Most people think prison starts the day you self-surrender. It doesn't. For me, it started about 2 years earlier when I got indicted and put on pre-trial release, out on bail. I was lucky enough to be granted bail. In the beginning, I still thought maybe I can survive it financially, but the feds started seizing everything I had.
I'm Brad Aragon. This is the Federal Toolbox. Believe it or not, the government can freeze your bank account before you're even charged with a crime. Here's how.
The Government Can Freeze Your Money Before You're Charged
Banks are forced by the Bank Secrecy Act to watch everything you do. If they see anything weird, they can freeze your money instantly. And they don't need proof. They don't need to charge you. Just a suspicious activity report and your account is locked. This is 100% legal and it happens more than you think.
It happened to me. My checking account, brokerage account, three rental properties — anything the feds could argue was connected to drug money. Within a month, I was broke. You still need groceries, gas, a lawyer, a place to live. I ended up selling my house just to survive. And as soon as it went into escrow, the government seized the proceeds from the sale, too.
That was one of the first moments where I realized that this wasn't just about prison anymore. My entire life was being dismantled before I'd even been sentenced. Thank God I had some cash stashed away. That's what I used to pay my lawyer and survive for those 2 years. By the time I self-surrendered in July of '22, I had about $500 left to put on my books. That was it.
Life Starts to Feel Temporary
One of the weirdest parts about preparing for prison is how temporary your life starts to feel. I stayed in Airbnbs, motels, because I didn't know when I would get remanded. I didn't want to lease anything. I didn't want furniture. I didn't want commitments. I was basically living in limbo.
Eventually, I sold my car, too. Then I entered into one of those month-to-month online car lease programs just to get me through the self-surrender date. Everything became short-term. You stop planning ahead. You're just trying to hold things together until the day it arrives. And mentally, that is exhausting. I remember walking into stores and thinking, "Why am I even buying this? I'm going to be gone for years." That thought follows you everywhere.
Get Your Paperwork Handled Before You Go In
One thing I did right was give Ashley power of attorney. She's my ex-wife, my daughter's mother, and one of the only people I fully trusted to handle things while I was inside. And if you're preparing to surrender, this is important: get your paperwork handled before you go in.
- Power of attorney to one person you trust
- Forward your mail to that one person
- If you're going to get a storage place, give them storage access — you don't want to get behind on payments and have everything you own auctioned off
- Bank accounts, passwords, all of it
Because once you're inside, simple things become complicated really fast. Something as basic as dealing with a bank issue or signing paperwork can turn into weeks of stress.
I forwarded all my mail to Ashley's house. I knew I wanted to keep my phone number, but I was not paying Verizon for 5 years. So I ported my phone number to Google Voice, which is free. Little things like that matter more than you realize.
Build a Medical Record Before You Surrender
I also started going to doctor after doctor, building a record. I knew I wanted to get designated to a federal medical center if possible. And one thing people need to understand is the BOP goes off documentation, not stories — documentation only. If you have medical issues, get them in writing before you self-surrender. See specialists, get diagnosis, prescriptions, sleep apnea, CPAP machine, mental health treatment — anything legitimate that could affect your designation of care once you're inside.
Dental Work
Same thing with dental work. Go to the dentist before prison. Don't put that off. Get the cleanings, fix cavities, get crowns — whatever you need done, do it beforehand. Because once you're inside, you could wait a very long time. Federal prison dental services has a national waiting list of 1 and a half to 2 years, unless it's an emergency. And emergencies have to be extreme — like infections, severe pain, swelling, abscesses, or something that can't wait. Just pain alone is not enough. And they don't do crowns or fillings — they just pull the tooth. And you won't get a partial until your turn comes up. Until then, you're eating mashed potatoes if you have missing teeth.
Glasses
Same thing with glasses. Bring durable prescription glasses. Nothing expensive, nothing that can break easily. You can bring two pairs. Because if your glasses break in prison, replacing them is at least 6 months.
Sell What You Don't Need
Before I sold my house, I started listing almost everything I owned on Facebook Marketplace — TV, vacuum, printer, furniture, kitchen stuff, random things that you don't even think about until you realize you'll have to pay the store rent for years. And honestly, if something doesn't have sentimental value and can be replaced with money, get rid of it. You're not going to come home from prison excited to reunite with your vacuum.
