7+ Years of Support!

We meet every Monday.

We are a community of individuals, families and groups with white collar justice issues who have a desire to take responsibility for our actions and the wreckage we caused, make amends, and move forward in new way of life centered on hope, care, compassion, tolerance and empathy. Our experience shows us that many of us are suffering in silence with shame, remorse, and deep regret. Many of us have been stigmatized by our own families, friends and communities, and the business community. Our goal is to learn and evolve into a new spiritual way of life and to reach out in service to others. 

Over 700 Fellow Travelers have participated in our support group meetings from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming - and Canada, South America, Israel. Mexico, Europe, Scandinavia, and the Caribbean. All have agreed this has been a valuable, important experience in which everyone feels less alone, and gratified in the opportunity to talk about things in a safe space only we could understand.

WCSG members have access to our private on-line community which features peer and mentoring support, our white collar job and career board, news and events relevant to our community, advocacy initiatives and partnerships with other nonprofits, and a wide array of other resources. We sponsor a monthly newsletter, a Tuesday Night Speaker Series (open to family and friends), social media channels, and our website hosts our widely-read blog with over ten years of important content. All freely offered on a volunteer basis by group members at no cost to our members and their families!

Thank you for referring justice-impacted people and families: info@prisonist.org. 

For press/media inquiries: press@grantlaw.com. 

IMPORTANT!: If you are currently on supervised release, probation or parole, it is important that you first discuss this with your P.O. To assist in this regard, information about our ministry is available on prisonist.org.

Link for details, invitation or to make referrals...

Also, White Collar Week Podcast: An Evening with Our White Collar Support Group. 16 support group members share their stories. Link here.

Sam Patten is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets on Zoom on Monday evenings

We are honored to have Sam Patten as the July speaker in our White Collar Support Group Tuesday Speaker Series.

Link to register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwtduisqTgsGNbos3LD2PZXxUR9MUoWzeE2

Information about our White Collar Support Group: http://prisonist.org

Sam Patten is a communications strategist, author of the forthcoming memoir Dangerous Company: The Misadventures of a ‘Foreign Agent,’ long-time political operative in the U.S. and globally, and a felon re-entering society after being convicted in a high-profile investigation of Russian meddling in U.S. elections.

The ninth American to be convicted of failing to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act of 1938, Patten cooperated with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2018-19 probe and pleaded guilty to the lobbying charge, for which he was sentenced to three years probation. Prior to this, Sam worked as an advisor to political leaders in other countries, including Iraq, Ukraine, Georgia, the DR Congo and many others. It was his work for a Ukrainian political party that landed him in the crosshairs of U.S. investigators.

During the second administration of George W. Bush, Sam served as a senior advisor to the undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. He’d also worked extensively in the field for the International Republican Institute (IRI) as the democracy group’s country director in Russia (2001-4) and political director in Iraq (2004-5). He also ran Freedom House’s Eurasian programs from 2009-11, with a focus on Central Asia. In 2000, Sam coordinated Bush’s campaign in Maine, where he had been working for U.S. Senator Susan Collins and U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe.

Growing up on the coast of Maine, Sam has — like sea captains who lived there a centuries ago — long been fascinated with the lands beyond America’s shores. In college, he studied the Soviet Union just as it was falling apart, and in the early 1990s, he found a way to Kazakhstan, where he worked as a teacher and advisor to energy companies. Both Sam’s parents are the children of foreign service officers, and both are direct descendants of John Jay, America’s first minister of foreign affairs and chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Upon completing his sentence in the Washington, DC area, Sam returned to Maine, where he lives with his dog, Pepper. He volunteers to teach in state prisons, and is a justice ambassador for Prison Fellowship.

To reach Sam Patten: w.s.patten@gmail.com

I wanted it to be done. 

I don’t know what done actually meant, I just knew I wanted it, and I wanted it more than I wanted anything. 

I’m referring to how I felt after I was arrested by the FBI.

I wanted the situation to be over, but I couldn’t see the other side; I had no idea what it looked like, so I just wished it was done. 

