When lawyers through greed or hubris or desperation become white-collar criminals – sent to prison and disbarred – their stories often feel like car crashes. We gape at the wreckage of their lives and move on.
But what happens afterwards, once they’ve done their time? How do they pick up the pieces?
Jeffrey Grant found a path to redemption. Seventeen years after he pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining $247,000 through a 9/11 disaster relief loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York earlier this month reinstated his law license.
“I’m beyond excited, but I also take the responsibility very seriously,” he told me. “I’m really grateful for a second chance.”
His journey is extraordinary, from opioid-addicted real estate lawyer to federal prison inmate to seminary student to head of a criminal justice nonprofit. And now, at age 64, he has come full circle to practice law again.
But this time around, he intends to do it very differently.
A 1981 New York Law School grad, Grant, before everything fell apart, headed his own 20-employee firm, Jeffrey D. Grant & Associates, in Mamaroneck, New York, serving as outside general counsel to large real estate companies.
“I viewed life as a competition,” he said, describing himself as akin to “a paid assassin.”
“It was me against everyone else, or me and my client against everyone else.”
After a sports injury, he was prescribed the painkiller Demerol and over the course of a decade, he became addicted to prescription opioids.
When he couldn’t meet payroll for his firm, he borrowed money from client escrow accounts. With a New York state attorney grievance committee investigation pending, he surrendered his law license on July 28, 2002. That night, he attempted suicide by overdose, he told me.
He wound up in rehab, embracing recovery with three meetings a day. He’s been clean and sober ever since.
But his past caught up with him in 2004, when he learned there was a warrant for his arrest. “No one was more surprised than me,” Grant said. Once informed of the charges, though, it “all came rushing back.”
In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, he had applied for federal financial aid and falsely claimed that his firm had an office in New York City. In reality, he merely had an arrangement to use a conference room on occasion in the city.
Did he somehow convince himself this qualified? I asked. “I was a lawyer who represented sophisticated businesspeople,” he said. “I knew better.”
“There’s no question drugs had a lot to do with it, but I can’t blame the drugs,” he continued. “I was desperate, clutching at anything I could.”
Grant served 14 months at a low security prison in White Deer, Pennsylvania – but it was a “real prison with bars,” he said, not one of the so-called Club Fed camps where white-collar offenders typically do their time.
As a “privileged kid from the suburbs,” he said, “I had to learn hard lessons there. But it was exactly what I needed to wipe the last smirk off my face.”
Released in 2007, he knew he wanted to use his experiences to help others. He’s Jewish, but a pastor he knew suggested he consider attending a seminary.
“I didn’t know what that meant,” Grant recalled. (His first reaction: Is that where you train to be a monk?) But he discovered that seminaries, at least the progressive ones, “are basically places where you learn about social justice and faith.”
In 2012, he earned a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He’s been baptized, but he’s also still a Jew. “I’m a double-belonger,” he said.
Grant and his wife Lynn Springer went on to co-found Progressive Prison Ministries. Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, they say it’s the world’s first ministry focused on serving the white-collar justice community.
It includes a weekly white-collar online support group for people “who have a desire to take responsibility for our actions and the wreckage we caused, make amends, and move forward in new way of life centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance and empathy.” More than 310 people around the country have participated, according to the group’s website.
From 2016 to 2019, Grant also served as the executive director of Family ReEntry, a criminal justice nonprofit with offices and programs in eight Connecticut cities.
Three years ago, he began the process of getting his law license back. The first step was taking the multi-state professional responsibility exam and completing CLE. He also submitted “about 12 inches of paperwork,” he said, including his personal story.
He wrote 14,000 words. “I wanted to tell them everything, the whole story, warts and all,” he said. “It didn’t make a difference to me if strategically it was the right thing to do.” He added, “I let go of the outcome.”
He had a hearing via videoconference last May. “I was scared,” Grant said, but he was surprised to find that the panel members questioning him were “kind.”
“They were thorough and probing, but they were not out to tank me. They were supportive,” he said. “It helped me remember the best parts of being a lawyer.”
On May 5, his license was officially reinstated, and he promptly launched GrantLaw PLLC. With an office on West 43rd Street in Manhattan, he’s offering his services as a private general counsel specializing in white-collar crisis management.
That might include helping a white-collar defendant interview defense lawyers and other specialized counsel, reviewing the lawyers’ work product and billing, and acting as a sounding board, all with the goal of achieving a better and more-cost-efficient outcome.
“Most white-collar defendants are very bright, who have a lot of professional experience and are highly educated,” Grant said. “They don’t realize they’re in trauma – and are making generally very bad decisions while in trauma.”
