Federal Prison Preparation

Federal Prison and Surrender Preparation

Sentencing Advocacy Group helps federal defendants and their families organize the responsibilities, records and questions involved in preparing for custody. Founder and president Joseph De Gregorio served approximately 30% of his sentence in federal prison before home confinement. He studied the Bureau of Prisons’ processes, programs and release pathways in depth and applied that knowledge to his own preparation and release planning.

Joseph has since helped hundreds of federal defendants navigate the Bureau of Prisons and prepare for available early-release opportunities, including clients who returned to their families through community placement. Work directly with Joseph on a practical custody and release plan built around your circumstances.

Read Nicole’s planning experience →

When to begin

If you have been sentenced and are awaiting surrender, start with your known date, reporting instructions, designation information if available, and the arrangements your family needs to make. If custody is still a possibility rather than a confirmed next step, the engagement can focus on practical preparation without treating a predicted sentence or placement as settled.

For someone already incarcerated, identify the present concern in the initial conversation so the work can be scoped to that stage rather than repeating a pre-surrender checklist.

What the preparation produces

SAG’s prison preparation engagement can produce an individual surrender checklist, a family-responsibility plan and a health-information checklist. The written scope identifies the selected materials, confirmed instructions, outstanding questions and people responsible for each task before the transition into custody.

• An individual surrender checklist: confirmed instructions, items to verify, relevant dates and questions to resolve before reporting.
• A family-responsibility plan: the people responsible for practical household, caregiving and communication arrangements, with unresolved tasks identified. Legal and financial decisions remain with you and the appropriate advisers.
• A health-information checklist: available provider information and documentation to discuss with counsel and clinical professionals. Medication and treatment instructions must come from the appropriate professionals and institution.
• A designation and program question list: issues to raise using the actual record, with assumptions and unconfirmed expectations clearly identified.
• A preparation summary: the arrangements completed, records organized and questions still requiring attention, ready for an agreed review with the relevant people.

These are preparation materials. They do not replace official surrender instructions, institution rules or professional advice.

A practical preparation process

SAG’s prison preparation process has three stages: review the situation, build the plan and check the arrangements before surrender. Each stage uses the instructions currently available, assigns responsibility for unresolved items and identifies questions that counsel or another appropriate professional must confirm.

Build the plan. Work through the selected checklist and supporting information. Assign responsibility for unresolved items, record the source of instructions and identify questions that need confirmation.

Review before the transition. Check the agreed plan against the latest information you have received. Prepare a concise account of outstanding matters for counsel, providers or the institution, as appropriate. Any continuing support is defined in the engagement terms.

How Sentencing Advocacy Group works alongside counsel and other professionals

Counsel handles legal questions and advises on the judgment, reporting obligations and any request requiring legal action. Providers advise on clinical care. Sentencing Advocacy Group helps organize the agreed preparation so that questions reach the appropriate professional with relevant information available.

We do not promise a particular facility, security level, program or change in reporting instructions. For background on the placement process, read our Federal Prison Designation guide.

What an engagement adds to a survival guide

The Federal Prison Survival Guide covers general preparation questions. Individual work turns those topics into a checklist for your circumstances, a plan for your family's responsibilities and a clear account of what is still unresolved.

That support can be useful when the information is scattered or the family needs help deciding what to organize first. The initial conversation should identify a specific preparation need and a useful scope of work.

Prepare for the transition and keep the next stage in view

Practical surrender preparation and later release planning address different needs. An early release-planning overview can help you understand the questions ahead, while your immediate plan focuses on the instructions and responsibilities in front of you.

Joseph De Gregorio has been retained in hundreds of federal cases, primarily white-collar matters. Learn about Joseph and his background, and explore the published record.

For personal and professional background, listen to the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section’s JustPod interview, Federal Sentence Reduction and Early Release: Joseph De Gregorio’s Journey. Originally published October 27, 2025, the conversation explores accountability, rehabilitation, sentencing preparation, incarceration and rebuilding after release. Current surrender instructions and institutional rules remain separate questions to confirm with counsel and the receiving institution.

When the focus turns to documented housing, employment, treatment and family support, explore federal early-release and reentry planning.

Discuss your preparation with Joseph

A prison preparation review starts with your case stage, known surrender date, counsel’s involvement and the practical matters your family needs help organizing. Joseph De Gregorio uses that information to discuss scope and timing before an appropriate process for sensitive records is agreed.

Request a Private Case Review · Call Joseph: 646-588-8182 · Email Joseph

Sentencing Advocacy Group is not a law firm and does not provide legal or medical advice. Services are agreed individually. No facility designation, program admission, sentence or release outcome is guaranteed.