Today officially marks 1 month of my 78 month sentenced served. This past month provided me with a unique opportunity to reflect on the criminal justice system, federal prison, and my role in criminal conduct – among many other existential ponderings. On September 2, 2022, after nearly 4 years of litigation, an acquitted trial, 25 indictments, and defending my unique situation, Judge Tayna S. Chutkan sentenced me to 78 months of incarceration followed by 3 years of supervised release (basically probation). Her final words, “Quite frankly, I do find that you are a danger to society with a high probability that you will recidivate. Therefore, I sentence you to 78 months of federal incarceration under the Board of Prisons custody.” Essentially, like any criminal case of guilty resulting in prison confinement, Judge Chutkan strongly believed that I would continue down a path of fraud and deceit, even though she previously extolled that humans are complex creatures and she believes that people can change through the right supports. Despite the federal court’s own investigation of me that recommended a 60 month sentence and a justified variance of the government’s recommended 78 months, Judge Chutkan conducted her duties in the name of justice and for the people of the United States.
The main victim, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and my former employer of nearly 11 years, submitted a formal statement of victim impact. Despite the hurt and deceit caused by my actions, the opening statement introduced a sense of warmth and encouragement in the hope of Christ’s salvific love and forgiveness that aligns with Catholic social teaching. The carefully crafted words echoed the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement on redemptive and restorative sentencing as alternatives to incarceration. Then, the tone of the statement extended beyond the formalities that one of the largest organizations in America would share, the statement became personally insulting sprinkled with many statements of untruth and confusion. Many of the incredulous remarks extinguished any initial tenants of hope and forgiveness previously alluded on the prior page. The impact statement misconstrued accusations of hurting children, placing blame of my actions on other coworkers, and strongly supporting the government’s recommendation of 78 months of incarceration justified by the resounding “danger to society” mantra. Yet, the charge that I agreed to during negotiations against the Archdiocese of Washington held a tentative 36 month sentence. The hurt of my former employer reflected in a spirit of revenge and punishment, which is more personal and hurtful to me than any sentence a judge could impose. I was never malicious in my actions against anyone or even the Archdiocese of Washington; yet, many of the decisions influencing the government’s prosecution exposes maliciousness and personal vengeance against me, which influenced the final judgment.
I have taken full ownership of my actions and even agreed to provisions of a plea agreement extended to me, despite many truths being lost in conflated rhetoric. Overall, I did commit wrong and I am heartfully sorry to have caused any distraction or deceit to the Archdiocese of Washington and to my coworkers and to my family/friends. I love the Catholic Church, and I am proud of my faith and the service that I was blessed to offer to the Catholic schools in the Washington area. Even though my actions were venially sinful and illegal (as I’ve come to understand through fraud laws), I never intended or concocted a sophisticated scheme as I had been accused. I did make concessions to the facts of a plea agreement to ensure the language was appropriate and mostly truthful.
NOW that I am incarcerated, I just had my 28-day program evaluation which measures my risk of recidivism and security threat level to society. I am extremely happy to report that my results identify me as a very LOW risk of being recidivistic as co-measured by the SPARC-13 assessment and the PATTERN evaluation, which are the two official metrics for determining the status of an inmate’s risk level and danger to society. If you geek-out to understanding assessments, a simple Google search of these two psychometrically bizarre measures will leave you puzzled as to how our justice system makes these status determinations for all persons under the care of federal prisons.
Prior to any prison reform laws, a sentence given to someone was the time served (period). Prior to 2007, if I had received a 78 month sentence, then I would have to spend the full 78 months in prison: meaning my release date would be May 16, 2029 – that is an incredibly long time from now. This was the date that my brain tried to comprehend when the judge rendered the 78 month verdict. Then, the Good Time Credit (Second Chance Act) took effect in 2007 but successfully enacted nearly 10 years to full and accurately implement. This credit gives inmates the benefit of the doubt that they will behave and be good (hence Good Time Credit of 15% is deducted from the time sentenced). Now, my date of release is May 28, 2028, or just shy of 1 year.
Then, a powerful law was enacted in 2018, the First Step Act (FSA) that applied an FSA Time Credit (also called a FTC). The calculation for FTC is currently being finalized and expected to fully implement in January of 2023. The law states that for every 30 days that an inmate serves with minimum risk assessments, a credit of 15 days toward the release date shall be applied with a cap of 365 credited days. Any additional credit earned shall be applied to a pre-release date, which means a half-way house or home confinement. The grey area for the implications for applying this credit resides with the pre-release time. How does this apply to my sentence? Again, the assumption that inmates will be good and participate in recommend programs to decrease recidivism and promote rehabilitation will be applied as an FSA credit. All this means that the credit I will receive will be more than 1 year, so my release date now becomes May 28, 2027! The release date does not include any home confinement or halfway house time, which will reduce my time in prison even more…I’ll write more about this next month.
A Brief Week In Review:
This past week was routine. Thursday offered incredibly lovely fall weather. I learned and played a few games of shuffle board to take advantage of the weather and walked a few laps around the track in my clunky boots. Friday was the start of a mandatory course that I have to take on investment and finance as part of my individualize plan for rehabilitation. I am quite fascinated that the class is taught by a criminal investor! The roster consists of financial criminals, so I am trying to understand the logic for requiring this class to us to learn about the ropes of investing and “remaking your first million” when we are out. The weekend was just quiet, so I began reading some more books and went to Mass on Sunday. Monday was the bi-monthly toilet paper handout, so I was up at 5:30 am to stake claim to my allotted 2 rolls of single-ply! I am still waiting on approval to start work as a electrician, which will probably be next week (I am not a licensed or trained electrician, but I do not believe that much city ordinances, codes, or federal regulations govern much of the technicalities so the designation could apply to any fool with knowledge of +/- electrical currents). Finally, on Tuesday, we had a lockdown drill, which timing occurred during the commissary line in the early morning. The line was especially long. I was already waiting 2 hours and since it was disrupted, I had to wait another 1 hour in the afternoon. I really just bought laundry detergent and a bag of chocolate covered pretzels to treat myself for Christmas. Apparently, they will not have the store open next week in observance of the holidays (Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, etc.). So, I hope to have my tennis shoes after Christmas, but before the new year!
A Brief Month In Review (Based on Somewhat Actual Numbers):
~ Countless acts of kindness and support from fellow inmates, family and friends
25 Photos added to my new photo album from 3 different sources
9 Pairs of socks from the ones issued to the ones that I purchased so that I can double layer them (they are very thin)
8 Kind deposits into my account to purchase various items (gym shoes, sweats, toiletries, essentials) – I am beyond grateful for this generosity and support to help with a transition to a new way of living.
7 Pages of letters that I surprising received from 4 different people (very humbling)
6 Types of animals that I have spotted around the campus (dogs, ducks, turkeys, geese, cats, & deer)
5 Books read (2 Catholic, 2 Dan Brown & 1 Philosophy), but I still have many more on my shelf (Thanks, Tif)!
4 Catholic Masses attended in the beautiful chapel
3 Dorm searches for cell phones and other contraband
2 Quite the unexpected proposals (wish I could say more *making upside smiley face)
& Finally….
1 Roll of toilet paper (actually still on my first roll – very efficient – and sorry TMI)