They need “someone who understands trauma,” he said, “and somebody to trust.”
Given his life experiences, it’s hard for me to imagine a lawyer more uniquely qualified.
Jenna Greene writes about legal business and culture, taking a broad look at trends in the profession, faces behind the cases, and quirky courtroom dramas. A longtime chronicler of the legal industry and high-profile litigation, she lives in Northern California. Reach Greene at [email protected].
Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
For the second time in two months, on April 4, detainees in St. Louis’ City Justice Center escaped their cells, broke windows and tossed items into the street. It wasn’t some mastermind hacking the jail’s mainframe, or some revision of the escape at Dannemora from summer 2015.
The locks were broken. That’s it. Everyone got out of their cells and, because there were no working locks, no one could effectively put them back in.
St. Louis isn’t the first busted lock problem. Among the reasons why private prison management company CoreCivic decided last year not to continue its contract with a jail in Tennessee was that the doors had faulty locking mechanisms.
In Arizona, prison locks haven’t worked, according to complaints filed in 2019.
Last year, in Texas, at the Dolph Briscoe Unit, prisoners protested the coronavirus lockdown by letting themselves out of their cells. State Sen. John Whitmire, the Democrat who oversees the Texas Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee, told Keri Blakinger, a reporter at The Marshall Project, that replacing or fixing the locks isn’t a financial issue but rather staying ahead of inmates who are smart at circumventing them.
Chandra Bozelko writes the award-winning blog Prison Diaries. You can follow her on Twitter at @ChandraBozelko and email her at [email protected].
In this episode, Jacquie has a discussion with Bill Livolsi, who was released from a Federal prison camp a year ago due to Covid-19 protocols.
Jacquie and Bill are both members of ourWhite Collar Support Groupthat meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings.
Criminal Justice Cafe: Transparent conversations about controversial subjects within the Criminal Justice System… from the inside out.
Watch on YouTube:
Jacqueline Polverari:
Jacqueline Polverari, MBA, MSW is the founder and Executive Director of Evolution Reentry Services, focusing on the needs of women who have been impacted by the Criminal Justice System.
Jacqueline has over 25 years’ experience as a professional with proven successes in business leadership, mentoring and therapeutic environments. Her experience working with trauma culminated after spending almost a year in Danbury Federal Prison Camp for Women and observing the trauma women experience related to being incarcerated. She has since dedicated herself to Criminal Justice Reform and Reentry services with a special focus on trauma and reentry services for women relating to incarceration. Jacqueline is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers, JustLeadershipUSA and #Cut50 and speaks at conferences and symposiums throughout the country. She most recently designed and hosted the first retreat for women convicted of a white-collar crime in the country in October 2019. Jacqueline is working diligently to continue her education and has returned to school to obtain her Doctoral Degree in Social Work with a concentration in Criminal Justice.
It’s the Isolation that Destroys Us. The Solution is in Community.
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Podcast Ep. 29, Guests: David Israel & Spencer Oberg
Today on the podcast we have David Israel and Spencer Oberg, two successful entrepreneurs who both served time in prison. You might know them by their international vegan cheese company, GOOD PLANeT FOODS, or by their justice-centric media company, Unincarcerated.
In this episode we certainly go into David and Spencer’s incredible backstories. But more, we learn the nuts and bolts of how to be entrepreneurial and succeed after prison, the hard work it takes, how to analyze your strengths and weaknesses, and how to get past your shame to find your passion and authenticity.
So, coming up, The Entrepreneurs. David Israel and Spencer Oberg. On White Collar Week. I hope you will join us. – Jeff
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If you have a friend, family member, colleague or client with a white collar justice issue, please forward this post; they can reach us anytime – day or night! Our contact info:http://prisonist.org/contact-us.
Spencer is the Founder & CEO of Unincarcerated Productions and EVP at GOOD PLANeT Foods. A successful entrepreneur and passionate impact leader, Spencer stays active in both business and non-profit communities. He is an accomplished public speaker with a TED Talk under his belt, an educator who has created and hosted entrepreneurship seminars and events, and a passionate podcast host. Spencer also spent a total of 8 years in prison. His experience with the criminal justice system taught him that we have much to learn about how to successfully deal with crime and other social issues and from this he developed a passion for informing public opinion on criminal justice reform. Today
David is the Founder & CEO of GOOD PLANeT Foods, the fastest growing Plant-Based cheese company in the US. He’s a serial entrepreneur who started his journey into the business world at the age of 19, and since then has started, run, and sold many successful enterprises. One of these was Pawn X-Change. David took a tired industry and introduced an innovative business model that grew this company to a large and successful chain of 45 stores in a relatively short period of time. Due to unfortunate actions taken by others, and after a 7 year legal battle, David ultimately decided to spend 4 years in prison so that he and his family could find closure. During this time, he wrote a business plan that was launched after his return home and became a very successful international business. Most importantly, through this experience his perspective on incarcerated individuals and the re-entry process was forever changed. Since then he has worked to provide opportunities for success for men and women transitioning out of prison.
