Early this morning I finished writing a profile that described some difficulties of a fellow prisoner named Jay. I interviewed Jay last week to learn about the crimes that brought him to prison. He was serving a two-year sentence for violating fraud statutes and since I’m interested in learning about business transactions that lead people to prison, I asked him to explain.
Jay said that he took advantage of opportunities that opened with the rising number of foreclosure properties in his area. Through research, he said that he could estimate how much time would pass between the beginning of a foreclosure auction and when the mortgage holder would force the evacuation of a property. Jay would approach homeowners, then he would suggest to the property owners that they move out early and allow him to rent the property. Jay would negotiate a split of the rental income for his compensation. His activities were fraudulent because he did not have an ownership interest in the properties and because he did not make efforts to keep the mortgage payments current.
When I speak with prisoners who engaged in business ventures that they didn’t fully understand, I offer them a suggestion on how to spend their time in prison. Every federal prison provides access to a law library. It may not be sufficient to research every aspect of the law, but with thousands of legal books available law libraries in federal prison offer opportunities for those with the discipline to educate themselves. Had Jay known more about the types of business ventures that expose an individual to criminal charges, he may have made better decisions.
I’m frequently amazed at how many people I meet in prison who tell me that they didn’t know their actions violated the law. I’d like to advise people who want to engage in business to understand the laws that govern their activities before they begin, because once they break laws, they expose themselves and those who love them to severe sanctions. A person can use discipline to emerge from prison stronger, but avoiding prison and problems with the criminal justice system makes more sense.
Carole and I visited today so I cut my morning exercise short. I ran three miles, and followed with 100 pushups.
[consecutive running log: 3,746 miles over the past 422 days]
[pushups in 2010: 13,000]
Sunday, 7 February 2010
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