second chance

July 30 2020

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Jeff Grant Media, Podcasts, Recent/Upcoming Events & Appearances, Videos andrew madoff, bernard madoff, bernie madoff, business talk, criminal justice, dennis kozlowski, eugene soltes, Federal prison, forensic talk, fraud, greenwich, greenwichct, JEFF GRANT, jim campbell, lynn springer, madoff, madoff talks, prison coach, prison consultant, prison minister, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, redemption, ruth madoff, second chance, trauma, white collar, white collar week, white collar week podcast, white collar week with jeff grant, white collar women, white-collar crime, white-collar support group, why they do it

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant
A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

Limited 10-Episode Run: Summer 2020

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

_______________________

Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Today on the podcast we have Jim Campbell, a radio host and journalist based in Greenwich, Connecticut, who hosts a nationally syndicated business affairs show, Business Talk with Jim Campbell. He also hosts another show, Forensic Talk, that dives into the world of financial crimes. It’s probably not surprising that Jim and I are friends, and that he has interviewed me on both of his shows.

Today we turn the tables and Jim the interviewer becomes Jim the guest, as we talk about his upcoming book, Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History. Jim’s book will be published April 2021 (McGraw Hill). He is now putting the finishing touches on his multi-year dialogue with Bernie Madoff in prison, Bernie’s wife Ruth Madoff, and Bernie’s late son Andrew Madoff, as well as government investigators, lawyers, witnesses, and most importantly, the victims. While Jim has culled over 400 pages of actual emails with Bernie Madoff – and presents Madoff’s words verbatim – he never accepts any of it at face value. Jim investigates the truth behind the man, the family, the fraud, and the systemic breakdown of the SEC, big banks, and every watchdog that had the obligation and opportunity to stop the fraud before more people got hurt. But failed.

The Bernie Madoff story was, and remains, one of the biggest tales of grandiosity and greed that Wall Street has ever known, and certainly the largest Ponzi scheme in history. And we have an inside, up-close look on today’s podcast.

So, coming up, Madoff Talks, with our guest Jim Campbell. On White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff

Pre-order Madoff Talks on Amazon.com here.

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

Listen on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/whitecollarweek/white-collar-week-with-jeff-grant-ep-05-madoff-talks-with-guest-jim-campbell

Watch on YouTube:

Guests on this Episode:

Since 2008, Jim Campbell has been the host of the nationally syndicated radio show: “Business Talk with Jim Campbell”, over the Biz Talk Radio Network which has 350 affiliated radio stations in the U.S. He is known for “Taking on Wall Street and Washington from the Radical Center” with interviews of leading figures from the worlds of business, politics and sports. The show features challenging, in-depth interviews and “deep dives” on matters of global importance, tackling big issues without the extremist distortions of so much talk radio. His subjects have ranged from crime on Wall Street to Kremlin intrigues in Putin’s criminal state of Russia, to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to major CEOs, and leading authors of books on business, politics and sports.

He’s known for “firsts” – the first extensive interview with former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer after his resignation. The first interview with former TYCO CEO Dennis Kozlowski after his release from prison. The first broadcast interview with one of the major participants in the biggest insider trading scandal in Wall Street history – Roomy Khan of the Raj Rajaratnam case – after her release from prison.

New York Times Chief White House Correspondent Peter Baker, calls Jim: “The gold standard in broadcasting”. His nationally renowned guests consistently call his interviews among the best they’ve ever had.

He’s also the host of the crime show: “Forensic Talk with Jim Campbell” – on 1490 WGCH Greenwich, covering Fairfield County, CT and Westchester County, NY. The show features inside looks into financial crimes; unsolved high profile murder cases; international political crimes and other major scandals – with the same attention to unbiased facts and forensics he’s known for on “Biz Talk with Jim Campbell”. In other words, a brand extension into the ever popular world of crime shows.

He is Assistant News Director at 1490 AM Greenwich, CT radio.

He has a book coming out from McGraw Hill: “Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History.” Pre-order Madoff Talks on Amazon.com here.

He has a BA, Magna Cum Laude, from Tufts University, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Jim Campbell can be reached at jimcampbellradio@gmail.com.

______________________

You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

____________________________

Louis Reed/Babz Rawls Ivy PSA:

Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff

______________________________

All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison

Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee

Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix

Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola

Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood

Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott

Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni

Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine

Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland

Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb

Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett

Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin

Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney

Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

______________________________

Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.

If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…

In this very eventful summer 2020, our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.

Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org
Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant
not a prison coach, not a prison consultant

_________________________

Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

_________________________

Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

_________________________

Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

_________________________

Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering: Todd Nixon

Art Direction: Greyskye Marketing, LLC: https://greyskye.com

_________________________

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.

Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.

All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

July 21 2020

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma & Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Maria & Alexa

Jeff Grant Media, Podcasts, Recent/Upcoming Events & Appearances, Uncategorized, Videos alexa polverari, criminal justice, danbury fci, evolution reentry, Federal prison, fraud, healing, jacqueline polverari, JEFF GRANT, lynn springer, maria quagliano, prison coach, prison consultant, prison minister, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, redemption, second chance, trauma, white collar, white collar week, white collar week podcast, white collar week with jeff grant, white collar women, white-collar crime, white-collar support group

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant
A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

Limited 10-Episode Run: Summer 2020

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

_______________________

Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma & Healing when Mom Goes to Prison, Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Today on the podcast we have Jacqueline Polverari, a mom who served time in a Federal Prison for a white collar crime, and her two daughters, Maria and Alexa. It is an intimate look inside how crime and prison ravage families, and the steps needed to heal and put families back together.

As far as I know, this type of conversation has never before been recorded for the public. There is a lot of joy and laughter – and sadness and tears. Real stuff in the life of this family, and of every family going through difficult issues.

Full disclosure, this is no ordinary family. Jacquie is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Monday evenings who has founded her own organization, Evolution Reentry in Branford, CT, supporting women who have been prosecuted for white collar crimes. Both of her daughters (and her husband Dave and son Thomas too!) give of themselves freely to regularly support the families of people with white collar justice issues.

I am sure you will relate to and identify with so much in this podcast, regardless of what kinds of problems you and your family might be going through.

So, coming up – the Polveraris. On White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

Watch on YouTube:

Listen on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/whitecollarweek/white-collar-week-with-jeff-grant-ep-05-a-family-affair-jacqueline-polverari-maria-alexa

Guests on this Episode:

Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW was a Social Worker for over 10 years and a partner in a large Title Company for over 15 years. As an entrepreneur, Jacqueline had reached new limits of her career as an experienced professional with proven success in business and mentoring environments when a series of poor choices led her to a federal indictment and a sentence of almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women. After her release, Jacqueline entered a new phase of her life researching in depth about Mental Health, Crime and Criminal Justice while correlating it to reentry services. This clearly grew into her passion after she had faced the many challenges of reentry. It is clear to her that there is a lack of resources for reentry and there is a need for change. She is working and advocating to be part of a change to come by dedicating herself to help fix this broken criminal justice system. Jacqueline is currently an integral part in helping women prepare for entry and reentry of the Federal Prison System both psychologically and spiritually through mental health services and education of the system. She has founded Evolution Family Reentry Services and is currently building resources by establishing nurturing partnerships with professionals in the mental health fields as well as employers and career placement agencies to help women and their families who face career barriers as they re-enter into society. You can reach Jacqueline at: http://www.evolutionreentry.com/.

______________________

You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

____________________________

Louis Reed/Babz Rawls Ivy PSA:

Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff

______________________________

All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison

Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee

Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix

Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola

Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood

Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott

Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni

Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine

Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland

Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb

Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett

Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin

Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney

Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

______________________________

Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.

If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…

In this very eventful summer 2020, our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.

Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org
Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant
not a prison coach, not a prison consultant

_________________________

Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

_________________________

Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

_________________________

Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

_________________________

Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering: Todd Nixon

Art Direction: Greyskye Marketing, LLC: https://greyskye.com

_________________________

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.

Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.