You can find all episodes of our podcast “White Collar Week with Jeff Grant” on our websiteprisonist.org,our Facebook page, Podbean, YouTube (video), SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.
Entrepreneur’s #4 Most Viewed Article of 2020: I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud – 7 Things to Know When Taking COVID-19 Relief Money: by Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div.. 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.
Clara CFO Smolinski YouTube: Thinking About PPP Fraud?: Hannah Smolinski Interviews Jeff Grant About Going to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud. Sponsored by Upside Financial. Link to article and YouTube video here.
CFO Dive: After Serving Time, Fraudster Cautions Against PPP, Other Emergency Loans, by Robert Freedman. 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.
White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 21: All Things SBA, PPP & EIDL, with Guest: Hannah Smolinski, CPA, Virtual CFO: Link here.
White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Episode 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest Kelly Phillips Erb. Link here.
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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:
Linkhereto 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
Linkhereto 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: Reinventing Yourself After Prison, with Guests: Glenn E. Martin & Richard Bronson
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 Guest: 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
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 13: Everything but Bridgegate, with Guest: Bill Baroni
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 12: The Truth Tellers, with Guests: Holli Coulman & Larry Levine
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 11: Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 10: The Ministers, with Guests: Father Joe Ciccone & Father Rix Thorsell
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest: Taxgirl Kelly Phillips Erb
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 08: The Academics, with Guests: Cathryn Lavery, Jessica Henry, Jay Kennedy & Erin Harbinson
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 07: White Collar Wives. with Guests: Lynn Springer, Cassie Monaco & Julie Bennett. Special Guest: Skylar Cluett
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 06: Madoff Talks, with Guest: Jim Campbell
Linkhereto 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, with Guest: Tom Hardin
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 03: Compassionate Lawyering, with Guests: Chris Poulos, Corey Brinson, Bob Herbst & George Hritz
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 02: Substance Abuse & Recovery During COVID-19, with Guests: Trevor Shevin & Joshua Cagney
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 01: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group, with Guests: 16 Members of Our White Collar Support Group
Linkhereto Podcast Ep. 00: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant: What is White Collar Week?
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Jeff Grant
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, parole & probation 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.
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 Grantand Lynn Springerin 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 2021, All Rights Reserved, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.,
Jamie Whittemore is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday even Whittemoreings. We will celebrate our 250th weekly meeting on Monday, March 29, 2021, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT; all Fellow Travelers are invited.
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In 2018 I was a practicing attorney, and was indicted under state law for taking money from my clients’ trust account, for my own use. My practice was closed down abruptly. It took several months for my lawyer to reach a settlement with the Attorney General’s office, during which time I became aware of Jeff Grant and the group that he has brought together. I joined the zoom conferences on Monday evenings, meeting a knowledgeable band of white collar professionals either facing incarceration or else released from it after serving time. I found myself welcomed, immediately and unconditionally, with an understanding obviously based on a sense of shared experience and also with optimism about what lay ahead for me. I learned much about the prison experience, information about practical details as well as about the attitudes and mind-sets that would help me adapt to prison conditions when the time came to enter the system.
I went into incarceration in April of 2019. By that time the regular weekly meetings with people I had come to see as friends, had primed me to make a positive experience out of prison. There were radical changes ahead of course, but there was nothing I could not manage, and in fact nothing I could not turn to advantage, as an opportunity for personal and spiritual growth.
Upon release after fourteen months, into a closely supervised sort of house arrest, I was able to return to the weekly meetings via zoom. Old friends were there, glad to see me back on the outside. New members were there, apprehensive about the road ahead as they faced prosecution and sentencing. There is a sense of community that is simply unmatched by any other group I’m aware of. We have in common a faith in each other nurtured by the freedom to reveal our own anxieties, and to express what other friends or family might not care to hear, or might simply be unable to hear. This group has been such a source of strength for me, I hope it will continue for another 250 meetings and long beyond that!
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White Collar Week Podcast: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group. The support group meeting on this podcast is different than most, because all of the 16 group members appearing have agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. All on the podcast are post-sentencing or back from prison. Watch on YouTube, Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud,link here.
