Markets In Everything: Prisoner Consulting

Reportedly, Plaxico Burress has hired someone to prepare him for life in prison. TIME has the story, but here is a nugget:

How many people have you counseled?
Right now we counsel four to six people a month. These can range from a 100-hour course for $20,000 to $100-an-hour phone consultations or $150-an-hour webinars.

How many prison consultants are there?
New guys pop up all the time. But I'd say there are three to five who do it right and have been in the ballgame for years.

So what's the first thing you do with clients?
First I want to find out what their life is like. I want to know about their personality, whether they have any addictions to gambling, sex, drugs, cigarettes. The goal is to get someone to go in addiction-free, where they don't need anything from anybody. You don't want to put yourself in debt.

The other thing is basic prison etiquette. A lot of people don't know how to be respectful — period. They're cocky and they walk around with a chip on their shoulder. Now they don't even have a name; they have a number. They have to follow rules. And they have to make sure they don't do stupid things.