And I spent quite a bit of time in this limbo of purgatory. 

Intellectually I knew my circumstance and sentence had an expiration date, but it felt emotionally infinite. 

Sometimes I live in my intellect; most of the time, especially when it’s all-consuming, like the uncertainty of prison and life after prison, I live in the emotional. 

I don’t know what shifted, but my mentality shifted ever so slightly, but enough to make a huge difference.

I transformed from wanting to be done to wanting to make it through. 

I still didn’t know what the other side looked like, but I desperately wanted to make it there. And this energy was enough to help me move forward, to slowly but surely put one foot in front of the other...

Read Craig's blog post here...

Thank you Matt Adams and your team at Fox Rothschild LLP for your great warmth and empathy in this open and candid conversation. I don’t think I’ve ever before shared in such detail the depths of my prescription opioid addiction, the wreckage it caused my career, my family and myself, and then my road of redemption through service to others. I hope my story will serve as a beacon of hope to people out there who are suffering in silence. - Jeff

__________________

Jeffrey D. (Jeff) Grant, co-founder of both Progressive Prison Ministries and GrantLaw PLLC, joins Matthew S. Adams, Co-Chair of Fox Rothschild’s White-Collar Criminal Defense & Regulatory Compliance Practice Group, on The Presumption of Innocence to share his powerful story of redemption .

Their discussion shines a light on the darkness of Jeff’s experiences and explains how, by taking responsibility for his actions, he now devotes his life to helping people prosecuted for white-collar crimes.

In May 2021, Jeff’s law license was reinstated by the New York Supreme Court. In August 2022, Jeff celebrated 20 years clean and sober.

Episode 22: Reclaiming Purpose: A Transformative Journey Through Addiction, Rehab and Prison

In a powerful and inspiring episode, Jeff Grant, co-founder of both Progressive Prison Ministries Inc. and GrantLaw, PLLC, joins host Matt Adams, Co-Chair of Fox Rothschild’s White-Collar Criminal Defense & Regulatory Compliance Practice Group, to share his powerful story of redemption after being disbarred and incarcerated for lying on a post-9/11 SBA loan.

About 25 years ago, Jeff experienced a downward spiral stemming from a prescription opioid addiction that twisted his lucrative legal career into criminal behavior. Despite a successful stint in rehab, he was disbarred and incarcerated for lying on a post-9/11 SBA loan.

This riveting discussion shines a light into the darkness of Jeff’s experiences and explains how, by taking responsibility for his actions, Jeff now devotes his life to helping people prosecuted for white-collar crimes and their families.

Note: This episode contains discussion of substance abuse and attempted suicide.

Listen to the podcast here...

Legal Action Center is turning 50 and celebrating half a century fighting discrimination, building health equity, and restoring opportunity for individuals and families impacted by the criminal legal system, addiction and/or HIV/AIDS. We hope you’ll join us as we build upon our many accomplishments over the past five decades and work to ensure another 50 years of impact building a healthier, more equitable, and just nation for all.

"I am honored to serve on the Board of Directors of the Legal Action Center." - Jeff

Watch the Video:

1.  Family Support Group: Sponsored by Evolution Reentry, Hosted by Bill Livolsi, Online on Zoom, Thursdays, 7 pm ET: https://prisonist.org/family-support-group-sponsored-by-evolution-reentry-online-on-zoom-thursdays-7-pm-et-starting-feb-3-2022/

2.  Spiritual Urgent Care, Online on Zoom, Thursdays, 9:30 am ET, 6:30 am PT: Please join us for a 1/2 hour midweek check in. Open to friends and family members too: https://zoom.us/j/397962564

3. Podcast: Jeff Grant on the Nightmare Success Podcast with Brent Cassity, May 25, 2023: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nightmare-success-in-and-out-guest-jeff-grant/id1588287560?i=1000614452639

4.Podcast: Jeff Grant on the Presumption of Innocence Podcast with Matt Adams, June 6, 2023: https://www.grantlaw.com/jeff-grant-on-the-presumption-of-innocence-podcast-with-matt-adams-june-6-2023/

