# Things I wish I knew

All free, obviously. Every page below also has a plain-text version: append `.md` to its URL.

## Start here

The guides split by who you are, because the two situations have almost nothing in common. Everything after these two is for both.

- [For the one going in](https://federalprisondude.com/going-in.md): Your name is on the docket. The checklists, the FAQ, and four guides covering before you go, while you're in, doing time at a low, and getting out.
- [For the one waiting](https://federalprisondude.com/for-families.md): Somebody you love is going. The family checklists, the family FAQ, and a twelve-part guide to mail, visiting, money, and the release date.

## Run the numbers

The math nobody does for you at sentencing, done in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

- [Time calculator](https://federalprisondude.com/resources/time-calculator.md): How long your loved one will actually serve. Good conduct time, FSA credits, and jail credit.
- [PATTERN score calculator](https://federalprisondude.com/resources/pattern-calculator.md): The risk score that decides whether FSA credits get applied at all. Score it yourself on the BOP's own form, with both the male and female instruments.

## Know the system

What a specific facility is like, who to ask about it, and what the Bureau's own rulebook actually says.

- [The facility guide](https://federalprisondude.com/resources/facilities.md): Stamp rates, store markups, housing style, photo rules, and how each place runs. Per facility, with honest unknowns.
- [Support groups, by facility](https://federalprisondude.com/resources/support-groups.md): The Facebook groups run by spouses and moms. The best intel about any specific prison lives here.
- [Program statements worth reading](https://federalprisondude.com/resources/program-statements.md): The BOP's own rulebook: raw text, official links, and translations into regular talk where it matters.
- [The glossary](https://federalprisondude.com/resources/glossary.md): Federal prison terms in plain English, tagged official or slang, with how I know each one.

## Before you pay anyone

The two most common ways families get fleeced, and why. Read these even if you never email me.

- [Paying non-lawyers for legal work](https://federalprisondude.com/resources/non-lawyer-legal-work.md): The truth about "case reviews," motion templates, and the people selling them.
- [Paying to get to XYZ facility](https://federalprisondude.com/resources/facility-placement.md): Nobody can get you designated to a specific prison. Here's how designation actually works.

## In the works

What self-surrender day actually looks like. Sending money without getting fleeced. TRULINCS and CorrLinks setup for families. First Step Act credits explained like you're a person and not a docket number. Want one bumped up the list? Say so.

## Questions are free

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