January 22, 2026: Thursday

Advanced Courses

(2:45 am Update)

Many books influenced my thinking while I served my sentence. One lesson that continues to resonate comes from What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith.

More than 15 years have passed since I read that book. Now, at 62, I think about the lessons more than ever. We only have so much time on this planet. Because I spent 26 years inside, I constantly think about how to use the time I have left in ways that will bring forth positive changes to matters of importance.

Even though I completed my obligation to the Bureau of Prisons in August of 2013, the system remains part of my daily thinking.

We incarcerate too many people, and in my view, sentences are far too long. If I want my life to have meaning—if I want to feel that I’m using time productively—I have to focus on improving outcomes. The most effective way I know how to do that is by incentivizing the pursuit of excellence. In practical terms, that means inspiring reforms that allow more people to work toward earning freedom through merit.

That goal requires strategy.

To advance reforms of that magnitude, I’ve learned that I must take a multi-layered approach:

• Create a body of work that helps people at every stage of the system understand their role in preparing for liberty.
• Build channels of distribution that allow those lessons to reach millions of people.
• Develop dashboards that show the measurable value of incentivizing excellence.
• Use data to advocate for reforms that expand opportunities to earn freedom through merit.
  

Since completing my sentence, I’ve worked consistently on these ideas. Prison Professors is the result.

Through our website, thousands of people use free resources to document their stories and their efforts. Those stories matter. Depending on where a person is in the journey, a well-developed profile can help:

• Persuade stakeholders that people who work hard to atone, or make amends, merit leniency at sentencing.
• Influence pathways to the highest level of liberty as early as possible.
• Those who are worthy transition to community confinement settings.
• Individuals recalibrate in ways that support early termination of supervised release or executive clemency

Every person should work toward building a convincing body of work—one that presents a fuller, more accurate narrative than the Presentence Investigation Report alone. That kind of work requires deliberate effort. It also requires more instruction than we can reasonably provide through a free platform alone.

For that reason, we are developing a series of advanced courses, offered at a low cost, designed for two distinct stages of the journey:

• Before sentencing
• After sentencing

These advanced courses will go beyond the self-directed lessons we offer, free-of-charge, on Prison Professors. They will include access to interactive webinars, where participants can ask questions about the challenges they’re facing and receive informed guidance. With better information, people can make better decisions and develop more effective mitigation strategies. They can get responses to their questions from humans who have lived through the experience.

Because these courses require greater investment to build and maintain, we are developing them in partnership with a new entity—currently referred to as Newco. During the initial phase, Newco plans to offer these courses at an intentionally low price, potentially around $100 per phase. As the curriculum expands, pricing will adjust. Once fully developed, we anticipate pricing below $2,000.

Importantly, Newco’s operating agreement will include a commitment to donate at least 30 percent of all revenues to Prison Professors Charitable Corporation. Those funds will allow Prison Professors to continue offering all core resources at no charge to anyone in our community.

We anticipate that sustaining Prison Professors at scale will require between $2 and $3 million annually. That reality is why we are continually exploring strategic alliances. Thoughtful collaborations make it possible to extend impact without compromising mission.

As Marshall Goldsmith reminded us, the strategies that got us here will not get us to the next level. If we want to create real change, we must invest in systems that support it—systems that expand opportunity, reward effort, and create more pathways for people to earn freedom through merit. I’m working on these developments this morning. (Updated: 3:18 AM / January 22, 2026.)

6:08 am Update

I’m still inspired by Elon Musk, who encourages people on his team to memorialize the steps they’re taking to bring value to an organization. I’ll continue using this tool to show the work I’m doing. As shown with the initial entry this morning, I began by sharing plans on how I am going to build a new series of products that, I hope, will bring more revenues to support our nonprofit initiatives. Now, I’m setting the work aside to go outside for morning exercise. When I return, I’ll get back to work on developments and interacting with my team.

• Have you thought about the steps you’re taking today to build value and advance prospects for success in the next phase of your life?

8:52 am Update

While running this morning, many ideas came to me on steps I can take to improve our user experience. Since I couldn’t write my thoughts, I asked Siri to transcribe notes. Here are my tasks:

• Film a video that highlights how to use our AI Chatbot
• Film a video that shows how to use different aspects of our website
• Draft a letter to send to probation officers around the country to introduce them to the free services we offer through Prison Professors
• Draft a letter for law firms, inviting them to use our free resources to help their clients get a better understanding on how to develop mitigation strategies that will assist them:

• Before they decide how to respond to a government investigation,
• Before they choose how to respond to a criminal charge.
• Before they meet with a federal probation officer for a PSR.
• Before they go for sentencing in federal court.
• Before they surrender to serve a term in federal prison.
• Prepare for a productive journey through prison.
• Prepare for the highest level of liberty, at the soonest possible time.
• Prepare to make a case for early termination of Supervised Release.
• Prepare a strategy to advance their candidacy for clemency.
• Rebuild their life after a journey through prison.

We offer lessons on all those subjects, free of charge, for all members of our community. Now, we must work to reach more people who are need of such information.

4:44 PM Update

Steve finished writing the code to showcase our collaboration with Edovo. I am so happy to see the interface showing our impact over the years. Check it out with the following link:

• Edovo Foundation