I was concerned for Andrew because a federal statute (Title 18 of the US Code, Section 1001) criminalizes the act of providing false statements to any federal law enforcement officer. Andrew knew that he provided cash to his wife, but he provided the cash in an effort to conceal the currency from the court. If authorities were to discover that Andrew had misled them, he could face additional criminal charges. I’ve met too many people in prison who dug themselves into deeper problems because they didn’t understand the severity of the criminal justice system.

The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution may protect a citizen from self-incrimination, but it does not protect those who lie. Individuals who make the decision to speak with any law enforcement officer or submit any type of documentation to a law enforcement officer should be aware that providing misleading information could be a violation of law. When I pointed that law out to Andrew, palpable waves of anxiety suddenly washed over him as he ran his hands through his hair.

Individuals who become ensnared in the criminal justice system face a real struggle. I may be coming to the end of my time in prison, but I am preparing myself for a lifetime of close scrutiny. I anticipate interference from those who will supervise my release, and perhaps from many citizens in society. I expect to live under a microscope when I’m released, but my decades in prison have prepared me for the challenges I know I’ll face.

It would be wise for anyone coming into the criminal justice system to consider the law and to avoid making decisions that could expose them to future problems.

The post Andrew’s Potential Problem: Lies and Deception May Bring New Criminal Charges appeared first on Prison News Blog.

In a previous article I wrote that prison camps waste taxpayer resources. I’ve been confined to various prison camps since 2003. No physical boundaries prevent prisoners in camp from walking away. Since camp prisoners serve time according to an honor system, and administrators have classified camp prisoners as not posing a threat to society, I argued that prison camps ought to close and those assigned to camps ought to serve community-based sanctions. Jesus observed that most white-collar offenders who were sentenced to prison served their terms in prison camps. He asked how I thought society should punish white-collar criminals if camps were shut down.

The Pew Report documents the billions of dollars taxpayers spend to fund America’s prison system. That report showed that $9 of every $10 spent on corrections goes to fund prisons. Community confinement centers, on the other hand, cost taxpayers far less to operate. Such sanctions may present opportunities for offenders to pay their own costs of supervision. Yet not all offenders would be appropriate for such diversions or alternatives to incarceration.

I am of the opinion that citizens ought to measure justice by an offender’s efforts at reconciling with society. Those citizens who evaluate an offender should take into consideration much more than calendar pages that turn. An enlightened society such as ours has many options. Though as Justice Kennedy said in his speech to the American Bar Association, we incarcerate far too many people, and our prisoners serve for too long.

An offender like Madoff, who bilked billions, and who was more concerned about his own affairs than the interests of his victims or reconciling with society ought to face imprisonment. In some cases, society may deem it just to keep a criminal like Madoff in prison for life. Since he is 70 already, that may not be much longer.

Whether an offender is convicted of a white collar crime or another type of crime, I believe society would reap more rewards from its criminal justice system if it offered offenders mechanisms through which they could work to redeem themselves and earn gradual increases in freedom. Once they earn minimum-security status, however, they ought to release to a community-based sanction. Camps waste taxpayer resources.

The post Close Prison Camps appeared first on Prison News Blog.

The timing couldn’t have been better for me to reach the audience of Forbes. Professionals from the financial and legal sectors are coming under increasing scrutiny from the judicial system. News reports indicate that the FBI has opened investigations of fraud at firms like AIG, Lehman Brothers, Freddie and Fannie. Executives at those icons of American finance will have a hard time coming to terms with accusations and criminal indictments.

As a long-term prisoner, I live with many former corporate and financial titans. I have spent time with them, listened to them, and spoken with them. I’ve written about what they learned from the experience. Many express regret that they made decisions without a full understanding of the judicial system’s power.

MichaelSantos.net publishes a Topical Report Series that offers profiles of several well-educated men who now stand convicted of white collar crimes. There are stories of wire fraud, tax fraud, mortgage fraud, securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, and other federal crimes. By reading the profiles of others, those facing the possibility of criminal indictment can use that information to interact more effectively with their criminal defense attorneys. Certainly, the more people know about our system of justice, the more they empower themselves to make better decisions.

The post Forbes Publishes Power in Prison appeared first on Prison News Blog.