On Friday, Apr. 16, 2021, 9 am, Glenn E. Martin gets real! Glenn, Founder and Senior Consultant at GEMTrainers/GEM Real Estate and Founder and former President of JustLeadershipUSA, was our guest on Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant – The Voice of CT Criminal Justice. Live on WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven and live-streaming at newhavenindependent.org. Rebroadcast at 5 pm. Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Ministries.
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Guests on this episode:
Glenn E. Martin is the Founder and Senior Consultant at GEMTrainers. Before founding his consulting firm, Glenn E. Martin founded and served as President of JustLeadershipUSA, an organization dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. For almost 20 years, he has been part of the vanguard of successful advocates and non-profit leaders in America.
His inspirational leadership has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2017 Brooke Astor Award, and the 2014 Echoing Green Fellowship. Prior to founding JustLeadershipUSA, he was the Vice President of The Fortune Society, where he founded and led the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy. He also served as the Co-Director of the National HIRE Network at the Legal Action Center, and is a co-founder of the Education from the Inside Out Coalition. Glenn is also the founder of the #CLOSErikers campaign in NYC.
Glenn’s bold, unflinching leadership is recognized by leaders from across the political spectrum. He is a sought after public speaker and a frequent media guest appearing on national news outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Al Jazeera and CSPAN.
Criminal Justice Insider with Babz Rawls Ivy and Jeff Grant is broadcast live at 9 am (ET) on the first and third Friday of each month from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven, live-streamed everywhere at newhavenindependent.org. It is also on live on Facebook Live (video) at https://www.facebook.com/wnhhradio. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm the same day. Find all of our shows archived on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/new-haven…/…/criminal-justice-insider. An article about each show is published a few days later in the New Haven Independent (newhavenindependent.org).
Sponsored by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and Progressive Prison Prison Ministries, Inc.
Please tell your friends, colleagues and clients:
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 from the WNHH 103.5 FM studios in New Haven. It is rebroadcast on WNHH at 5 pm ET the same day.
Nom de Plume is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 250th weekly meeting on Monday, March 29, 2021, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT; all Fellow Travelers are invited.
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If I had to share one value about Progressive Prison Ministries (PPM) my immediate thought goes to breaking barriers. The words prison, criminal, convict, fraud, trauma, isolation, dehumanization and I’m sure there are so many more words we can add to the list, is what the average person would come to believe when reading about a person making wrong choices and decisions that result in criminal behavior and or activity. We are all guilty of reading headlines and feeding into gossip and news about people that are hurting and who have made wrong choices and or perhaps been misunderstood. Do we stand behind the monarchy or do we stand behind Harry and Meghan? Are you Republican or a Democrat? Is it possible to be friends despite having different schools of thought?
We tend to judge and perpetuate a story and an ideal of what a perfect person should be and act. We feed into a culture of perfection and overdrive. If that person doesn’t fit the picture, they are ultimately placed in the isolation box. As humans, we fear what we don’t know and come up with theories, stories and ideas to combat that fear or gap of differentiation to make ourselves feel better. Covid is a perfect example. Racism is a perfect example. Homelessness is a perfect example. Being incarcerated and failure is right up there.
I know I was that average person before I walked in the shoes and clothes of a person that was incarcerated and removed from my family and community. I wanted to be perfect. I wanted to be accepted. I did it the wrong way. I know I was that average person that was judgmental and seeking approval because I didn’t have all the facts and I certainly didn’t know what I know now. I didn’t have the lived experience to understand what it feels like to go through an extremely traumatic journey of life on lockdown. I was privileged and I had all the resources and networks that allowed me to be successful. I made choices and judgements based on limited information and knowledge. As Adam Grant wrote in a recent Harvard Business Review, “In a turbulent world, success depends not just on cognitive horsepower but also on cognitive flexibility.”
I’ll take it one step further. Success means being humble and open to new ideas and thought. Success means to pause. Criminal justice issues are extremely controversial and support a narrative that currently allow barriers to exist. Barriers exist for a reason. Barriers can be removed. We see it in the headlines daily. We are starting to see some light in this sector as more people have a loved one that has been justice impacted. More than 6.7 million people are incarcerated in the United States. If that seems high, that’s because it is. Currently, mass incarceration in the United States is unique both historically and internationally. In the past thirty-five years, the incarceration rate has increased fivefold. While the U.S. has 5% of the world’s population, it has 25% of its prisoners. For an imprisoned parent, one of the greatest punishments incarceration carries with it is separation from their children and the trauma their family carries from the experience. Communication and connection are stifled. You have 300 minutes allocated per month to call home and make sure your children, family and friends are okay. With Covid, luckily it increased to 500 minutes per month. That translates to 8.3 hours per month.
