraud and narcotics trafficking charges. Released in 2007, he now advises a mix of white collar and drug criminals. His offerings include "Fedtime 101", advertised as a "telephone crash course designed to help you get out alive." Levine says the biggest challenge white-collar offenders have when entering prison is their lack of street smarts. He tells clients, "Show some manners because people are under a lot of stress. Don't be a jerk. Say 'excuse me'. Say 'thank you'. Don’t get into arguments or stare people down. Don’t go into the showers in the middle of the night. Use common sense." He also advises them to develop a routine, including keeping a Bible on their bed to discourage guards from touching it.

Levine's use of photos of the facade and trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange in advertisements asking "Going from the exchange floor to the prison yard?" drew a cease and desist order from the exchange. He says business has been steady since the recent financial crisis started turning up evidence of corporate crime.

Tom Miller

Tom Miller of the Dr. Prison consulting service served prison time for dealing methamphetamine. He advises clients that going to prison is like going to a foreign country they have never visited, with different languages, customs and mannerisms. The company assesses a client's "prison demeanor" and gives advice accordingly, perhaps suggesting that shy people learn to play cards or talk sports in order to fit in. Clients are told to always stick with inmates of their own race, regardless of what associations they may have formed in the outside world. They are warned to be humble, but never allow another inmate to cut in front of them in the food line.

Herbert J. Hoelter

Herbert J. Hoelter is director of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA), a prison reform and sentencing-advocacy group. He has appeared before the United States Sentencing Commission regarding alternatives to incarceration. NCIA works with defense attorneys and defendants to design and present to judges individualized sentencing recommendations that may include alternative punishments such as home confinement and community service, as well as recommendations for an appropriate prison.

Hoelter, who has advised Bernard Madoff, Martha Stewart and John Rigas, says safety is not a major issue in the minimum security prisons where most of his clients end up, because bad behavior results in longer sentences. He warns former executives who may have controlled thousands of employees that the pressures on them in prison will be considerable – they will be told when to eat, when to go to work, when to sleep and how much money they can spend in the commissary.

Additional advice

In general, consultants will advise prison-bound clients to keep a low profile and avoid offending other inmates. Offenses can include joining a conversation without an invitation, asking personal questions without a proper cue, and taking liberties with the television (most fights take place in the TV room). Consultants can help navigate early-release programs and will recommend entry into a drug or alcohol rehab program even for clients who were not recognized as abusers in their pre-sentencing report.

Consultants may advise about Federal Bureau of Prisons employee personality types; how to defend one's self in a prison fight; and how best to avoid being raped, stabbed or beaten. Clients are warned to expect strip searches and to accept a complete loss of personal control to the guards.

Commentary on Bernard Madoff

Much recent news and discussion of prison consultants has centered on Bernard Madoff. Herbert Hoelter, who advised Madoff, says that Madoff's sentencing to the medium-security Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina is appropriate because the facility is next door to a medical center, and if Madoff becomes eligible for transfer to a low-security prison, there is one within the same complex. Hoelter expects that a number of his other clients in Butner will take Madoff under their wing, saying "It's like a buddy system." He thinks Madoff's lengthy term "will give him credibility with other inmates." His advice to Madoff was "It’s a matter of keeping your space and having respect for other people".

However, Steven Oberfest of The Prison Coach says Madoff enters prison at a disadvantage because the other prisoners know everything about him from the media, but he knows nothing about them. Oberfest calls Butner "a general, nasty, medium-security-type prison" and says Madoff needs to be careful of other inmates who might be paid by those he defrauded to intimidate or harm him. Similarly, Larry Levine expects that someone will make a payment to another inmate's family, a dining-hall distraction will be created, and Madoff will be stabbed.

See also

• Prisoners' rights

External links

• You've Got Jail, New York Magazine, July 15, 2002