Questions people ask
What should you do before going to prison?
The short answer
Preparation before a sentence comes down to four decisions: who holds legal authority to act, where papers and valuables are kept, how recurring bills get paid, and who stays in contact with the facility. Anything that may be part of the case stays put until the defense attorney says otherwise.
The longer answer
The case takes most of the attention in the weeks before a surrender date. The practical work gets what is left. It goes faster in a fixed order: authority first, then papers, then money, then things.
Authority means a signed power of attorney naming someone to act, with the powers they will need written in. Florida’s signing rules call for two witnesses and a notary, which is much easier to arrange at home than inside a facility. Papers means the originals: birth certificate, passport, Social Security card, car titles, the deed, the will, insurance policies. Put them in one place and tell the agent where it is.
Money means every bill that arrives on its own. Rent or mortgage, property tax, insurance, the phone, a storage unit, a car loan, subscriptions nobody remembers signing up for. Cancel what can be cancelled. Hand the rest to the agent with account numbers attached. Things means the jewelry, the watch, the coins, the family photographs, and a decision about each: sell it, give it to someone, or keep it.
Ask your attorney before anything that may be part of the case is moved. That covers money, vehicles and anything named in a charge or a possible restitution order. The attorney knows what the court, the prosecutor or a victim may have a claim to, and that knowledge comes before any packing.
A one-page version for the attorney’s office
These questions tend to land on the defense attorney’s desk late, with days left rather than months. We wrote a printable one-page checklist that walks through the four decisions in order, with space to write the agent’s name and where each original is kept. An attorney can hand it across the desk. Nobody is paid for passing it on.
For the valuables and papers, our part is the place. A box in a 9R-rated vault, rented for the length of the absence, with everything listed on a signed intake inventory the renter keeps a copy of. On the smallest box, a 3-year term is $636 a year, $1,908 in all, after the 20% term discount. Documents can also be mailed in from anywhere in the US. We identify the renter, place the documents in the box and mail the key back.
Storage here keeps nothing from a court. We honor valid warrants, subpoenas and court orders, and we have never offered anonymous or unrecorded rental. If an item is, or may be, part of the case, it stays wherever the attorney says it stays.