Nearly 3.6 million parents are under some form of correctional supervision, including parole. Of these parents, almost 1.1 million are incarcerated in federal, state, or local jails. These parents have an estimated 2.3 million children. Alarmingly, the rate of parental incarceration has gone up sharply in the last decade. Incarceration doesn’t stop with the individual, it certainly bleeds into the family, community and people affected.
PPM was created based on a growing need of people going through similar experiences. People who are wanting to heal versus hurt. People who are parents seeking resources to help their family know how to navigate when they are removed from their life. People who need their bubble burst and face reality and accountability. People who have been placed in a box and often misunderstood. People who want to make amends and take responsibility, but still are held to a lifelong judgement. People who want to learn from their mistakes and live forward and are capable of change. People who want to prevent others from making the same mistakes they made.
So how do you stand up from a tremendous fall? Mark Sanborn, a noted business leader says “everybody does ordinary work. It’s how they do it that makes it extraordinary.”
I wanted to be extraordinary, but the process was not right. When two concurrent waves of thought are present in today’s world, there can be major disaster. History has shown this repeatedly. We see it in politics daily and can apply this statement to many areas in life. It’s difficult to navigate those tides because the culture and language to recognize a human’s behavior based on their environmental factors does not connect. There is no communication. This is a barrier. Each party has their own narrative to support the ideas, emotions, thoughts and culture they live and believe in. Life blows up and where do you go from there? When we travel outside of our culture, we are then capable and able to think, experience and accept different ideas and thought. Perhaps we can see more clearly when we are removed from our comfort zones. We may actually learn a new language and find a path to become better. We may actually change and become stronger. I know I did.
Pain hurts. Pain can numb and when it’s not managed appropriately, ignored or understood, it cannot be healed. With the appropriate care team and tools provided, it can be managed, healed and transferred into stronger and more successful outcomes. Having PMM as a triage network, provides success stories of overcoming intrinsic pain and weakness. We certainly know what it feels like to be at the top and how it feels to hit rock bottom. I have to say that I’ve become a better and stronger person from the failures I’ve experienced after bursting my own bubble. Unfortunately, while being in the bubble, I hurt many dear and loved ones along the way. This has been the most difficult part of the journey. Knowing this hurts tremendously. I am extremely thankful and grateful to my family and friends who were beside me through the most difficult times that were not easy on them for sure.
The wrong choices I made in life allow me to see things more clearly. I also learned more about myself and knowing that being perfect doesn’t mean going into overdrive and being a chronic pleaser. It’s certainly an uphill climb, but having a team that can help you see through this process is what allows an individual to grow and walk on a safer, authentic, sustainable and clearer path.
When pain isn’t managed, it can be exacerbated into so many outlets in unconscious and subconscious ways. With pain, communication stops. This is part of the transformation and acknowledgement that life was not healthy and as a result, behaviors supported a lifestyle that fed into a pain that was not managed effectively. Unfortunately, punitive measures are taken without consideration of behavioral health and restorative applications.
When a human goes through this journey, finding a healthy network, support system, hope and guidance to become transformative and stronger is essential. I am blessed to be working as a workforce development case manager at St. Patrick Center. The clients I work with could very well be me. If I didn’t have the support and network through this process, I would be homeless and most likely finding outlets to continue managing pain in very unhealthy ways. I would become another statistic with a revolving door back into incarceration.
Not having the necessary tools and skillsets in any situation ultimately set-up a person to fail regardless of a conviction. PPM provides an outlet to let people know they are able to change and that we have the option to humanize vs dehumanize. We have the ability to choose vulnerability over isolation as we continue to learn more about culture and our human behavior. Words are important. Communication is important. Words are important.
Culture: The customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.
Humanize: To make (something) more humane or civilized.
Dehumanize: To deprive of positive human qualities.
Isolation: The complete separation from others of a person suffering from contagious or infectious disease; quarantine.
Vulnerability: Willingness to show emotion or to allow one’s weakness to be seen or known; willingness to risk being hurt or attacked.
Studies show that the United States has the highest prison rate population in the world with 743 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Rwanda with 595, and Russia with 568. Some scholars pin this rise in the prison population to the changing focus from rehabilitation to punishment which has happened since the 1970’s. Other scholars explain this recent focus on punitiveness as resulting from the interconnections between the media, public opinion, political trends, and legislative changes. Once dehumanized offenders are typically expelled from the moral community, their negative treatment is seen as justified.
When we don’t speak the same language or experience the same type of environments, it’s difficult to understand the other person’s perspective. We don’t know what we don’t know. As a result, it’s important to challenge oneself to be open and to understand where another person may be coming from.
Bringing visibility to the experiences and stories we share through incarceration and breaking down stereotypes are essential.
