When I was told I would be going to prison, it felt as if my world had ended; even the thought of being locked up in a jail cell made me break out in a cold sweat. How could I survive in prison? How could I get through months of being locked up with violent convicted criminals? How could I keep myself safe from the rapes and beatings I had heard go on in prison? How could I come through the experience of being a prisoner without losing my mind or even my life?

My chances of surviving the experience of life in prison looked bleak. I am just an ordinary guy of average height and average build, not a weakling, but certainly no muscle man. I try to keep fit by running most days and I play the odd game of squash, but the thought of lifting heavy weights has never appealed to me and I’ve never had a gym membership.

When I knew that I was going to end up in prison, I wished with all my might that I had taken up martial arts or boxing instead of squash, but I must have been about ten years old when I had my last fist-fight. Years of sitting behind a desk hadn’t toughened me up and, if we’re being honest, I was becoming a little soft around the middle. Life working in an office hadn’t equipped me for fighting my way out of trouble; I had to find another way to survive a prison sentence.

I was just turned 47 years of age when I was told I would inevitably have to serve a term in prison. The thought of the way this would affect my wife and kids was almost too much to bear. I had to find a way to be strong for their sakes. I was not over endowed in the physical strength department, but I had a good brain, and that is what I used to find out how to survive in prison.

My lawyer told me right from the first meeting that a prison sentence was mandatory in my case even though it was my first offence. You see, I had been in a position of trust and had breached that trust. No, I’m not about to tell you I was an innocent victim of a miscarriage of justice, I wasn’t framed and I wasn’t mistaken for somebody else. I made a stupid mistake: I gave in to temptation, did something I knew was wrong, and I got caught. I deserved to be punished but, for the sake of my family, I had to survive prison with as little physical and emotional damage as possible.

I was guilty and, if the maximum sentence was imposed, I would be facing many years behind bars. Once I had faced up to that fact, I started thinking about how I could best prepare myself for prison life. That’s how I found the way to survive prison and come out ready to pick up my life.

My thoughts turned to famous people who had been to prison and come through the experience apparently unharmed. How could they go from a life of luxury to the deprivations of prison and then back again without cracking up? I wondered how someone like Martha Stewart could bear the harshness of prison life and not be damaged by it.

Then I thought about Bernard Madoff. When he went to jail it was in the news that he was not afraid of going to prison. He was sentenced to 150 years in a federal penitentiary – and he was 71 years of age! That’s when I discovered “prison coaches”.

I hadn’t known such a thing as a prison coach existed until then. It didn’t take long to discover that these professional coaches can help you to get the best terms when you are sentenced as well as teaching you how to survive a term in prison. For the first time, I began to feel hopeful of finding a way to cope with life in prison.

My research then brought some bad news: prison coaching typically costs up to $200 an hour and time estimates for coaching ranged between 40 and 100 hours. There was no way I could afford to pay a prison coach. I was almost ready to give up hope, but then I discovered that there are self-coaching resources available if you look hard enough.

I didn’t waste any time. I downloaded an ebook I found online and started coaching myself, and this was the best thing I could have done. I downloaded Survive Jail and learned things even my lawyer couldn’t have told me.

The first thing I learned was that I had hired the worng lawyer! Luckily I had time to put that right.

The second thing I discovered was how your PSI report can be used to get you a more lenient sentence – and I had never even heard of a PSI before! Using what I had learned got me the minimum sentence the Law allows.

I found out what to expect when I stepped inside prison to start my sentence; that helped me to feel less afraid, and made me able to reassure my family that we would all get through this tough time.

The coaching taught me how to behave in prison in order to avoid the unwanted attention of the prison gangs and sexual predators, so that I could do my time in relative peace.

The coaching not only taught me about going into prison, it also taught me about what to expect on getting out of prison.

I did survive in prison thanks to one very special book. If you are living under the threat of a prison sentence, I recommend you take immediate action to obtain coaching and advice. If you click the following link you can download the first 20 pages of this amazing prison survival coach book free of charge.