Chapter 2 - I'm No Angel

In late June 2018, I received my designation letter from the U.S. Marshal Service. I was to report to FCI McKean, Lewis Run, PA by 12:00 noon on August 7, 2018. This was not a surprise; it was my second choice, but I had heard that my first choice, FCI Otisville, NY, was tough to get into thanks to its close proximity to New York City (and high quality, all kosher food). FCI McKean, based on Google Maps, is not close proximity to anything.

I spent a few days before August 7th researching "life in federal prisons" to try to better understand what I faced during my four-month stay at McKean. FCI McKean is a medium-security prison. Medium security prisons house inmates with a history of violence. Inmates are housed in cells and the facility is surrounded by spools of razor wire and multiple fences, along with an armed perimeter vehicle that circles the prison night and day. Medium security prisons are one step below maximum security penitentiaries and one step above low-security prisons. Violence can be prevalent and severe in medium-security prisons like FCI McKean. From the outside, the facility looks menacing.

Luckily, I was at the satellite minimum-security camp right next door to FCI McKean. Camps are known as FPCs - federal prison camps. They are also colloquially called "Club Fed". In FPCs, inmates are housed in dormitory-style housing units. There were no fences at the camp. The dorm I stayed in was never locked. We were surrounded by trees with a clear view of the highway and side roads. You could hear music through the trees at the trailer park next door. The campus looked like a poorly funded community college.

To qualify for a camp, one must have less than 10 years left on the sentence and violent or sex offenders are illegible. Most inmates I was with at the camp were drug offenders, or white-collar idiots like myself in there for fraud or tax evasion. Wesley Snipes spent almost 3 years at FPC McKean for tax evasion starting in 2011. I was there for four months. Four months of my life sitting in a dorm, reading books, lifting weights, and walking around the track.

I got sentenced the four months because the government alleged that I made $144,000 in illegal profits from trading on inside information.

There are three reasons why people are sentenced to prison: 1) As punishment for their crime, 2) To protect society from future crimes, and 3) To demonstrate a general deterrence for others considering committing similar crimes. During my sentencing, the U.S. Attorney argued that 12 months was appropriate based on these parameters. The judge did not agree. The judge felt as though I presented no danger to society and that the SEC fine and loss of my job and reputation seemed adequate punishment. He gave me four months to act as general deterrence.

Martha Stewart did five months, I figured I can do four.

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