Greetings! Mike Collins here. I originally founded Easy Time Consulting because as a former outlaw and current ex-convict, I couldn't find employment that paid a living wage. It is not true that employers hire Americans with a criminal conviction. I’ve gotten hired countless times only to be told ‘thanks but no thanks’ when the results of my background check came back. Don’t get me wrong; there’s a multitude of employers that will hire convicts. UBER is one of them. I have over 20,000 trips as a driver. Though I’d get nervous every time they’d run one of their bi-annual background updates. I wasn’t worried about anything new popping up, just that they’d change their mind on the old stuff. One of the worst things about being an American with a criminal conviction is the constant reminders of my second class citizenship. Like not having the right to vote even though I served my debt to society.
I worked for the Education Department the entire time I was at USP Terre Haute. The free-world staff wore stab vests and clip-on ties that snapped off if somebody pulled hard enough. Who wants to get choked out with their own tie, right? The guy who had the position before me got stabbed up for being disrespectful.
Not wanting to get stabbed up myself, I became incredibly good at my job real fast. Something like 100 people left the classroom with their GED while I was at USP Terre Haute. That gave me extra access to the LexisNexis system in the Law Library. It provides access to Federal Case Law, United States Code, Federal Court Rules, and BOP Program Statements; all for free. (sadly there isn’t an internet connection)
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a part of the United States Government. And as such, it remains transparent despite the fact it denies people their Liberty. In Program Statement 5100.08, The Security Designation and Custody Classification Manual, I found the exact step by step instructions that the BOP followed to designate me to a United States Penitentiary.
By now I had been at the USP for almost a year. My sense of urgency to get the fuck away wasn’t as intense. I was making it as an Independent. (not affiliated with any groups) I held the only Pay Grade One spot in the Education Department. I was 7 months into the 18 month long Life Connections program. I signed up (it focuses on character, moral development, and ethical decision-making, as well as religion and faith) because successful completion of the program was rewarded with a security point based transfer.
But I had learned that the only way the BOP fixes errors in a PSR is if the collected evidence is written up and filed via a BP-9. If I didn't fix the problem there wasn’t a program in the BOP that would lower my points enough for me to escape USP Terre Haute.
When my Unit Team Custody Review rolled around, I requested that a Program Participation Management Variable be keyed into SENTRY. I told them that I wanted to stay and complete the Life Connections program. Never had I seen eyebrows arch so high! No one in their right mind asks to stay at a USP. Plus the unit counselor couldn’t believe that I had learned to speak BOP. Me, the big dumb Career Criminal.
I had another Unit Team Custody Review after I completed the Life Connections program. Even without Life Connections, the BP-9 evidencing the incorrect information in my PSR lowered my points enough for a Lower Security Transfer. The BOP shipped me via ConAir (with a two week layover at the Oklahoma Federal Transfer Center) to the Medium Security Federal Prison in Forrest City, Arkansas.
The first thing I did when I landed (prison slang) at the Medium was stop by their Education Department. I was anxious to lock down a job because work was my only source of money. They knew who I was when I walked in. Making it at a USP for 32 months without getting stabbed up earns some respect. The free-world staff even started me at Pay Grade 1. It felt pretty good.
I was at the Medium for the next 18 months. Same shit day in and day out. My points dropped by 5 while I was there and I got my second Lower Security transfer. Instead of having to fly Con-Air to the Oklahoma Federal Transfer Center I was shackled, put in the back of a prison transport van, and driven about 300 yards to the Low Security prison at FCI Forrest City.
Close up AI interpretation of the corral and goat loafing shed.
Close up AI interpretation of the honey bee hives.
I did Quality Assurance at the UNICOR furniture factory at the Low. It runs the same as any free-world factory. I personally designed and built a Release Preparation kiosk while I was there. It had binders full of resources from all 50 states.
Another 18 months later, and I was able to get my 3rd Lower Security transfer. I was allowed to walk unchained and unescorted about 300 yards to the Minimum Security Camp at FCI Forrest City. I gotta say, it was an extremely peculiar feeling to walk unchained after so long. I kept expecting that the perimeter vehicle would roll up and shoot me for trying to escape.