6. White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series - Sam Patten, "Russiagate" Defendant, Political Advisor & Author July 18, 2023, to Register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwtduisqTgsGNbos3LD2PZXxUR9MUoWzeE2

7. YouTube Video: White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series - Elizabeth Kelley, Criminal Defense Attorney for People with Mental Health Disabilities, Jan. 10, 2023: https://www.grantlaw.com/white-collar-week-tuesday-speaker-series-elizabeth-kelley-criminal-defense-attorney-for-people-with-mental-health-disabilities-on-zoom-tues-jan-10-2023-7-pm-et-4-pm-pt/

8. YouTube Video: We Presented at the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section Fall Conference, Fri., Nov. 18, 2022, Washington, DC: https://prisonist.org/panel-prosecuted-lawyers-perspectives-on-white-collar-nonviolent-prosecution-and-reentry-aba-criminal-justice-conference-washington-dc-nov-18-2022/

9.YouTube Video: White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series: Jim Campbell, Author of "Madoff Talks" The book that Inspired the Netflix Documentary "Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street": Feb. 21, 2023: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week-tuesday-speaker-series-jim-campbell-author-of-madoff-talks-the-book-that-inspired-the-netflix-documentary-madoff-the-monster-of-wall-street-on-zoom-feb-21-2023-7-pm-et/

15.YouTube Video: White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series: Scott Semple, Former Connecticut Commissioner of Correction:

Mar. 21, 2023: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week-tuesday-speaker-series-white-collar-week-tuesday-speaker-series-scott-semple-former-connecticut-commissioner-of-correction-on-zoom-march-21-2023/

16.YouTube Video: White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series: Christopher Poulos, Executive Director, Center for Justice and Human Dignity: Apr. 18, 2023: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week-tuesday-speaker-series-christopher-poulos-executive-director-center-for-justice-and-dignity%ef%bf%bc-on-zoom-april-18-2023-7-pm-et-4-pm-pt/

10. YouTube Video: White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series - David B. Smith, Esq., Federal Restitution & Forfeiture Collection Expert, June 20, 2023: https://prisonist.org/white-collar-week-tuesday-speaker-series-on-zoom-tues-june-20-2023-7-pm-et-4-pm-pt-david-b-smith-esq-federal-restitution-forfeiture-collection-expert/

11. Entrepreneur: I Went to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud – 7 Things to Know When Taking Disaster Relief Money: by Fellow Traveler Jeff Grant: https://www.grantlaw.com/hurricane-ian-fraud-alert-entrepreneur-article-redux-i-went-to-prison-for-sba-loan-fraud-7-things-to-know-when-taking-covid-19-relief-money-by-jeff-grant-j-d-m-div/

12. Entrepreneur: 9 Things to Know when Hiring a White Collar Criminal Defense Attorney, by Fellow Traveler Jeff Grant: https://www.grantlaw.com/entrepreneur-9-things-to-know-when-hiring-a-white-collar-criminal-defense-lawyer-by-jeff-grant-esq/

13. Donations: Thank you for your generosity in supporting Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. and our White Collar Support Group. Please make your check payable to "Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.," a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and send to our mailing address: 516 S. Dixie Hwy., Box 222, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401. Or, please make your online donation here: http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ. All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Please make your check payable to "Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.," a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and send to our mailing address: 516 S. Dixie Hwy, Box 222, West Palm Beach, FL 33401. All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thank you for your support! 

Or, please make your online donation here:

Rev. Jeff Grant, J.D., M.Div. (he, him, his) 

Co-founder, Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.

Greenwich CT & Nationwide

Mailing: 516 S. Dixie Hwy, Box 222, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Website: prisonist.org

Email: info@prisonist.org

Office: 212-859-3512

Donations (501c3): http://bit.ly/donate35T9kMZ

Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/jeff-grant-woodbury-ct/731344

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/revjeffgrant

not a prison coach, not a prison consultant

Media Relations: press@grantlaw.com

Speaking Engagements: https://www.espeakers.com/marketplace/profile/39107

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