# Every step, in order

One case, start to now. The left column is what the step is called. The right column is what it actually was.

## How to read this — One case is a data point, not a survey

This is one district, one facility, one stretch. Yours will differ in the details and it will not differ much in the shape.

## Part 1 — Before the door

Everything between the case and the prison.

### 01 Self-surrender

If you're allowed to surrender, you report yourself on a date somebody else picked, at a place somebody else picked, without being arrested.

[Before you go in](/going-to-federal-prison/before-you-report)

> Write the annotation here. This column is the one people came for.

## Part 2 — Inside

FCI Thomson, a men's low.

### 02 FCI Thomson

December 26, 2024

Arrival is intake, screening, a unit, a bunk, a job, and a team that owns your paperwork.

[Doing time at a low](/low-security-federal-prison)

> Annotation. TRULINCS (the inmate email/phone/money system, all monitored) and the rest of the glossary tags work in here.

## Part 3 — Coming home

The sentence ends before the supervision does.

### 03 Supervised release

ongoing

A term of supervision follows the custodial sentence: a probation officer, conditions, and the standing possibility of going back for violating them rather than for a new crime.

> An entry does not need a link. This one doesn't have one.

## Questions — Ask me about any of it

**Need help with this? Just ask.**

These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. **Answers are free** , and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer.

[josh@federalprisondude.com](mailto:josh@federalprisondude.com?subject=Question%20about%20your%20timeline)

I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.