I did get a storage pod and prepaid it for 2 years to store sentimental things — like my dad's boxing memorabilia, artwork that a friend had painted for me, my daughter's pictures, important files. Mostly so nobody else had to deal with it while I was gone, but I became very selective about what was actually worth keeping.
The Credit Card Reality
I also had massive credit card debt. Ironically, the government hadn't seized my credit cards yet. So I maxed every one of them out. Before all this happened, I was obsessed about my FICO score. I kept it in the high 700s, checked it constantly. But when you think you're about to disappear into the federal system for 5 to 12 years, your priorities change quickly. At that point, I cared more about having money on my books than protecting my FICO score. And I'm not saying that's smart financially — I'm just being honest about where my head was.
You're Going to Lose Your Friends
One conversation I'll never forget happened early in the case. I brought my friend Melina with me to meet my lawyer. When I went to meet with him, she stayed in the car. When we came outside about an hour later, he put his hand on my shoulder to get my attention and said, "Brad, at the end of the day, you're going to prison for this. It's just a matter of how long." And he pointed to the car and said, "I want to tell you this now so it doesn't shock you. You're going to lose 85% of your friends." And then said, "Including that girl in the car."
Well, it turns out he was wrong. I lost closer to 89%.
Prison Tells the Truth
Prison has a way of clarifying who actually cares about you. A lot of people disappear quietly, and I don't think it's because they dislike you. Sometimes they just move on. Life moves on. Only a handful of people consistently wrote me, accepted my calls, sent me emails, sent books, pictures, put a few bucks here and there on my books. And honestly, that's one of the hardest parts emotionally — not prison itself, it's watching your world slowly shrink.
So it's important to prepare for the isolation, for losing your friends. Don't expect loyalty from anyone. I remember at the beginning of my sentence one night thinking, "I didn't mind having all those fake friends, because fake friends are still fun when life is good. They still come around, they still laugh, they still party, they still make you feel like you have a crowd — but prison tells the truth."
Don't Walk In Still Using
During those years I was fighting my case, I continued to use drugs, and I'm not proud of that, but it's the truth. The fear, the stress, the loneliness — it was overwhelming. And I was with my friend Melina almost every day numbing the pain until the very day I self-surrendered in July of '22.
I want to say this clearly: if you are on pre-trial release and you know you're going to prison, don't do what I did. Don't keep using. Don't keep numbing. Don't walk into prison still attached to the same addictions that helped destroy your life. Because whatever you bring with you mentally, prison magnifies it. Fear gets louder, loneliness gets louder, shame gets louder, addiction gets louder — and the system doesn't care that you're overwhelmed. It just keeps moving.
So if you have time before you self-surrender, use that time to get clean, stable, and get honest. I didn't, and I wish I had.
Watching Your Life Disappear
By the time I surrendered in '22, most of my life had already been stripped down. The house was gone, the money was gone, the car was gone, most of my friendships — gone. And honestly, I think that process was harder than the actual walking into prison. The initial intake of having to strip down, lift, turn around, cough, squat — that becomes routine. But watching your life slowly disappear while you're still living in it — that's a very strange feeling. And unless someone has been through it, it's hard to explain.
Bring Your Contact List
Finally, your contact list. Nobody remembers phone numbers anymore. So for your sanity, one of the most important things you can do when you self-surrender is bring your contact list.
Federal prison has a system called Trulinks. Inmates can have 30 email contacts and 30 phone numbers approved at one time. You can only call or email people on your approved list. You can remove contacts and add new ones, but the total stays at 30. Everything is monitored by staff. You add the contact, the contact gets an email asking to accept. After that, you can send and receive emails. It's not free — the inmate pays 5 cents per minute while reading and replying. There's no charge per message, just per-minute use.
Start Working on Re-entry From Day One
If you're heading into the federal system, stop thinking about just surviving the time. Think about surviving with your mind, your identity, and your future still intact. You'll adapt to counts, politics, watching your back, living around violence, manipulation, and desperation every single day. And start working on your re-entry and release from day one. And if you do that, one day you're going to walk out that gate much sooner than expected.
And if you need help with any of this, you can reach me at thehighcost.com.