WHEN YOUR CASE REQUIRES MORE THAN ORDINARY PRISON CONSULTING
Specialized guidance for clients and their attorneys in sensitive, high-profile, and complex federal cases.
You may not have heard of me because I don’t try to be everything to everyone. I work with defendants, families, and defense attorneys facing sensitive, high-profile, and complex federal prison cases that require specialized experience and practical insight.
Attorneys understand the law. My role is to address the prison issues that arise before sentencing and continue long after it. That includes preparing clients with sensitive offenses to enter prison safely, identifying PSR language that could affect designation, understanding SOMP and sex offender treatment issues, and addressing protective custody concerns before they become real problems.
Not every federal prison case requires specialized consulting. But when the stakes are unusually high, ordinary prison consulting isn’t enough.
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How I Help
Prison Strategy for Sensitive and High-Profile Cases
Preparing for federal prison involves dozens of decisions that can affect a client’s safety and daily life. I help clients and defense attorneys evaluate protective custody options, review PSR language for potential prison implications, understand SOMP and sex offender treatment requirements, prepare for designation, and develop a plan for entering federal prison safely and with realistic expectations.
Family Guidance and Crisis Planning
Families often face the same uncertainty as the defendant. I help families understand what to expect before sentencing, during incarceration, and after release, including preparing for designation, responding to prison emergencies, and separating fact from rumor during one of the most stressful periods of their lives.
Reentry and Supervised-Release Strategy
Release from prison is the beginning of a new phase, not the end of the process. I help clients pursue early termination of supervised release, understand and comply with release conditions, address registration-related concerns, overcome housing and employment obstacles, and develop practical strategies for long-term success after federal custody.
Federal Post-Conviction Consulting
Federal post-conviction work often requires more than filing motions. I assist clients and attorneys with case organization, issue identification, legal research support, and strategic preparation for post-conviction litigation. My role is to help ensure that important issues are identified, organized, and presented as effectively as possible.
Latest blog posts
In-Depth Insights
Practical analysis on federal custody, sentencing, post-conviction trends, and supervised-release issues, written for defendants, families, and attorneys who want clear, accurate information.
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The Supreme Court`s Taylor Decision Eliminates Attempted Crimes of Violence Under 924(c)
Contrary to popular belief (if you believe the news media), the Supreme Court`s decision in Taylor v. United States, No. 20-1459 (June 21, 2022), had absolutely nothing to do with weakening federal gun laws. In fact, it couldn`t have done so because the case was all about whether an attempted robbery, under federal law, was…
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Federal Habeas Corpus: Seventh Circuit Says AEDPA Time Limit Opens Door for Savings Clause Relief
Expanding the savings clause yet again, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held on April 4, 2022, that the one-year time limit for filing a motion under 28 U.S.C. sec 2255 rendered the remedy “inadequate or ineffective” to invoke the savings clause, and vacated an illegal sentence. At the time of sentencing,…
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SCOTUS Says All Judicial Errors Fall Under Rule 60(b)(1) and One-Year Time Limit Applies
In a ruling that will likely change how petitioners in federal habeas corpus cases challenge “mistakes” in their cases, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) held on June 13, 2022, that all mistakes of law in a federal habeas case include judicial mistakes, which fall under a strict one-year time limit. When Dexter…
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Sentencing Data Show Major Increase in Federal Drug, Gun, and Sex Offense Cases in 2021
The data is out for 2021 and for the first time there were more federal drug convictions than immigration offenses. There were also many more sex offense cases than ever before, and (unsurprisingly) a bigger crackdown on gun crimes. Here`s how the numbers break down from the recent report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC).…
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Michigan Supreme Court Finds Wrongful Interpretation of Incest Statute Allowed Withdrawal of Guilty Plea
The court of appeals impermissibly “expanded” the reach of the state`s incest statute, the Michigan Supreme Court held on June 10, 2022, which in effect created a new offense that did not match the elements of the offense charged. As a result, the Court allowed the defendant to withdraw his plea on appeal. John Moss…
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Doing Time as a Sex Offender: The Best Prison Jobs for Sex Offenders in the BOP
Everyone in prison must work. Staff calls it “programming” and if someone refuses to work they get written up for “refusing to program.” In reality, it`s the prisoners that keep a prison running. They do everything from maintenance to plumbing to electrical work to laundry to food service, and so on. When the prisons went…
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Doing Time as a Sex Offender: My Surprise Visit to a Women`s Prison
Why was I dropped off at a women`s prison when I`m clearly a man and came from a men`s prison? All I can say is that private prisoner-transport services don`t hire the smartest people in the world. It was 4 am and the transport crew messed up and took me to a women`s prison up…
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Fifth Circuit Holds New, Retroactive Supreme Court Decision Not a New Claim to Avoid Procedural-Default Bar
In a decision that further narrows the federal habeas corpus remedy, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held on June 2, 2022, that a claim under a new, retroactive Supreme Court ruling to allow a second or successive (SOS) habeas petition was not a new enough claim to…
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Doing Time as a Sex Offender: No Braid Butter for a Bald Guy?
When I asked the CO at the commissary window for Braid Butter, he (a black man) looked at my bald, white head and said, “Oh really?!” I replied with all the seriousness I could muster, “Come on Mr. Snell, you know these clothes don`t iron themselves.” He laughed and gave me the Braid Butter. If…