For the one going in

# You are the one going

Everything on this site written for the person whose name is on the docket, in one place. There is a ten-minute version, a version you search when you have one question, and a long version you read straight through. Same material, three depths. Pick by how much time you have.

If someone on the outside sent you here, send them [their half](/for-families). Their problems are not yours.

How this fits together

## Three depths, not three topics

The checklists, the FAQ, and the guides cover a lot of the same ground on purpose. They are not sequential and you are not meant to read all three. The checklists tell you what matters most and what it costs to get wrong. The FAQ answers a specific question in a paragraph. The guides explain the reasoning underneath both, in the order things will actually happen to you.

Most people arrive with one question, get it answered, and come back later for the long version once they have time to sit with it. That is the right way to use this.

Ten minutes

## Start here if you have no time

If you are reporting soon and read nothing else on this site, read this.

### [The checklists](/going-in/checklist)

Thirty things across the three stages of a sentence, ranked by what getting them wrong costs you. Almost none of it is about danger and nearly all of it is free. Three parts, ten minutes.

One question

## Look something up

Around 150 questions people actually sent me, grouped so you can find yours.

### [The FAQ](/going-in/faq)

Hygiene, cellies, sex, drugs, phones, money, food, fights, discipline, staff, release, medical, family, work, identity, and the head stuff. Sixteen sections. Where I do not know, the question stays up and says so.

The long version

## Read it through, in order

Three stages, in the order they happen. Read them before you go, because you cannot read them after.

### [Before you go in](/going-in/before-you-go)

Sentencing to the door: the presentence report, designation, getting your affairs in order, and what to memorize. Four parts.

### [While you're in](/going-in/while-youre-in)

After the door: cars (your social group inside), the unwritten rules, debt, the economy, working with staff, and doing the time. Nine parts.

### [Getting out](/going-in/getting-out)

The halfway house (the halfway house before release), home confinement, supervised release, and the work of rebuilding. Twelve parts.

### [Doing time at your security level](/going-in/security-levels)

Not a fourth stage. This is _While you're in_ narrowed to where you actually land: camp, low, medium, or penitentiary. What the level changes, how you get scored into one, and the level-specific guides. The low is written up in full; the rest is honestly marked.

Whatever you read

## The four everyone needs

Not specific to going in, but you will want all of these before you report.

### [Time calculator](/resources/time-calculator)

How long you will actually serve. Good conduct time, FSA credits, jail credit.

### [PATTERN score calculator](/resources/pattern-calculator)

The risk score that decides whether your FSA credits get applied at all.

### [The facility guide](/resources/facilities)

Stamp rates, store markups, housing style, and how each place runs.

### [The glossary](/resources/glossary)

Count, callout (the daily sheet of where you must be), shot (a disciplinary write-up), car. Learn the words before you need them.

For your people

## Hand the rest of this site to your family

You will not be able to look things up once you're inside. They can, and this is where: [everything written for the one waiting](/for-families) — a twelve-part guide to mail, visiting, money, and your release date, plus their own FAQ and checklist. Alongside it, a [guide to every facility](/resources/facilities) with [email alerts when visiting stops](/lockdown-alerts/subscribe), the [support group directory](/resources/support-groups), calculators for your release math, and [free answers](/contact) when they have questions.

Send them the link before you report, not after they can't reach you.

## Still stuck?

These pages cover the general case. Yours will have details they don't. Email me the 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=Going%20in%20question)

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.