All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

July 7 2020

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Episode 03: Compassionate Lawyering, with Guests: Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Jeff Grant Media, Podcasts, Recent/Upcoming Events & Appearances, Uncategorized, Videos attorney, christhopher poulos, compassionate lawyering, corey brinson, criminal defense attorneys, criminal justice reform, Federal prison, george hritz, incarceration, JEFF GRANT, law, lawyer, lynn springer, podcast, prison, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, robert herbst, second chance, service, spirituality, volunteerism, white collar, white collar week podcast, white collar week with jeff grant, white collwr week, white-collar crime, white-collar support group

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant
A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

Limited 10 Show Run: Summer 2020

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

_______________________

Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering,with Guests: Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Today on the podcast we have a very special show about compassionate lawyering. We have on three lawyers and one former lawyer whom I know well and respect: Corey Brinson, Chris Poulos, Bob Herbst and my old friend George Hritz.

We define compassionate lawyering as giving something more than just a case solution to clients. That is, our four guests discuss putting in that extra mile to help clients find a better, more productive life during and after their issues. They share lots of stories about successes and difficulties in representing individual clients and in advocating for humanistic changes to the criminal justice system.

It’s an important show if you are a lawyer, if you know a lawyer, and, most importantly, if you hire a lawyer.

I hope you will join us. – Jeff

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

Watch on YouTube:

Listen on SoundCloud:

Guests on this Episode:

Corey Brinson focuses on advancing Legal Action Center’s policy advocacy priorities in New York State and plays a lead role in Legal Action Center’s criminal justice reform agenda. Before joining Legal Action Center , Corey founded the Second Chance Firm, LLC, where he serves as a criminal justice consultant, assisted people with pardons, and advocated for criminal justice reform as a lobbyist. Corey has been impacted by the criminal justice system and draws on his unique experiences to inform his work as a policy advocate. Corey has been a member of the Hartford City Council, operated a law firm where he defended 400 people in criminal matters in state and federal court and won acquittals at trial, and served in the Air National Guard and received the National Defense Service Medal for military service in Saudi Arabia on September 11, 2001. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCONN and a law degree from UCONN School of Law. He is currently a candidate for a LLM (master of laws) in Human Rights and Social Justice from UCONN School of Law. Corey is from Hartford, Connecticut, and he is a big fan of UCONN basketball. Corey Brinson can be reached at: corey@secondchancefirm.com.

Christopher Poulos is an attorney and the Executive Director of the Washington Statewide Reentry Council. Prior to his appointment, he served as Executive Director of Life of Purpose Treatment at the University of North Texas, where he was also an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice. During law school, he served at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and The Sentencing Project. Poulos has advised United States Senator Angus King (I-Maine) on addiction and justice policy and served on several local, state, and federal taskforces related to criminal justice policy. Poulos has also taught in the Political Science Department at Seattle Central College. The United States Department Justice consulted with him as one of the nation’s most successful people following incarceration. He graduated cum laude from the University of Maine School of Law, where he was President of the American Constitution Society and represented children facing criminal charges as a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice Clinic.

Poulos is a national leader in criminal justice policy and addiction recovery. He has presented his work to diverse organizations across the United States – including state and federal prisons, jails, large nonprofits, national conferences, universities, law schools, the White House and other governmental bodies, as well as addiction recovery organizations.

Prior to law school, Poulos overcame many obstacles, including tragic family losses, addiction, homelessness, and a federal incarceration. He now dedicates his life to helping others overcome or avoid similar challenges and he supports a public health-based approach to addiction. His work promotes equal access to the law and seeks to end mass incarceration and the collateral consequences now facing the tens of millions of people with criminal convictions.

Poulos’s work and story have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, Harvard Law & Policy Review, The Epoch Times, and a myriad of other national and local media outlets. He was named among “Maine’s Most Intriguing People” in Portland Magazine’s annual publication and selected as a “Law Student of the Year” by National Jurist Magazine. Christopher Poulos can be reached at christopher.poulos@commerce.wa.gov.

Bob Herbst has been trying civil and criminal cases to juries for almost 40 years. He grew up on the criminal side of the court as a federal prosecutor in Chicago and Philadelphia, where he specialized in major economic crime and public corruption cases, and as Executive Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, where he headed the Investigative Bureaus and supervised all of that office’s investigations and prosecutions of white collar crime and official corruption. Since 1983, Mr. Herbst has been in private civil litigation and criminal defense practice, specializing, on the civil side, primarily in civil rights, employment and housing discrimination cases and class actions in the federal and state courts. He has more than 25 years’ experience representing victims of police, corrections and other municipal or state misconduct; sexual harassment and other forms of sex or gender discrimination; race, ethnic, and disability discrimination, and consumer and securities fraud. His experience also includes cases involving whistleblower-protection, malpractice, defamation, false allegations of child abuse, inadequate premises security, commercial, banking and real estate disputes, products liability, and intellectual property. Mr. Herbst has actively represented his clients in mediation and arbitration as well as in court, and often counsels employees prior to, and in an effort to avoid, litigation. He is currently Independent Counsel to the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Mr. Herbst is a graduate of Princeton University and the Yale Law School. He has taught trial practice to law students, government and private lawyers, and federal judges. He has repeatedly been selected as one of New York’s SuperLawyers and is widely-known as one of New York City’s leading, most experienced and successful private civil rights and employment trial lawyers. He has served on the Executive Board of the New York affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA/NY) and the Advisory Board of NYU’s Center for Labor and Employment Law. He has been an active private pilot for more than 35 years. Robert Herbst can be reached at http://herbstlawny.com/.

George Hritz handles complex litigation, arbitration and other disputes and often serves as part-time general counsel for individuals and companies. He is a graduate of Princeton University, where he was a classmate of Bob Herbst, and Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

George clerked for a federal district judge in New York and was associated with the Cravath law firm. After and during periods of government service in Washington D.C., he was a partner at the Hogan Lovells law firm and its predecessors in New York for 30 years before starting his own practice in Connecticut and in New York, where he is also of counsel to the Westchester law firm founded by the son of the judge he clerked for at the beginning of his career.

George has published numerous articles in U.S., European, Asian and Middle Eastern journals and presented at various litigation and arbitration conferences and panels on ethical issues, electronic discovery, international arbitration, extraterritorial jurisdiction, litigation funding, legal history and U.S. anti-slavery litigation and separate settlement counsel and other dispute resolution techniques.

In addition to his law practice, George is co-founder, President Emeritus and General Counsel of Princeton in Africa, which has placed over 500 recent college and professional school graduates at more than 50 organizations in over 30 African countries in the past 20 years. He also served for over 30 years on the Board and Overseers of the International Rescue Committee, a prominent refugee relief organization and was its General Counsel.

George also served as Associate Independent Counsel in a federal grand jury investigation and lengthy trial of a former U.S. government official in Washington, D.C. and as Associate Special Counsel to a Special Inquiry of the United States Senate. He also served as the Chairman of a municipal planning board in New York, as the capital campaign co-chair for a historic Westchester church and chairman and member of co-op and condominium boards in Connecticut and Manhattan. George Hritz can be reached at george@hritzlaw.com.

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You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

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Louis Reed/Babz Rawls Ivy PSA:

Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff

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All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison

Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee

Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix

Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola

Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood

Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott

Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni

Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine

Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland

Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb

Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett

Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin

Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney

Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

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Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.

If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…

In this very eventful summer 2020, our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.

Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org
Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant
not a prison coach, not a prison consultant

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Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

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Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

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Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

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Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering: Todd Nixon

Art Direction: Greyskye Marketing, LLC: https://greyskye.com

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Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.

Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.

All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

June 27 2020

A White Collar Letter: What I Learned in the SHU (Solitary) , by T.F., in a Federal Prison Camp

Jeff Grant Blog camp, criminal justice, incarceration, JEFF GRANT, prison coach, prison consultant, prison minister, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, satellite camp, second chance, SHU, solitary, white collar, white collar week, white-collar crime, white-collar support group

TF is serving his sentence in a Federal prison camp. Before he went to prison, he was a regular member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT. We celebrated our 200th consecutive weekly online meeting on Monday, April 13, 2020.

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Dear Jeff, Please post this letter on prisonist.org. Thank you! T.F.

