# Before you pay anyone

There is an industry around federal cases, and a good part of it sells things that cannot be sold, at the worst moment of your life, when you are least equipped to evaluate the claim.

Disclosure

I am in this industry. I take clients and I charge money.

So read all of this the way you would read anything written by someone with a stake in it. What I have tried to write is the page I wanted at two in the morning, which means it includes the parts that are bad for business. The longer version of my bias is on the [disclaimer page](/disclaimer).

## The three things nobody can sell you

Each of these gets sold constantly. None of them are real.

Bogus
### [Paying non-lawyers for legal work](/resources/paying-a-non-lawyer-for-legal-work)

The truth about "case reviews," motion templates, and the people selling them.

Bogus
### [Paying to get to XYZ facility](/resources/can-you-choose-your-federal-prison)

Nobody can get you designated to a specific prison. Here's how designation actually works.

Bogus
### [Paying to get a federal conviction expunged](/life-after-federal-prison/federal-expungement-and-pardons)

There is no federal expungement for a valid conviction and no sealing. This one comes for you after you get home, and people spend thousands on it.

## What the work actually is

### [Prison consultants: myths and facts](/resources/what-consultants-cannot-sell-you)

What nobody can sell you, what the work actually is, and eight questions to ask before you pay anyone. Including me, and including the section on when you should not hire anybody at all.

## The general rule — If it sounds like access, it isn't

The claims that turn out to be false share a shape: somebody has a relationship, a channel, or a form that other people do not have. Designation, custody scoring, halfway house time, and expungement all run on published rules and none of them have a back door.

What is worth paying for is time, judgment, and somebody who has read the policy. Everything on this site is free, so start there, and if it turns out you need more than an email, [the honest version of that conversation](/resources/what-consultants-cannot-sell-you) is one click away.

**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=Before%20I%20pay%20anyone)

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.