I am extremely thankful to be a part of PMM as we are a network that provides opportunities and hope to people who share lived experiences in trauma and stigma. Our goal is not to perpetuate the stigma, but rather eliminate it through healthy outlets. Shame, guilt, judgement, and the feeling of not belonging are all emotions and barriers when one takes a detour in life. Without adequate support, understanding and a foundation for mental health, it’s very easy for someone to completely crash and feel abandoned. This organization is founded on the belief that each human is deserving of life and dignity. Dehumanization is not the solution. PMM breaks barriers through empowerment.
Leo Tolstoy, an incarcerated individual himself, wrote these beautiful words in his lifetime:
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. If you want to be happy, be. There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth. The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.”
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White Collar Week Podcast: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group. The support group meeting on this podcast is different than most, because all of the 16 group members appearing have agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. All on the podcast are post-sentencing or back from prison. Watch on YouTube, Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud,link here.
Seth Williams is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 250th weekly meeting on Monday, March 29, 2021, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT; all Fellow Travelers are invited.
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Congratulations Jeff on your 250th Support Group Meeting. I felt alone, and thought there was no one that could relate to what I was going through. You have been the big brother, I never had and you have created a network of welcoming, non-judgmental, and understanding men and women that share their similar experiences in an open and nurturing environment. You are absolutely correct, “It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is community.” and we have you to thank for creating one for us.
I was the elected DIstrict Attorney of Philadelphia, I had spent the majority of my professional career working to prevent crime, and hold those accountable that harmed society. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be the target of a criminal investigation, indicted by a federal grand jury or serve time in prison. All of those things eventually happened and I wasn’t ready. I wish I had known then, of Rev. Jeff Grant, his Progressive Prison Ministry and White Collar Support Group. Jeff and his group are now a significant part of my life and I am eternally grateful.
As the D.A., I was responsible for the criminal prosecution of over 70,000 cases a year in a city of 1.5 million people. I supervised a staff of 600 men and women with an annual budget of over $54 million.
I had two Blackberries, one alerted me constantly of every murder, shooting, rape, suicide, missing child and stabbing. I was routinely rushed to crime scenes, trauma centers, and asked to speak at funerals and memorial services for crime victims. These daily traumas were compounded by the reality of being a political figure in a city known for politics being a dirty full contact sport.
Lunch meetings were power lunches with cocktails and every evening included multiple events where alcohol was free and flowing like a Bacchanalian feast. I increasingly began to numb myself with alcohol and the need for affection. Both made me feel guilt, and instead of dealing with the emotions in healthy ways, I drank more. A self-destructive cycle.
After my divorce, I lived beyond my means. I wanted to keep my daughters in their private school and to keep my house. I accepted gifts from my friends. I should have reported all of them and others I should not have accepted, but I was too ashamed to admit my friends helped me. Right or wrong, as the District Attorney, the mere appearance of impropriety is detrimental to the entire justice system and I failed to live up to the highest standard.
Despite having been an attorney for 25 years, with experience as an Assistant District Attorney, as an Army JAG lawyer, and as a criminal defense attorney, nothing prepared me for having the criminal justice system turn my own life upside down. The majority of questions that I had, the ones that kept me up at night or made me feel that I couldn’t hold my food down, could not be answered by my attorneys. They knew legal procedure, they didn’t know how it felt to be indicted. They understood how to file motions, they could not understand or help me process all of the unknowns. What would I be charged with? How would the public react? How will all of this affect my children, family and loved ones? I was afraid, angry, ashamed, embarrassed, anxious, could not sleep and began to drink even more. I wish I had known of the White Collar Support Group.
I recognized I was wrong to have accepted and not reported all of the gifts and I had negotiated with the city’s ethics board to pay $65,000 in fines for not reporting all of the gifts. I was still indicted with 29 felonies and faced approximately 145 years in prison. The night before the indictment was to be made public, I met with my ex-wife and daughters to explain to them what was about to happen. How do you look into your little girls’ eyes and tell them all of these things. Where do you begin? Should you be strong for them or let them see you cry? I wish I had known Jeff. I wish I could have spoken with men and women that knew my struggle.
I never thought I would be the defendant in a criminal trial. Yet every morning I went to court as the elected local D.A. and sat in the defendant’s chair in a federal courtroom.. My attorneys were friends of mine since we met on our very first day as assistant district attorneys in 1992. They fought the good fight and we had a very good first week and a half of trial. We had one very bad day and the prosecutors offered us to plead guilty to one count. I wanted to continue fighting, but my attorneys made it clear that pleading guilty to one count with a maximum exposure of 5 years was better than risking going to the jury and not knowing what could happen. We were told if I pled, I would be allowed to remain on bail until my sentencing and possibly even until my expected self-surrender to a prison camp 4 or 5 months in the future. Once again, I had a heartfelt conversation with my family. I wish I had known of Progressive Prison Ministries.