In May 20 I was handcuffed at the Camp and taken to the Special Housing Unit (SHU) which is located at the High-Security Penitentiary about 1/2 mile from the Camp. I was in the SHU for 14 days, returning on June 3. This blog/letter is only about my SHU experience; the bogus incident itself is an entirely different subject. The SHU is harsh by design so prisoners understand there are consequences for unacceptable behavior, or simply to convey a message that prisoners will be controlled by staff and guards.

Fortunately I had a very good cellmate named Juan, a 26 year-old Hispanic man who was clean, respectful, quiet, and needed to improve his English. Juan was born in the US, but his mother and sisters now live in Mexico (his father died at 42-yrs old, two weeks after Juan began serving his sentence). We played word games and used over 4,000 letters in 13 days! Juan has served 5 years of a 6-year sentence; he was waiting to be released to a Halfway House when it was discovered that he posted two pictures to Facebook 8 months ago when he first arrived at the Camp. His punishment – transfer to a low-security prison, add 40 days to his sentence, an additional 14 days in the SHU, and loss of Commissary, phones, and email for 6 months. His record over 5 years at three different prisons was excellent. He was so excited to see his son who was born a couple of weeks before he was incarcerated – he’s had no visits during his entire 5 years of being imprisoned. I had the privilege of praying with Juan several times while we were in the SHU together, and I am fully aware that my time in the SHU was redeemed for Juan’s sake.

The SHU is for disciplining prisoners; the duration may be a day or two or up to a month but the average is two weeks. During the SHU period prisoners are given a hearing before a Discipline Hearing Officer (DHO) who determines guilt/innocence and assesses the discipline. (In my case, I was originally cited for 4 violations but the DHO dismissed three of them and levied only a minor violation and took away visiting privileges for 30 days which she knew was moot since visiting will continue to be suspended for at least 30 days due to COVID-19. My DHO Hearing was on Day 12 and I was returned to the Camp in two days.

The SHU at the penn has 8 SHU units (A – H) and each unit has 20 – 30 highly secure prison cells. Each cell has a sink, bunkbeds, small desk (1′ x 2′), shower, toilet, and a door slot for food which allows the cells to ‘self-contain’ the prisoners so there is no reason for them to leave the cell. Every fixture is either steel or concrete. I was allowed out of the cell 3 times in 14 days; once to move to a different cell (5 minutes) and two other times for one hour of “outdoor recreation” which consisted of walking in an empty cage measuring 20′ x 30′.

The SHU cell is approximately 115 SF (approx 7.5 x 14). It has a small window measuring 1 foot wide and 5 feet tall, which is enough to get some daylight. No wristwatches are allowed and there are no clocks so I learned to monitor the time by asking a guard what time it was, then marking that time on paper by using the position of a shadow on the outside wall which caused by the sun. The wall outside my window was about 10′ tall and had 3 lines on the wall. The shadow was on the top line at 6a and on the bottom line at 7a. The shadow then moved across the ground and came to a rock pile at 9:30a, and finally the shadow was against the building at 11a. As the sun moved to the afternoon a new series of shadows were created which allowed me to know the approximate time until sunset around 7:45p.

I was “stripped out” upon arriving at the SHU, meaning I stood naked in front of a guard and “proved” I wasn’t hiding any items in/on my body. I put on the classic orange prison shirt and pants (Camp uniform is tan), one pair of underwear, one t-shirt, a pair of socks, and a pair of shower shoes (similar to Crocs). A few days later I was given one extra change of clothes to last one week. I wore my underwear in the shower so I could wash them. Bedding was a sheet and blanket, with no exchanges. One wash cloth and one towel were issued. Toiletries included two travel-size deodorants and shampoo, two bars of soap, and a full-size toothpaste with a mini-toothbrush. Two rolls of toilet paper per week were provided with no additional rolls issued. One travel-size container of disinfectant was issued for the entire week to keep the room sanitary, which I interpret as the BOP’s willingness to have prisoners be exposed to disease as part of the punishment.

Meals were provided three times per day; 7a, 11a, and 4p. The 4p dinner was usually a bologna sandwich and a handful of potato chips. I learned to save the piece of cake that was usually part of breakfast or lunch which I would eat around 8p so I wouldn’t be too hungry when I went to sleep at 10p. I lost 5 pounds in 14 days (185 down to 180), but I quickly regained those 5 pounds when I got back to the camp. (I weighed 208 pounds when I was incarcerated in October).

Communicating with my wife and others was virtually impossible. BOP policy affords a prisoner two 15-minute calls per month while in the SHU (standard for prisoners ranges from 300-500 minutes per month), however I was denied any calls for all 14 days despite making 7 written requests. The guards refused to provide any explanation for the denial, other than the last two nights when ALL phones were disabled by the BOP nationally due to the civil unrest from the murder of George Floyd. I was provided with 3 mailing envelopes, 5 pieces of paper and two small pencils (the size used for scoring golf). A sharpener for the pencils was not provided so I used my fingernail to ‘sharpen’ it. Stamps could only be purchased through Commissary which was only allowed after I was in the SHU for 12 days. The BOP’s policy and practices regarding SHU prisoners being so severely restricted from communicating with their family is reprehensible, but fortunately the light is shining brightly on their immoral behavior and I choose to believe that reform is in the air.

A small library cart came down the aisle on Fridays and each prisoner was allowed to select one book for the week. I was not allowed to bring my reading glasses from the Camp, but was told I could buy a new pair on Commissary day (again, 12 days after I arrived.) I read the Bible a lot which is always a good thing.

A routine is really important in the SHU, and using the time to think positively is critical. I spent time thinking and planning for the time I’m released. Bonnie and I returning home to Florida is my top priority. I started making plans last fall while waiting for my Sentencing in mid-December. I have draft plans for staying in my industry. I worked on those plans while sitting in the SHU. I’ve learned to focus on the past only as it helps me remember the direction I was heading before hitting this detour, but the detour will end and I will get back on my path again a little wiser, a little more humble, but still the same me that I’ve always been.

The lights came on at 6 am, followed by breakfast at 7 am. I would doze again until around 9:30 am then I would write or read. Lunch was at 11 am which was followed by some light conversation with Juan and playing some Hangman. Some of the other inmates would hold conversations by hollering through the cracks in the door, and Juan would translate for me since 80% of the SHU inmates were Hispanic. Dinner was at 4 pm, followed by some more conversation and Hangman. A newspaper was shared by the inmates using string pulled from the blankets and made into a sort of fishing line. The line was connected to a flattened tube of toothpaste which was rubbed with some soap so the tube (with the connected line) would scoot rapidly under the doors and across the aisle pulling the newspaper along. Lights out at 10 pm, and another day done.

The BOP mind games are designed to be unsettling. The guards and leaders would not tell me when I would have my DHO hearing or when I would be returned to the Camp — one leader suggested that I “might be shipped away from the Camp” which I knew was a lie designed to intimidate me. One thing I’ve learned is to remain calm and strong because the BOP is constantly working to manipulate prisoners as a means of control (somewhat understandable). All prisoners want to do is to do their time and go home to their families, but many of the BOP staff live in their fantasy world of over-importance and relevance that no prisoner respects. I have come to realize that prisoners see their plight as temporary and something to be endured and overcome, but many staff members see their position as permanent, significant, and a way-of-life. In my experience, many of the guards and staff are the moral-equivalent of police officers employed by Sodom & Gomorrah; they are delusional in thinking their employment is noble.

The guards were a mixed bag, as all guards are. Some are quiet, some are helpful and respectful, but others are mean-spirited, immature, and low-lifes far worse than the worst prisoner I’ve encountered in my 8-month journey through 4 jails and the Camp, and now the SHU. Three guards were talking next to me at the outdoor cage where I was placed while waiting to be “processed” into the SHU. They began a foul-mouthed discussion (common speak for prisoners and guards alike) about the idiocy of wearing face masks. The conversation took a filthy turn when one guard told the other two that he uses his wife’s “feminine napkin” for a mask, to which the other guard replied he did the same thing – except he painted his red down the center. That led all three of them to have a jovial conversation about their various sex acts with their wives during their cycle. WHO TALKS LIKE THIS WITH THEIR CO-WORKERS AND IN FRONT OF A TOTAL STRANGER??!!?? I’ve heard plenty of locker room talk in my time and I certainly have heard more filthy conversation in the past 8 months than I have in my entire life of 50 years, but these guards and others like them are at a level that not even the worst prisoners I’ve met come close to being. I’ve learned that prison in many ways is more harmful to guards than it is to prisoners.