My name was being yelled over the intercom when I walked in the Camp. I immediately recognized the country accent. It was my old boss from the Education Department at the Medium security prison. She was running things at the Camp now. She assigned me a classroom that I was free to use from 6 AM to 9:30 PM seven days a week. I only had to teach one GED class M-F. The classroom came with a 60” inch flat screen, a coffee maker, and a microwave.
Back in the day when I first started getting locked up, it was in the five story CJC ‘Criminal Justice Center’ in downtown Nashville. They always put me on the 5th floor. You can’t see Broadway but you can hear all the country music being played from the jail’s roof rec yard. Anywho, I’d see these guys whose cells were stacked with exclusive gear; shoes, gigantic headphones, piles of commissary, etc. But I learned real quick not to be envious because that comfort was paid for with time. Those dudes had been in the county jail for over two years! There is no harder time than a county jail.
It only took me five years, but I was finally in a spot where I was doing easy time in the feds. Free advice: a minimum security camp is not a federal prison. Anyone fortunate enough to be designated to a Camp has very little to worry about. That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything a federal prison consultant can do for a camper. Camps operate under the same policies, offer the same programs, and have the same departments as the rest of the federal prison system. For warned is for armed. Hire Easy Time Consulting.
I had been at the Camp for about 9 months when the UNICOR manager from the Low stopped by the classroom. (the furniture factory had closed, he was working at a different prison) He asked me to help set up a UNICOR FARM at the Camp. I saw it as a good resume builder and took the job. I handled all the administrative work, which is to say everything. Including designing and building a dozen bee hives and a meat goat corral, along with a goat loafing shed. UNICOR FARM grew soy beans and blueberries. Harvested and bottled honey. Bred market priced meat goats. Farmed tilapia fish in breeding tanks.
Sadly, UNICOR FARM was one of the many Federal Prison Industry programs that shut down during Covid-19. It never re-opened. A dozen bee hives and an empty goat loafing shed are all that remains.
Google Earth FCI Forrest City, Arkansas. There behind the last warehouse at the Camp, zoom in and you’ll see still standing my goat loafing shed. If you use the ‘Historical Imagery’ feature, and dial it back to June 18, 2018; you can see the entire goat corral in its prime. (or click either the corral or bee hive image; they link to Google Earth) I’m the only federal prison consultant whose impact on the BOP can be seen from space!
I got a Programming Needs Transfer when I had 11 months left on my sentence. The BOP shipped me to the Minimum Security Camp at FCI Texarkana. I had to go through the whole ConAir/Oklahoma Transfer Center thing to get there. All together I flew ConAir round trip 3 times. Each layover at the Transfer Center took about two weeks. It’s horribly boring and sucks. Anyway, I participated in and completed RDAP even though I wasn’t eligible for the year off. I took the 9 month long program for one reason; I wanted my future clients to be confident in the fact that their Federal Prison Consultant knew what the fuck he was talking about.
You see, even back then I was preparing to be the Greatest Federal Prison Consultant of All Time. I just never imagined that I would actually pull it off. It took being homeless and the desperation that comes with it, for me to finally get to work and do what it takes. Yeah that’s right; from a childhood that really wasn’t that bad, to college and drug addiction, to convict, to UBER driver, to homeless, to founder of Easy Time Consulting! I am truly blessed! I thank God for all that I’ve been through, (head to toe scars to prove it) and for the good dude that I am today!
I’m the only Federal Prison Consultant whose impact on the BOP can be seen from space!
Forrest City Low Security Prison
Mike’s Goat Loafing Shed
Forrest City Minimum Security Camp
Forrest City Medium Security Prison
Free-World Staff Shooting Range
The free-world staff of all Federal Prisons practice for escapees down at the shooting range. I never get used to the sound of the echoing rifle shoots…
Wrote a couple books while I was down. They’re available on Amazon.