I told my daughters and girlfriend I would be back around lunch time. That I would enter the plea and come home and have the rest of the summer to be with them, sell our home, and get “my affairs in order” prior to going away. The judge had a different plan. I entered my plea, and he immediately withdrew my bail. I did not go home for lunch on June 29, 2017. Instead, I was handcuffed in court and taken underground from the courthouse to the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center. I was stripped searched, given orange underwear and an orange jumpsuit and locked in solitary confinement for 152 days. 5 months all alone.
While I was in solitary, I could speak to inmates in adjacent cells through the grating of the plumbing access panels that separated our cells It was from those men that I learned how to prepare for my pre-sentence investigation, prison programs that could reduce my sentence, how the federal bureau of prisons would determine which prison I would serve my sentence, how I could continue my relationship with my family while I would be away, and most of the questions that I had for my attorneys. Frequently the very topics that we discuss during our White Collar Support group meetings.
I had visited prisons as a law student, as a prosecutor, and criminal defense attorney. Yet, the majority of my understanding of prison life was irrationally shaped by Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Angels with Dirty Face, and other fictional accounts. My fears were based on my ignorance.
I was sentenced to 60 months. As a result of an inmate telling me about RDAP (the residential drug abuse program) I was honest with the presentence investigator and shared with her my history of alcohol abuse. If not for that inmate, I would have thought sharing that truth would have hurt me even more at sentencing. If I had known of the White Collar Support Group, I would have been aware of RDAP and that completing it would reduce my sentence by 12 months. I would have learned of “Earned Good Time”, “Residential Reentry Centers”, home confinement and a myriad of
I served 5 months in solitary confinement before being transferred to the Oklahoma Transportation Center via “ConAir”, and ultimately served an additional 29 months in FCI-Morgantown. I lost my reputation, my elected office, my military career, my pensions, my law license, my home and most tragically time with my loved ones.
After my release from prison, I spent 6 months on home confinement and am now on supervised release. While there may be no one way to prepare for any of these things. I am fortunate that once I returned home I found Rev. Jeff Grant through social media, and he has greatly assisted my reentry.
Jeff listens. I look forward to our weekly White Collar Support Group meetings. I now have a network of friends that I can share my concerns with that have experienced the very same things that I am going through. I listen to people that I have lived it. I hear the good, the bad and the miraculous. These new friends are not just faces on a zoom screen. Frequently, we connect via phone or email to follow up and support each other.
“It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is community.” and I now have the White Collar Support Group to thank for creating one for me. Hopefully, I can give to others as much as I have gratefully received.
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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
White Collar Week Podcast: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group. The support group meeting on this podcast is different than most, because all of the 16 group members appearing have agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. All on the podcast are post-sentencing or back from prison. Watch on YouTube, Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud,link here.
Craig Stanland is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 250th weekly meeting on Monday, March 29, 2021, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT; all Fellow Travelers are invited.
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I was arrested by the FBI on October 1st, 2013.
I remember being handcuffed in the back of an FBI cruiser as we drove north on Route 95:
The agent behind the wheel is texting and making calls as he weaves in and out of late morning traffic. He’s speaking to someone who is wherever we are going, preparing them for our arrival. I don’t know where we’re going or what happens next. Nobody is telling me anything, and I’m afraid to ask. The agent in the backseat is creeping me out. I can’t put my finger on it. There’s an aura surrounding him, like walking into a house and getting the chills. Since I invoked my right to silence, he can’t speak about the case.
Instead, he’s talking about the best pizza places in Connecticut and how hot the women in Greenwich are. I can’t push myself any further away from him; my elbow is digging into the car door. Both of their faces light up when one of them tells me that due to the government shutdown, “Everyone there today volunteered to arrest you for no pay.” Lucky me.
I was lucky in a sense; there was no news coverage. I had been arrested, but no one would find out unless I told them.
I thought I had dodged a bullet, but I was wrong.
The government eventually opened back up, which meant the FBI press office did as well.
The news hit, and it hit hard.
The shame I was feeling was exacerbated by article after article detailing my crime. I had kept the news from all but my closest friends. I couldn’t hide it anymore; it was out of my control.
I received numerous supportive texts from friends and acquaintances. Still, there was one that stood out and that I am forever grateful for.
My neighbor and friend Wayne read the news in the local Greenwich newspaper. His message was kind and supportive, and he hoped that he was “not crossing any lines,” but he has a friend who might be able to help me.