On my second day in the SHU another guard looked at my I.D. (BOP mug shot) which was on the outside of the door as he was handing my food through the slot. He barked loudly for all the prisoners and other guards to hear, “well – who do we have here? And then he yelled my name. Wow – we don’t get to see too many mug shots with a guy in a suit! He looks awful important! Let’s guess what he did – maybe insurance – nah. Real estate – maybe. Kinda’ looks like a lawyer – wouldn’t that be something!” I remained silent as I took my food tray. He then said, “come on – tell us who you are.” I sat down and ate my food, never giving him the satisfaction of even a glance. After he walked away and returned to his work station, the other prisoners who knew me from the Camp told me not to let that bother me — they know I am a good man.

It’s interesting how the SHU bonded the prisoners together in solidarity. Not necessarily against the guards, but rather with each other. We were struggling against oppression individually and together. Like the bonding that occurs in the military, especially when soldiers are in the trenches. And how religion (any religion) grows stronger when Believers are oppressed, beaten, imprisoned, or martyred. Togetherness makes the struggle more meaningful.

When I returned to the Camp I was treated as an Overcomer – I am now “one of them”, a real prisoner. I went to the SHU at a high-security prison for two weeks, and came back stronger. Another experience in my fascinating journey. I’m not sure how God will use all this experience, but I know He has a plan and a purpose and I’m looking forward to experiencing further redemption. God is good. All the time.

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Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org
Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant
not a prison coach, not a prison consultant

June 24 2020

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Episode 01: 16 Members of Our White Collar Support Group Tell Their Stories

Jeff Grant Media, Podcasts, Recent/Upcoming Events & Appearances, Videos bill livolsi, craig stanland, criminal justice, criminal justice reform, Federal prison, incarceration, jacqueline polverari, jay berger, JEFF GRANT, jeffrey abramowitz, Joseph Grmovsek, joseph lauren, joshua cagney, lynn springer, podcast, prison, prison coach, prison consultant, prison minister, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, redemption, ronald bozelko, second chance, stephen maiden, terrence schulman, white collar, white collar week, white collar week podcast, white collar week with jeff grant, white-collar crime, white-collar support group

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

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Podcast Ep. 01: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group

This is a very special podcast – we have on 16 members of our White Collar Support Group that meets on Zoom on Monday nights, 7 pm Eastern, 4 pm Pacific. We have held over 200 weekly meetings and they get better each week as we come out of isolation and into a supportive community that truly cares about one another. We have welcomed over 200 support group members along the way!

But the support group meeting on this podcast is a little different than most, because everyone appearing has agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. We’ve never done anything like this before as a group, but we feel the cause is so important that it was worth the risk.

I know you will learn to love and respect every member you see or hear on this podcast as much as I do. – Jeff

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

Listen on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/whitecollarweek/podcast-ep-01-an-evening-with-our-white-collar-support-group

Watch on YouTube:

Guests on this Episode Include:

Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW was a Social Worker for over 10 years and a partner in a large Title Company for over 15 years. As an entrepreneur, Jacqueline had reached new limits of her career as an experienced professional with proven success in business and mentoring environments when a series of poor choices led her to a federal indictment and a sentence of almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women. After her release, Jacqueline entered a new phase of her life researching in depth about Mental Health, Crime and Criminal Justice while correlating it to reentry services. This clearly grew into her passion after she had faced the many challenges of reentry. It is clear to her that there is a lack of resources for reentry and there is a need for change. She is working and advocating to be part of a change to come by dedicating herself to help fix this broken criminal justice system. Jacqueline is currently an integral part in helping women prepare for entry and reentry of the Federal Prison System both psychologically and spiritually through mental health services and education of the system. She has founded Evolution Family Reentry Services and is currently building resources by establishing nurturing partnerships with professionals in the mental health fields as well as employers and career placement agencies to help women and their families who face career barriers as they re-enter into society. You can reach Jacqueline at: http://www.evolutionreentry.com/.

Jeffrey Abramowitz, J.D. is the Executive Director of Reentry Services for JEVS Human Services and Program Director of Looking Forward Philadelphia. Jeff was a 2018 Fellow for Justleadership USA, and has most recently served as the Director of Student Services & Workforce Development for Community Learning Center. Jeff was a trial lawyer in Philadelphia before poor choices in life and his professional career resulted in acceptance of responsibility and a five-year sentence in the federal prison system. Entering the criminal justice system allowed Jeff the opportunity to see the world with a new pair of glasses and find his passion for education and workforce development. In the short 4.5 years since Jeff has been home he has worked with over 4,000 individuals, spoken and lectured across the country to educators, administrators, communities, and those touched by our criminal justice system. Jeff proudly sits on the Executive Board of the Coalition on Basic Adult Education, COABE, where he serves as the chair of the Literacy Behind and Beyond the Walls Committee, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Reentry Council and serves as Chairman of the Employment Committee and Co-chairs the Reentry Committee for the PA Workforce Development Board. Jeff is active in the Philadelphia Reentry Coalition. Jeff serves on the board of directors of Community Forgiveness & Restoration, a member of NationSwell Council, and Advisory Board Member of Philadelphia Petey Greene Program. Jeff is presently a LINCS Reviewer, Literacy Information & Communication System, Resource Collection, for the Department of Education, and serves on the National Association of State Directors of Education, Barbara Bush Foundation Criminal Justice Work Group. Jeff is the producer and host of the award-winning weekly radio show “Looking Forward” on Philly Cam Radio WPPM 106.5FM. Jeffrey is a writer, keynote speaker and lecturer around the country on issues of adult education, workforce development and criminal justice. Jeff can be reached at: jeffrey.abramowitz@jevs.org.

Joseph Grmovsek is the subject of the educational-documentary film Collared and is the first and still ONLY person in Canadian history to serve a Federal sentence of imprisonment for insider trading. He is currently the Program Director for Restorative Justice Housing Ontario, a charity that finds safe homes for elderly ex-prisoners, as well as a public speaker on issues of restorative justice and white-collar crime prevention. He can be contacted through his website CollaredConsulting.com.

______________________

You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Details and Links for this Podcast…

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

_________________________

All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 29, Guests: The Entrepreneurs, David Israel & Spencer Oberg

Link here to Podcast Ep. 28, Guests: The Investigators, Kelly Paxton & Brian Willingham

Link here to Podcast Ep. 27, The Addicted Lawyer, Guest: Brian Cuban

Link here to Podcast Ep. 26, Oppression & Identity, Guests: Jaco & Leslie Theron

Link here to Podcast Ep. 25, Ex-Philadelphia D.A., Seth Williams, Part Two

Link here to Podcast Ep. 24, Ex-Philadelphia D.A., Seth Williams, Part One

Link here to Podcast Ep. 23, The Vanishing Trial, Robert Katzberg

Link here to Podcast Ep. 22: The Goddess, with Guest: Babz Rawls Ivy

Link here to Podcast Ep. 21: All Things SBA, PPP & EIDL, with Guest: Hannah Smolinski, CPA, Virtual CFO

Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison

Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee

Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix

Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola

Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood

Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott

Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni

Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine

Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland

Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb

Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett

Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin

Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney

Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group: 16 of Our Support Group Members Tell Their Stories

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

_________________________

What is the White Collar Justice Community?

Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.

If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists of the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…

Our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.

Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org

Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ

Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant

________________________

Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

_________________________

Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

_________________________

Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

_________________________

Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

_________________________

Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering:

Webmaster: GreySkye Marketing, Inc.

________________________

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.

Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.

All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.I

f you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.

