A Geek in Prison - A Life Series by Charlie Shrem (Preamble)

There is no fool proof way to prepare for prison.

On March 30th I self surrendered to Lewisburg Federal Prison Camp after I was sentenced to two years for aiding and abetting an unlicensed money transmitting business, for which I am guilty.

In my case, the only things I could do to prepare myself for was the idea that for the foreseeable future I won’t be around. But I was optomistic because the only way to get through it, is to fully embrace it and take it head on. Which is what I did.

On March 5th 2015, about 30 days before my self surrender, I wrote this on my blog:

I’ve been dreading writing this blog post, and since I’ve written it, it’s been sitting as draft for a few weeks. Never the less, it’s time I get on with it. On March 30th, I’ll be self surrendering to Lewisburg Federal Prison Camp in Pennsylvania. It’s been a long hard fight, from getting arrested at JFK airport while landing home, to solitary confinement and being under house arrest the for the past 14 months. When the government indicted me and requested 30 years, I kept my head up with the help of friends, family, and the Bitcoin community. While some distanced themselves, most stood by and fought. I owe my life to those people. Of course I don’t look for sympathy, I did the crime and I will do the time. They say those who stand by you in the bad times, deserve to be with you in the good times. Good times are coming and I look forward to it.

Optimism. No matter how sad I was feeling, I needed to stay positive with my head up, because once I fell into a spiral of self pity and depression, there is no coming out.

So I started taking notes from other people who have been to Lewisburg and finding out everything could prepare myself for.

• Keep books/newspapers under 13oz. Keep it to 4 per package.
• USA Today delivery, dropped off directly.
• Always use Amazon for books.
• Bring list of people to communicate with - Name/Mailing Address/ Email Address/ Phone number
• Every month 300 minutes for the phone maximum, Nov/Dec 400 minutes.
• Email/Phone busiest mostly after dinner.
• Get a watch
• $360 a month is max you can spend on commissary, not including phone and email.
• Buy sneakers.
• Try to get education job
• Dont gamble
• Get there 8:45am. Then complete strip search, then temporary clothes, then medical intake, then sign forms and meet a counselor.
• Corlinks app for iPhone, becomes like instant messaging. Can print emails.
• Write physical letters. Stay optimistic.

But what was prison going to be like? What was my day going to consist of from waking up until I go to sleep? No one could answer these questions except for me. I needed to accept that I was going to be in prison, and going to use the time wisely.

There was a lot to do. What do I do with my email account, how do I secure my Bitcoin wallet, how do I keep my phone number. How will I maintain a relationship with my family? What is prison going to be like? All these questions were burning in my head and I couldn't find anything online to help me.

This is going to be a Steemit series on before, during, and after prison. I will post pictures, letters, diaries, notes and things I wrote while inside.

Feel free to post your questions you want to see answered, I plan on answering them all to the best of my ability in the following posts.

Follow me to read Part 1

-Charlie