He forwarded me some information on Jeff Grant. I remember standing in my living room with my now ex-wife when I read what Wayne had sent me.
Jeff spoke as if he was living inside of my body at that exact moment. He spoke of shame and isolation; he spoke of uncertainty and fear. His words took the air from my lungs.
I sat down, put my head in my hands, and wept. I wept because the words were so raw and personal, and I wept because they were exactly how I was feeling – but I didn’t know how to express it myself.
It’s hard for me to describe the level of uncertainty and pure fear I felt during that time.
The closest I can get is this:
The sound of handcuffs snapping shut is one of the most visceral sounds in the world. Every click of the metal teeth reverberated through my ears and wrapped themselves around my heart. Each click crushing any hope I foolishly held onto. The cold steel weighing heavy on my wrists, the pure helplessness and vulnerability of my arms pinned behind my back.
This was the moment the ground beneath my feet disappeared.
Weightlessness and emptiness consumed me as I fell into an abyss. The abyss was as black as any black I have ever experienced.
My life was an absence of light, enveloped in fear.
Falling. Falling. Falling. Into the unknown, with no end in sight.
My life was no longer my life. It belonged to the government.
My fate rested in the hands of the FBI, the Prosecutors, and the Judge.
Every single thing I did was shrouded by the dark cloud of uncertainty.
Jeff helped me navigate this uncertainty. Jeff gave me something tangible I could grasp. I had a sliver of light in a sea of darkness.
This was seven years ago.
Today I have a successful coaching business, a soon-to-be-published memoir, “Blank Canvas, How I Reinvented My Life After Prison,” and a TEDx titled “How I Learned My Greatest Worth in Federal Prison.”
Jeff and the Progressive Prison Ministries were and are an integral part of my journey from rock-bottom to where I am today.
The support of the group pre-prison, in prison, and post-prison has been immeasurable.
How do you measure a sense of peace and belonging? A sense of community and understanding? How does one measure the unraveling of shame?
I suppose in gratitude.
I will be forever grateful to Jeff and the Progressive Prison Ministries.
Congratulations on reaching the 250th meeting. What an incredible milestone, one that I’m honored to be a part of.
Link here to White Collar Week Podcast Ep. 11: Blank Canvas, with Guest: Craig Stanland
White Collar Week Podcast: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group. The support group meeting on this podcast is different than most, because all of the 16 group members appearing have agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. All on the podcast are post-sentencing or back from prison. Watch on YouTube, Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud,link here.
Richard is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 250th weekly meeting on Monday, March 29, 2021, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT; all Fellow Travelers are invited.
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That the white collar support group has endured to 250 meetings reflects a number of truths both about the group itself and larger society.
One is that there are a great many lonely, tortured souls out there, in desperate need of belonging. They are hurting, suffering and this group provides a sense of community for people where in many cases, they have lost theirs. We share our adversity and more importantly, our hope through a shared, common experience that is universally one of the most difficult chapters in our lives. The sheer fact we draw folks nationally from all walks of life shows what need there is and has been for our white collar community.
Ever since my own criminal case, I have felt an outcast from polite society. I have struggled for years (and still do), and even though I have been exonerated, I carry the scarlet letter of shame deeply branded into my soul. This group helps me not just find myself but forge a new path and new identity for myself. Admittedly, it is difficult at times. But facing life with the oasis of folks who’ve been there is far better than without.
Yet another truth is that no one is perfect. We all have our moments of grace and moments of being low. This group provides a safe space to discuss both.
I’ve known Jeff nearly a decade now, and have had the fortune of walking alongside him, be supported by him and see him come into his own self-actualizing as the driving spirit and leader of the white collar support group and championing a transformation in the way we view and characterize white collar criminals.
It’s ironic despite America’s Judeo-Christian roots, the compulsion to judge, cancel and vilify white collar criminals is oddly strongest with those groups identifying either as strongly liberal or strongly evangelical. Perhaps ‘white collar’ is a misnomer. Perhaps it is just a group that finds no safe harbor anywhere on the social or religious spectrum? For now, we can find safe harbor amongst ourselves.
Jesus was preoccupied with the plight of prisoners. “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” I have found this group strengthens my faith and humanity, and reinforces my belief that God has a plan for each and every one of us.
It’s amazing, 250 meetings. What will we look like when we celebrate 500 meetings? – Richard
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White Collar Week Podcast: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group. The support group meeting on this podcast is different than most, because all of the 16 group members appearing have agreed to share their names, faces and very personal stories in an effort to reach out to individuals and families suffering in silence. All on the podcast are post-sentencing or back from prison. Watch on YouTube, Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud,link here.