Copyright 2021, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.,

June 19 2020

An Invitation to Join a Growing Community of Men and Women who have Faced, or are Facing, Prosecution for White Collar Crimes, by Bill Livolsi, Oklahoma

Jeff Grant Blog bill livolsi, criminal justice, criminal justice reform, Federal prison, incarceration, JEFF GRANT, oklahoma, prison, prison coach, prison consultant, prison minister, prisoner reentry, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, second chance, tulsa, white collar, white collasr week, white-collar crime, white-collar support group

Bill Livolsi was recently released from a Federal prison to home confinement due to COVID-19. He is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT. We celebrated our 200th consecutive weekly online meeting on Monday, April 13, 2020.

____________________

Dear Friends:

This is an invitation to join a growing community of men and women who have faced, or are facing, prosecution for white collar crimes.

Every Monday evening, I attend a White Collar Support Group on ZOOM. We are a very diverse group, all sharing a common bond, in varying stages of our journey. We share the good and the bad, our struggles and our successes, and what we have learned, all with a focus on compassion and accountability, in a supportive and spiritual setting.

Although the lens is spiritual, we get real in a hurry as we are all in the midst of the most difficult challenges of our lives. Most of us have lost our careers, our friends and our families, some of us were subjected to relentless press coverage, and we were all ostracized from our communities.

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D, M.Div. mentors our group. He has traveled the road we are on. I encourage you to read Jeff’s story.

I met Jeff in 2013, a few months into dealing with a federal indictment for wire fraud. I was confused at what I was facing, and scared at the thought of what this would do to my family, especially my youngest children who were 9 and 11 years old at the time. My children were soon likely to lose both their parents to federal prison.

The first time Jeff and I spoke, I had just dropped off the kids at school and was sitting in my car in the Wal-Mart parking lot where I wouldn’t be disturbed. Jeff answered my call and I nervously introduced myself. I realized fairly quickly that Jeff was someone who could help me find some of the answers I was seeking. We talked for at least 90 minutes that morning.

Whether it was discussing how best to talk to the children about our situation; setting up a support system for them in school and in private counseling; talking thru the various aspects of dealing with the criminal justice system and what to expect before, during and after; never once did he rush me off or make me feel that my issues were unimportant. Jeff has helped me in so many ways since that first call. In fact, it was Jeff who suggested that my attorney request staggered sentences for my wife and me (which the judge approved).

Since that first call we’ve talked about life in prison and starting over afterwards, maintaining a marriage while incarcerated, and the importance of forgiveness, just to name a few. I value Jeff’s advice because he always gives a straight answer and I can always count on it being true to his experience.

Eventually, in 2015, I was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. My report date was deferred until 2019, while my wife served her time. This time was invaluable; as I was able to raise my children from early childhood to the wonderful teenagers they are today. The most difficult thing I ever faced was saying goodbye to my children and family and walking into R&D at El Reno. Even as I took those steps, and began serving my sentence, Jeff and his ministry were there for me.

Six weeks ago, a little over one year into my sentence, I gained early release as a result of the CARES Act. I’m back home in Tulsa now, living with my children and loving every moment. That’s not to say I don’t face significant challenges. We all do. I am rebuilding extended family relationships, kick-starting a second career, adjusting to the social stigma of being a convicted felon, and doing what I can to reestablish ties to my community.

I was eager to rejoin Jeff and the support group that he has built. After clearing participation with my P.O., I was on the ZOOM call the very next Monday evening. Each week I am reminded that I am not alone, that through my participation I can help, and learn, from others, and that despite all the hardships I have so much to be grateful for.

I encourage you contact Jeff. He will send you a link to join us this Monday night @ 7pm eastern (4pm pacific). If you put in the work it will change your life. It might save it too.

I hope to see you there.

Sincerely,

Bill Livolsi, Tulsa, Oklahoma

June 11 2020

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: Podcast Ep. 00: Podcast Introduction Trailer: What is White Collar Week?

Jeff Grant Media, Podcasts, Recent/Upcoming Events & Appearances coronavirus, covid-19, criminal justice, Federal prison, FEMA, fraud, greenwich, greenwichct, incarceration, insider trading, JEFF GRANT, lynn springer, opioids, pandemic, PPP, prison, prison coach, prison consultant, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, recovery, redemption, SBA, sbaloan, sbaloanfraud, second chance, second opinion, white collar, white collar week, white-collar crime, white-collar support group

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

Limited 10 Show Run: Summer 2020

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

_______________________

Podcast Ep. 00: Podcast Introduction Trailer: What is White Collar Week?

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/whitecollarweek/white-collar-week-with-jeff-grant-ep-0-what-is-white-collar-week

All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison

Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee

Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix

Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola

Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood

Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott

Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni

Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine

Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland

Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb

Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett

Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin

Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney

Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

Welcome to White Collar Week, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.

If you are interested in this podcast, then you are probably already a member of the white collar justice community – even if you don’t quite know it yet. Our community is certainly made up of people being prosecuted, or who have already been prosecuted, for white collar crimes. But it is also made up of the spouses, children and families of those prosecuted for white collar crimes – these are the first victims of white collar crime. And the community also consists the other victims, both direct and indirect, and those in the wider white collar ecosystem like friends, colleagues, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement, academics, researchers. Investigators, mitigation experts, corrections officers, reentry professionals, mental health care professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, – and ministers, chaplains and advocates for criminal and social justice reform. The list goes on and on…

In this very eventful summer 2020, our mission is to introduce you to other members of the white collar justice community, to hear their very personal stories, and hopefully gain a broader perspective of what this is really all about. Maybe this will inspire some deeper thoughts and introspection? Maybe it will inspire some empathy and compassion for people you might otherwise resent or dismiss? And maybe it will help lift us all out of our own isolation and into community, so we can learn to live again in the sunshine of the spirit.

Along the way, I’ll share with you some of the things I’ve learned in my own journey from successful lawyer, to prescription opioid addict, white collar crime, suicide attempt, disbarment, destruction of my marriage, and the almost 14 months I served in a Federal prison. And also my recovery, love story I share with my wife Lynn Springer, after prison earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, pastoring in an inner city church in Bridgeport CT, and then co-founding with Lynn in Greenwich CT, Progressive Prison Ministries, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community. It’s been quite a ride, but I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org

Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ

Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant

_________________________

Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

_______________________

Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://whitecollarweek.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

_________________________

Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

________________________

Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Email us! https://info@prisonist.org

_________________________

Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering:

Video Engineering:

Webmaster: GreySkye Marketing, Inc.

_________________________

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is the world’s first ministry supporting the white collar justice community. Founded by husband and wife, Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer in Greenwich CT in 2012, we incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014, and received 501(c)(3) status in 2015. Jeff has over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law (former), reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive and religious leadership. As Jeff was incarcerated for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001, he and Lynn have a first-hand perspective on the trials and tribulations that white-collar families have to endure as they navigate the criminal justice system and life beyond.

Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. is nonsectarian, serving those of all faiths, or no faith whatsoever. To date we have helped over three hundred fifty (350) individuals, and their families, to accept responsibility for their actions and to acknowledge the pain they have caused to others. In accordance with our commitment to restorative justice, we counsel our members to make amends as a first step in changing their lives and moving towards a new spiritual way of living centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance, empathy and service to others. Our team has grown to over ten people, most with advanced degrees, all of whom are currently volunteering their time and resources.

Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide spiritual solutions and emotional support to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless. We have found that these individuals are suffering from a void but are stuck, and don’t know what to do about it. Our objective is to help them find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems. Many of those we counsel are in a place where their previous lives have come to an end due to their transgressions. In many cases their legal problems have led to divorce, estrangement from their children, families, friends and support communities, and loss of a career. The toll this takes on individuals and families is emotionally devastating. White-collar crimes are often precipitated by other issues in the offenders’ lives such as alcohol or drug abuse, and/or a physical or mental illness that lead to financial issues that overwhelms their ability to be present for themselves and their families and cause poor decision making. We recognize that life often presents us with such circumstances, sometimes which lead us to make mistakes in violation of the law.

All conversations and communications between our ordained ministry, and licensed clinical relationships, and those we serve fall under state privilege laws. This is one reason that attorneys often allow and encourage their clients to maintain relationships with us while in active prosecution or litigation situations.

If you, a friend, family member, colleague or client are suffering from a white collar criminal justice issue or are experiencing some other traumatic or life-altering event, and would like to find a path to a healthy, spirit-filled place on the other side of what seems like insurmountable problems, please contact us to schedule an initial call or appointment.

May 27 2020

Watch on YouTube, Listen on SoundCloud: The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast Season Three Wrap Show with Guests from Our First 3 Seasons, Fri., June 19, 2020

Jeff Grant Media, Podcasts, Recent/Upcoming Events & Appearances, Videos aaron t. kinzel, alexandra frank, amy smoyer, andrew clark, babz rawls ivy, beth hines, Bill Carbone, bill dyson, brent peterkin, Cathryn Lavery, charlie grady, chris kimmenez, community foundation for greater new haven, corey brinson, criminal justice insider, criminal justice insider with babz rawls ivy and jeff grant, cynthia farrar, Da'ee McKnight, danielle cooper, david garlock, dieter tejada, earl bloodworth, eilene zimmerman, Erika Nowakowski, fernando muniz, glenn e. martin, Gregg D. Caruso, hans hallundbaek, icy frantz, incarceration, isis deloatch, jackie lucibello, jacqueline polverari, james forman, JEFF GRANT, jeffrey abramowitz, jeffrey deskovic, john hamilton, john hart, john rowland, john santa, joseph ganim, josh elliott, kennard ray, khalil cumberbatch, Larry Levine, lorenzo jones, louis l. reed, marcus bullock, Michael Kimelman, michael taylor, Mike Lawlor, new haven independent, nishka ayala, peter j. henning, prisonist.org, reginald dwayne betts, robyn porter, rollin cook, rosa correa, Scot X. Esdaile, scott semple, second chance, serena liguori, sue gunderman, tarra simmons, tiheba bain, venezia michalsen, wnhh

On Friday, June 19, 2020, 9 am ET, we hosted our special 2-Hour Season Three Wrap Show on the Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. We invited all of our wonderful guests from our first three incredible seasons, guest list below! Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven, rebroadcast at 5 pm. Live-streamed and podcast 24/7 everywhere, see below. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

Watch on YouTube:

Listen on SoundCloud:

The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am ET on the first and third Friday of each month Sept.-June
From the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven.
It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.
Live-Streamed and Podcast available 24/7.

Please ‘like” us on our Facebook Page (best place for information, news, articles, events): https://www.facebook.com/criminaljusticeinsider
Our website: prisonist.org/criminal-justice-insider
Twitter: @insidercj
Instagram: @criminaljusticeinsider

The show is live-streamed & podcast 24/7 at:
Apple Podcasts (iTunes): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wnhh-community-radio
New Haven Independent: newhavenindependent.org
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/wnhhradio
YouTube: https://youtube.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/wnhhlp

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/wnhhradio
Periscope: https://www.pscp.tv/search?q=wnhh

The show is also archived at:
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/new-haven-independent/sets/criminal-justice-insider
Community Foundation of Greater New Haven website: https://www.cfgnh.org/LeadingOnIssues/IncarcerationandReentry/CriminalJusticeInsiderRadioArchives.aspx

An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).

Season One Guests:

Nov. 3, 2017: Robyn Porter, CT State Legislator

Nov. 17, 2017: Scott Semple, Former CT Commissioner of Correction

Dec. 1, 2017: Amy Smoyer (Asst. Professor of Social Work, Southern Connecticut State University) and Jackie Lucibello, New Haven Women’s Resettlement Working Group

Dec. 15, 2017: Lorenzo Jones, Co-Executive Director, Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice

Jan. 19, 2018: Cynthia Farrar, Co-Founder of Purple States and Producer of Life on Parole

Feb. 16, 2018: Danielle Cooper, Director of Research for the Tow Youth Justice Institute, University of New Haven

Mar. 2, 2018: Joseph Ganim, Mayor of Bridgeport, CT

Mar. 16, 2018: John Santa, Chair of Malta Justice Initiative and Member of CT Sentencing Commission

Apr. 6, 2018: Brent Peterkin, CT Director, Project Longevity & Board Chair, The Phoenix Association

Apr. 20, 2018: Scot X. Esdaile, President of NAACP CT, Chair of NAACP National Criminal Justice & Da’ee McKnight, Family ReEntry

May 4, 2018: Earl Bloodworth, Director, Bridgeport Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs (MIRA)

May 18, 2018: Jacqueline Polverari, ED of Evolution Family Reentry Services

June 1, 2018: Mike Lawlor, CT, Former Undersecretary for Criminal Justice Policy & Planning, University of New Haven

June 15, 2018: James Forman, Jr., Pulitzer Prize Winning Author & Yale Law Professor

July 6, 2018: Bill Carbone & Erika Nowakowski, Tow Youth Justice Institute, University of New Haven

Season Two Guests:

Fri., Sept. 9, 2018: Kennard Ray, Blue Ribbon Strategies, CT Unlock the Vote

Fri., Sept. 21, 2018: Louis L. Reed, National Organizer for #Cut50

Fri., Oct. 5, 2018: Sue Gunderman (Hartford Interim Director of Reentry Services) & Beth Hines (Executive Director, Community Partners in Action), CT Reentry Roundtables

Fri., Oct. 19, 2018: Venezia Michalsen, Assoc. Professor of Justice Studies, Montclair State University

Fri., Nov. 16, 2018: Andrew Clark, Director of the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, Central Connecticut State University and Bill Dyson, Former CT State Legislator and Justice Advocate

Fri., Dec. 7, 2018: Glenn E. Martin, Founder/Consultant of GEM Trainers and Past- President and Founder of JustLeadershipUSA

Fri., Dec. 21, 2018: Fernando Muñiz, CEO of Community Solutions, Inc. and Rosa Correa, Community Leader

Fri., Jan. 19, 2019: Peter J. Henning, Professor of Law, Wayne State University & “White Collar Watch” Columnist, NY Times

Fri., Feb. 1, 2019: Jeffrey Deskovic, CEO of The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation who was Exonerated after Serving 16 Years in Prison

Fri., Feb. 15, 2019: Jeffrey Abramowitz, Executive Director for Reentry Services, JEVS Human Services, Philadelphia

Fri., Mar. 1, 2019, Rollin Cook, CT Commissioner of Correction

Fri., Mar. 15, 2019: Dieter Tejada, National Justice Impact Bar Association

Fri., Apr. 5, 2019: John Rowland, Former CT Governor

Fri., Apr. 19, 2019: Gregg D. Caruso, Ph.D. Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Corning & Co-Director of the Justice Without Retribution Network at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland

Fri., May 3, 2019: Michael Taylor, CEO of Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center in the Greater New Haven area

Fri., May 17, 2019: Tarra Simmons, Esq., Director, Civil Survival and Candidate for Washington State Legislature

Fri., June 7, 2019: Louis L. Reed, National Organizer for #Cut50, Part Deux!

Fri., June 21, 2019: Marcus Bullock, CEO of Flikshop

Season Three Guests:

Fri., Sept. 6, 2019: Khalil Cumberbatch, Chief Strategist, New Yorkers United for Justice

Fri., Sept. 20, 2019: Aaron T. Kinzel, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn

Fri., Oct. 4, 2019: Charlie Grady, Outreach Specialist for the FBI CT Community Outreach Program

Fri., Oct. 18, 2019: Michael Kimelman, Former Hedge Funder and Author of Confessions of a Wall Street Insider: A Cautionary Tale of Rats, Feds, and Banksters

Fri., Nov. 1, 2019: Corey Brinson, CEO, Second Chance Firm, NY Policy Assoc., Legal Action Center

Fri., Nov. 15, 2019: Cathryn Lavery, Ph.D., Asst. Chair & Graduate Coordinator for the Iona College Criminal Justice Department

Fri., Dec. 6, 2019: “Free Prison Phone Calls” Show, CT Rep. Josh Elliott & Tiheba Bain

Fri. Dec. 20, 2019: John Hamilton, CEO, Liberation Programs

Fri., Jan. 3, 2020: Reginald Dwayne Betts, Lawyer, Poet, Lecturer on Mass Incarceration

Fri., Jan. 17, 2020: Serena Ligouri, Executive Director, New Hour for Women & Children – L.I.

Fri., Feb. 7, 2020: David Garlock, Program Director, New Person Ministries, Lancaster, PA, Featured in Movie “Just Mercy”

Feb. 20, 2020: Larry Levine, Talk Show Host & Criminal Justice Consultant

Fri,. Mar. 6, 2020, Hans Hallundbaek, Interfaith Prison Partnership

Fri., Mar. 20, 2020: Tiheba Bain, Founder, Women Against Incarceration, Director of Coalitions, National Counsel for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women & Girls

Fri., April 3, 2020: Rev. Dr. Chris Kimmenez, Minister and Criminal Justice Advocate

Fri., April 17, 2020: Icy Frantz, Activist, Columnist, Philanthropist

Fri., May 3, 2020: Eilene Zimmerman, Author of “Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy”.

Fri., May 15, 2020: Scott Semple, Former CT Commissioner of Correction and Alex Frank & John Hart, Vera Institute of Justice

Fri., June 5, 2020: Children of Incarcerated Parents Show with Aileen Keays, Nishka Ayala & Isis DeLoatch

April 25 2020

Radio/Podcast: Business Talk with Jim Campbell: Jeff Grant Talks with Jim About Going to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud and What to Know Before Taking Coronavirus Relief Money, 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, CT, Mon., Apr. 27, 2020, 6 pm ET

Jeff Grant Media, Podcasts, Recent/Upcoming Events & Appearances biz talk, business talk radio, CARES act, coronavirus, covid-19, disaster loan, Disaster Relief, Federal prison, forensic talk, fraud, greenwich, greenwichct, JEFF GRANT, jim campbell, john ianuzzi, lynn springer, pandemic, paycheck protection program, PPP, prison coach, prison consultant, prison minister, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, SBA, sbaloan, second chance, wgch, white collar, white-collar crime, white-collar support group, wybc

“Business Talk with Jim Campbell” – syndicated nationally on the BizTalkRadio.com Network with over 300 affiliate stations, and “Forensic Talk with Jim Campbell” Monday April 27th 6 – 7 pm on 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, WGCH.com. 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, CT. Show features leaders in the worlds of business, politics and sports. For weekly email blast on show guests, send email to: jamesocampbell@CampbellBizTalk.com

Read Jeff Grant’s article, “I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud: 7 Things You Should Know Before Taking Coronavirus Relief Money,” here

Listen on YouTube:

Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. is an ordained minister with over three decades of experience in crisis management, business, law, reentry, recovery (clean & sober 17+ years), and executive & religious leadership. Sometimes referred to in the press as “The Minister to Hedge Funders,” he uses his experience and background to guide people faithfully forward in their lives, relationships, careers and business opportunities, and to help them to stop making the kinds of decisions that previously resulted in loss, suffering and shame.

After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison for a white-collar crime he committed when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York with a focus in Christian Social Ethics. He is Co-Founder of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice/economy exiled community. It hosts a White Collar Support Group online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7 pm ET, 6 pm CT, 5 pm MT, 4 pm PT. The group marked its milestone 200th weekly online meeting on Mon., April 13th. Jeff can be reached at prisonist.org, jgrant@prisonist.org.

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Entrepreneur: I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud: 7 Things You Should Know when Taking Covid-19 Disaster Relief Money, by Jeff Grant, Link to article here.

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Steal Money from the Feds? First, Meet Jeff Grant, an Ex-Con who Committed Loan Fraud, by Erin Arvedlund: Link to article here.

Fraud Stories Podcast with Mark Lurie: SBA/PPP Loan Fraud with Guest: Jeff Grant. Link to podcast here .

Forbes: As Law Enforcement Pursues SBA Loan Fraud, Jeff Grant Talks Redemption, by Kelly Phillips Erb. Link to article here .

Taxgirl Podcast: Jeff Grant talks Desperation and Loans in a Time of Crisis with Kelly Phillips Erb on Her Podcast. Link to article and podcast here.

Business Talk with Jim Campbell: Jeff Grant Talks with Jim About Going to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud and What to Know When Taking Coronavirus Relief Money, Biz Talk Radio Network, Broadcast from 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, CT. Listen on YouTube here.

Babz Rawls Ivy Show: Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant Talk SBA / PPP Loan Fraud and 7 Things to Know Before You Take Coronavirus Relief Money, WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven. Watch on YouTube here.

Also: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Episode 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest Kelly Phillips Erb. Link here.

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Blessings, לשלום

Jeff

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his)
Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., Greenwich CT & Nationwide
Co-host, The Criminal Justice Insider Podcast
Host, White Collar Week
Mailing: P.O. Box 1, Woodbury, CT 06798
Website: http://prisonist.org
Email: jgrant@prisonist.org
Office: 203-405-6249
Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant
not a prison coach, not a prison consultant

April 24 2020

TEDxNorthAdams: Craig Stanland: How I Learned My Greatest Worth in Prison, A White Collar Story

Jeff Grant Blog craig stanland, criminal justice, criminal justice reform, Federal prison, incarceration, JEFF GRANT, prison coach, prison consultant, prison minister, prisonist.org, progressive prison ministries, redemption, second chance, spirituality, TEDx, white collar, white-collar crime, white-collar support group

Craig Stanland is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings, 7:00 pm ET, 6:00 pm CT, 5:00 pm MT, 4:00 pm PT. We celebrated our 200th consecutive weekly online meeting on Monday, April 13, 2020.

___________________

October 1st, 2013

You have one unheard voicemail.

“Mr. Stanland, this is special agent McTiernan with the FBI. We are at your residence and have a warrant for your arrest. You will need to call us and come home immediately, or we will issue an APB with the Federal Marshall’s for your arrest.”

This is how my journey began.

For just under a year, I committed fraud against one of the largest technology companies in the world. I discovered a loophole in their warranty policy and exploited it for my financial gain.

Read more below…

I was already by most standard definitions, successful. I owned a few homes, beautiful cars, expensive watches. I was a VIP at some of the best restaurants in Greenwich and Manhattan.

I was married to an incredible and amazing woman.

I did not need to do what I did.

But, I was not worthy of my amazing wife. I was not worthy of my success. I was not enough, and I was empty.

Unworthiness and emptiness transformed into greed.

I knew what I was doing was wrong; the voice inside told me not to do it. It begged and pleaded, and I ignored it, burying my head in the sand.

Drinking to excess and buying everything I could get my hands on in a desperate attempt to fill that void. I was too blind to see I was trying to fill a broken glass.

I plead guilty to one count of mail fraud, received a twenty-four-month sentence, three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution.

I lost everything: my homes, my career, my cars, my watches.

I lied to my wife and told her what I was doing was “OK.”

I broke trust in our marriage, and she left me.

Who I was as a person had become so inextricably tied to my things and my ability to purchase those things that without them, I had no idea who I was.

I had no identity other than being the man who blew up his life and the life of the woman he loves.

Any sense of self-worth, which was shaky to begin to, had vanished.

I was fortunate. I was assigned to Otisville Federal Prison Camp. My safety was never a concern, and all things considered, it was actually a pretty setting.

Picnic tables surrounded by nature and wildlife. The deer would almost eat out of my hands. The goose with the broken wing did eat out of my hands. My fellow inmates were some of the most interesting people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

But the mind is a prison we cannot escape.

Shame cast its long shadow over me, and soon, I was consumed. I couldn’t break free from its suffocating grip.

Shame for the hell I know my wife is experiencing. She was working fourteen-hour back-breaking days, just to keep a roof over her head and food in the fridge.

The pain I hear in her voice when we speak, it’s raw and visceral. It’s the most authentic expression of suffering from someone who’s been hurt more than they knew it was possible to hurt.

To often we are hurt the most by the people we love the most.

Shame for the arrogance I displayed with my family and friends. Shame for not listening to the voice in my heart.

That voice is gone, I ignored it for too long, and it has abandoned me.

Shame for who I had become. Shame for being blind to what truly matters to me. Shame for understanding too late that it’s not things. It’s not money or job titles.

Sometimes the most beautiful things in life are, at their core, simple.

Love. Family. Friends. Joy. Experiences. Creativity. Honesty. Integrity. Time. Freedom.

With every thought wrapped in shame, my monkey mind created the vision of what my suicide would look like.

I’m in a dark, dingy basement, pistol in my mouth, I pull the trigger, pieces of brain and skull plaster the wall behind me.

My mind played this image over and over on a perpetual loop for four months straight.

Every night, just after the ten o’clock count, as I rested my head on the pillow, I would pray. To anyone or anything who would listen,

“Why won’t it stop? Why won’t it stop? Please make it fucking stop……”

Begging and pleading. Each night the same prayer, and every morning the same disappointment when the light of a new day kissed my eyes.

Four months of unanswered prayers.

I smiled and pretended, everything was OK. I was afraid to share with anyone what I was feeling. Rumors were swirling around about what happens to inmates who speak of suicide. Solitary confinement, getting shipped out to a mental facility.

I bottled it up and kept it in. The tighter I closed the lid, the more the pain grew.

This was when I began planning how I would kill myself. This is the power of shame. This was my rock-bottom.

A well-timed, out of the blue, visit from my best friend of thirty years turned everything around in an instant.

Sean showed me I had worth, outside of what I had always believed made me worthy. I was not my property or possessions.

My value, my worth, was in being a friend, and nothing more.

It was from this day on that I began to rebuild and reinvent my life.

I guess my prayers were answered. Fortunately, not the way I was asking for.

It’s been six years of rebuilding and reinventing. Ups and downs. Disappointments and failures and massive successes.

My life is no longer tied to my things or my ability to purchase those things.

It is built on a foundation of:

I am enough. I am worthy. I love myself. I trust myself. I accept myself, truly, deeply, and unconditionally.

I live in a state of abundance and gratitude.

When we have a foundation rooted in these, we no longer need anything outside of ourselves to feel whole.

We are whole.

My term of supervised release ended on May 9th, 2019. About a month afterward, I was asked a question.

“If you had an opportunity to change your life, to do things differently, would you?”

I thought about it—the pain, the suffering, the shame, consumed by the vision of killing myself.

My response came from deep within, from the truest expression of myself,

“There is not enough money in the world for me to change a thing. I am exactly where I am meant to be, doing what I am meant to be doing. This has turned into the greatest gift I have ever received.”

I am free.

My mission now is to help people whose lives have fallen apart rebuild and reinvent their lives.

I’m a Reinvention Architect. I help my clients start over so they can have the extraordinary life they’ve always wanted.

I offer a free Start Over Strategy Session. On this call, we’ll identify what an extraordinary life for you looks like and uncover challenges that are holding you back from reinventing your life.

You’ll leave this call with actionable next steps to start rebuilding and reinventing your extraordinary life now.

If you’re interested, schedule the call here.

I’d be honored if you watched my TEDx. If it resonates with you, can you please share it with someone you think may need to hear it?

A huge thank you to Jeff and the Progressive Prison Ministries for all the support pre and post-prison and for this opportunity to share.

To have a safe place in a time of uncertainty is a blessing.

Craig

Author+Speaker+Reinvention Architect

www.craigstanland.com

Watch TEDx Here

second chance

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

Limited 10-Episode Run: Summer 2020

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

The Bernie Madoff story was, and remains, one of the biggest tales of grandiosity and greed that Wall Street has ever known, and certainly the largest Ponzi scheme in history. And we have an inside, up-close look on today’s podcast.

So, coming up, Madoff Talks, with our guest Jim Campbell. On White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff

Pre-order Madoff Talks on Amazon.com here.

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

Listen on Spotify:

Listen on SoundCloud:

Watch on YouTube:

Guests on this Episode:

New York Times Chief White House Correspondent Peter Baker, calls Jim: “The gold standard in broadcasting”. His nationally renowned guests consistently call his interviews among the best they’ve ever had.

He is Assistant News Director at 1490 AM Greenwich, CT radio.

He has a book coming out from McGraw Hill: “Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History.” Pre-order Madoff Talks on Amazon.com here.

He has a BA, Magna Cum Laude, from Tufts University, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Jim Campbell can be reached at jimcampbellradio@gmail.com.

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You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our website prisonist.org, our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Information About our White Collar Support Group…

Louis Reed/Babz Rawls Ivy PSA:

Some very kind words from my dear friends Louis L. Reed and Babz Rawls Ivy in this brief PSA. Thank you Louis and Babz! – Jeff

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All Episodes:

Link here to Podcast Ep. 20: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson: Reinventing Yourself After Prison

Link here to Podcast Ep. 19: Insider Trading Charges Dismissed, with Guest Richard Lee

Link here to Podcast Ep. 18: Is Your Life a Movie? The Producers, with Guests: Lydia B. Smith, Bethany Jones & Will Nix

Link here to Podcast Ep. 17: #TruthHeals: Systemic Abuse & Institutional Reform with Vanessa Osage, feat. Guest Co-Host Chloe Coppola

Link here to Podcast Ep. 16: Politicians, Prison & Penitence, with Guest: Bridgeport, CT Mayor Joseph Ganim

Link here to Podcast Ep. 15: A Brave Talk About Suicide, with Guests Bob Flanagan, Elizabeth Kelley, & Meredith Atwood

Link here to Podcast Ep. 14: Recovery & Neighborhood, with Guest: TNP’s Tom Scott

Link here to Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni

Link here to Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine

Link here to Podcast Ep. 11: The Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland

Link here to Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb

Link here to Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson

Link here to Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett

Link here to Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell

Link here to Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma and Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Link here to Podcast Ep. 04: One-on-One with Tipper X: Tom Hardin

Link here to Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering: Guests, Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz

Link here to Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19: Guests, Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney

Link here to Podcast Ep. 01: Prison & Reentry in the Age of COVID-19: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group.

Link here to Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?

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Welcome to White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, a podcast serving the white collar justice community. It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.

So I invite you to come along with me as we experience something new, and bold, and different this summer – a podcast that serves the entire white collar justice community. I hope you will join me.

Thank you for listening to White Collar Week.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you loved it – it helps others suffering in silence find us if they need us!

_________________________

Follow White Collar Week on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week

Facebook: https://facebook.com/whitecollarweek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whitecollarweek

Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitecollarweek

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/whitecollarweek

Follow Jeff Grant on Social:

Web: https://prisonist.org

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/revjeffgrant

Twitter: https://twitter.com/revjeffgrant

Instagram: https://instagram.com/revjeffgrant

LinkedIn: https://linkedin/revjeffgrant

Want to be a guest on the Show? Have a connection you’d like to make?

Email us! info@prisonist.org

Credits:

Host: Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.

Audio Engineering: George Antonios: https://georgeantonios.com

Video Engineering: Todd Nixon

Art Direction: Greyskye Marketing, LLC: https://greyskye.com

Copyright 2020, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma & Healing when Mom goes to Prison, with Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Maria & Alexa

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

Limited 10-Episode Run: Summer 2020

It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.

Podcast Ep. 05: Trauma & Healing when Mom Goes to Prison, Guests: Jacqueline Polverari and Her Daughters, Alexa & Maria

Today on the podcast we have Jacqueline Polverari, a mom who served time in a Federal Prison for a white collar crime, and her two daughters, Maria and Alexa. It is an intimate look inside how crime and prison ravage families, and the steps needed to heal and put families back together.

As far as I know, this type of conversation has never before been recorded for the public. There is a lot of joy and laughter – and sadness and tears. Real stuff in the life of this family, and of every family going through difficult issues.

I am sure you will relate to and identify with so much in this podcast, regardless of what kinds of problems you and your family might be going through.

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant
A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community

White Collar Week with Jeff Grant
A Podcast Serving the White Collar Justice Community