Herbert J. Hoelter

Last updated • 4 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Herbert Joseph Hoelter (September 20, 1950 – May 2, 2024) was an American criminal justice consultant and prison consultant. The Associated Press [1] and Boston Globe recognized him as a pioneer in the field of federal sentencing mitigation. [2] He is an expert in sentencing, creative alternatives to incarceration and the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). He is chairman and CEO of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA), a group he co-founded along with Dr. Jerome G. Miller in 1977.

Contents

Hoelter was never himself incarcerated. He preferred "professional federal sentencing consultant", and described his work as assisting with the "transition from freedom to incarceration." [3]

Background

Herbert Joseph Hoelter was born in Yonkers, New York on September 20, 1950, as the third of eight children. [4] He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Buffalo, earning a Bachelor of Arts. He then obtained a Masters of Social Work from Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania. [5]

Hoelter died from heart failure on May 2, 2024, at the age of 73. [4]

Career and NCIA

Beginning in 1977, Hoelter and the organization he co-founded, [6] NCIA, have worked with criminal defense lawyers in developing client-specific sentencing alternatives for defendants facing sentences in state and federal court. He led the NCIA's sentencing and parole services, which has prepared cases in all 50 states, 75 federal jurisdictions, and three countries. In total, more than 15,000 cases have been presented by the NCIA for consideration by sentencing courts and parole boards. [7]

Prior to sentencing, Hoelter and his colleagues at the NCIA present recommendations for alternative sentences and work on clients' behalf to secure appropriate prison placement, typically minimum security facilities where the risk of violence is low. [8] They also document the circumstances of a crime, and outline the redeeming qualities of the individual to contrast the prosecution's portrayal. [9] Once a sentence has been handed down, the organization works to help inmates assimilate into the culture of prison life from a practical and psychological standpoint. [8] Arrangements and conditions for family visitation, mail, commissary, telephone privileges, and items permitted inside are thoroughly explained.

Hoelter has also advocated for prison reform and creative alternatives to incarceration. He offers alternatives such as work release, community incarceration, drug rehabilitation centers, home detention, community service, and strict probation aided by GPS monitoring. [10] In June 1987 he testified before the United States Sentencing Commission on the issue of alternatives to incarceration, and again submitted testimony to the Sentencing Commission in July 2008 at a national conference on same issue. [11]

Clients

Hoelter focused on white-collar defendants in federal cases, and represented prior to and post sentencing Bernard L. Madoff, [3] [8] Martha Stewart, [12] Michael Vick, [13] Michael Milken, [9] Leona Helmsley, [14] Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Mike Tyson, as well as politicians, foreign nationals, husband wife or family defendants, independent business people and Wall Street executives such as Ivan Boesky, Dennis B. Levine, and James McDermott. He is also a speaker, and provides testimony to government panels and professional and academic audiences on the criminal justice system and punishment alternatives that do not involve imprisonment.

He also provided consulting services for a number of Enron executives in the early 1990s. [9] Since 2000 he has worked with criminal defense attorneys Ira Sorkin [15] and Billy Martin (lawyer). [16]

Hoelter advised Bernard L. Madoff on medical care, before Madoff began a 150-year federal prison sentence for financial crime. [8] While acknowledging the havoc caused by Madoff's fraudulent activities, Hoelter described the sentence as "the crown jewel" for the federal government and one imposed for "symbolic purposes." [3]

In the majority of cases featuring well-known clients, Hoelter managed to develop court-approved sentencing proposals which produced more lenient sentences featuring substantial amounts of community service and home confinement. [9] When clients received more stringent prison terms, as was the case for Vick, Hoelter worked to help the client resume life outside of prison, focusing on re-entry back into society. [8]

Sentencing database

To develop a better understanding of federal sentencing history, Hoelter and the NCIA in 2008 completed analysis of a computerized data collection maintained by The United States Sentencing Commission. The database is housed at the University of Michigan. [17] NCIA reviewed the data sets for fiscal years 1999-2009. The information generated by the NCIA's review is intended as a frame of reference for judges deciding fines and imprisonment terms.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incarceration in the United States</span> Form of punishment in United States law

Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated in state or federal prisons and local jails. The United States has the largest known prison population in the world. It has 5% of the world’s population while having 20% of the world’s incarcerated persons. China, with more than four times more inhabitants, has fewer persons in prison. Prison populations grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s, but began a decline around 2009, dropping 25% by year-end 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recidivism</span> Person repeating an undesirable behavior following punishment

Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been trained to extinguish it. Recidivism is also used to refer to the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a similar offense.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Attorney probe into trading in the shares of ImClone Systems resulted in a widely publicized criminal case, which resulted in prison terms for businesswoman and television personality Martha Stewart, ImClone CEO Samuel D. Waksal, and Stewart's broker at Merrill Lynch, Peter Bacanovic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denny Chin</span> American judge (born 1954)

Denny Chin is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York City. He was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York before joining the federal appeals bench. President Bill Clinton nominated Chin to the district court on March 24, 1994, and Chin was confirmed August 9 of that same year. On October 6, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Chin to the Second Circuit. He was confirmed on April 22, 2010, by the United States Senate, filling the vacancy created by Judge Robert D. Sack who assumed senior status. Chin was the first Asian American appointed as a United States District Judge outside of the Ninth Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Correctional Complex, Butner</span> Federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, US

The Federal Correctional Complex, Butner is a United States federal prison complex for men near Butner, North Carolina. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. FCC Butner is about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Raleigh, the state capital. It includes the Bureau's largest medical complex, which operates a drug treatment program and specializes in oncology and behavioral science. Among its inmates was Bernie Madoff, who was convicted for perpetrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. He died at the prison in April 2021.

The Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting investigation began in April 2007 with a search of property in Surry County, Virginia, owned by Michael Vick, who was at the time quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons football team, and the subsequent discovery of evidence of a dog fighting ring. Over seventy dogs, mostly pit bull terriers, with some said to be showing signs of injuries, were seized, along with physical evidence during several searches of Vick's 15-acre (61,000 m2) property by local, state and federal authorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incapacitation (penology)</span> One of the functions of punishment

Incapacitation in the context of criminal sentencing philosophy is one of the functions of punishment. It involves capital punishment, sending an offender to prison, or possibly restricting their freedom in the community, to protect society and prevent that person from committing further crimes. Incarceration, as the primary mechanism for incapacitation, is also used as to try to deter future offending.

Jonathan Lee Riches is a convicted fraudster known for the many lawsuits he has filed in various United States district courts. Riches was incarcerated at Federal Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky, for wire fraud under the terms of a plea bargain. His release date was April 30, 2012. He was arrested for violating his federal probation in December 2012, when he left the Eastern District of the state of Pennsylvania without permission. He allegedly drove to Connecticut and impersonated the uncle of Adam Lanza, the shooter in the Sandy Hook Elementary School incident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie Madoff</span> American fraudster and financier (1938–2021)

Bernard Lawrence Madoff was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange. Madoff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business.

David G. Friehling is an American accountant who was arrested and charged in March 2009 for his role in the Madoff investment scandal. He subsequently pleaded guilty to rubber-stamping Bernard Madoff's filings with regulators rather than fully reviewing them. His role in covering up Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme makes it the largest accounting fraud in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Penitentiary, Beaumont</span> High security prison in Texas, United States

The United States Penitentiary, Beaumont is a high security United States federal prison for male inmates in unincorporated Jefferson County, Texas. It is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Beaumont and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madoff investment scandal</span> Investment scandal discovered in 2008

The Madoff investment scandal was a major case of stock and securities fraud discovered in late 2008. In December of that year, Bernie Madoff, the former Nasdaq chairman and founder of the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, admitted that the wealth management arm of his business was an elaborate multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Participants in the Madoff investment scandal</span>

Participants in the Madoff investment scandal included employees of Bernard Madoff's investment firm with specific knowledge of the Ponzi scheme, a three-person accounting firm that assembled his reports, and a network of feeder funds that invested their clients' money with Madoff while collecting significant fees. Madoff avoided most direct financial scrutiny by accepting investments only through these feeder funds, while obtaining false auditing statements for his firm. The liquidation trustee of Madoff's firm has implicated managers of the feeder funds for ignoring signs of Madoff's deception.

A prison consultant provides newly convicted criminals with advice on how to cope and survive in the unfamiliar surroundings of prison. Prison consultants may also provide a client's attorney with advice on how to lobby the sentencing judge for a shorter sentence, and how to get a client sentenced to a lower security level prison. They may advise white-collar and celebrity criminals, high-level drug dealers and disgraced politicians to help them navigate the society of prison and make the most of their stay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marsy's Law</span> California law regarding victim legal rights and parole boards

Marsy's Law, the California Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008, enacted by voters as Proposition 9 through the initiative process in the November 2008 general election, is an amendment to the state's constitution and certain penal code sections. The act protects and expands the legal rights of victims of crime to include 17 rights in the judicial process, including the right to legal standing, protection from the defendant, notification of all court proceedings, and restitution, as well as granting parole boards far greater powers to deny inmates parole. Critics allege that the law unconstitutionally restricts defendant's rights by allowing prosecutors to withhold exculpatory evidence under certain circumstances, and harms victims by restricting their rights to discovery, depositions, and interviews. Passage of this law in California led to the passage of similar laws in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio and Wisconsin, and efforts to pass similar laws in Hawaii, Iowa, Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania. In November 2017, Marsy's Law was found to be unconstitutional and void in its entirety by the Supreme Court of Montana for violating that state's procedure for amending the Montana Constitution. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reached the same conclusion as Montana under its own state constitution in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Medical Center, Devens</span> United States federal prison in Massachusetts

The Federal Medical Center, Devens is a United States federal prison in Massachusetts for male inmates requiring specialized or long-term medical or mental health care. It is designated as an administrative facility, which means it has inmates from different security classifications, from white-collar criminals to mobsters and sex offenders. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. FMC Devens also has a satellite camp housing minimum-security male inmates.

The Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) is an intensive nine-month, 500-hour substance use disorder rehabilitation program administered by the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), offered to federal prisoners who qualify and voluntarily elect to enroll. Upon successful completion of the program, prisoners who meet the necessary criteria are eligible for up to a 12-month reduction of their sentence and possibly six months in a halfway house depending on how many months they have left on their sentence. Due to the high demand and insufficient spots, inmates are placed on a waiting list typically when they have 12 months or less time left on their sentence and are accepted when there is an opening. This is part of the reason why inmates receive different amounts of time off their sentences. For example, if an inmate has waited for a slot until he has 12 months left and the program is six months long, then he only receives six months off his sentence and so forth. Michael Vick was rumored to have entered the program while serving out his sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas.

Jerome Gilbert Miller was an American social worker, academic and public sector corrections administrator, who was an authority on the reform of juvenile and adult corrections systems. He was a prominent advocate for alternatives to incarceration for offenders as well as for the de-institutionalization of individuals with developmental disabilities. His career involved university teaching, administration of juvenile justice services for three states, clinical work with offenders and advocacy for systemic change in public sector correctional services. Miller's work first drew national attention for his leadership in closing several juvenile reformatories in Massachusetts in the early 1970s. Miller went on to emerge as a prominent national advocate, administrator and educator working for systemic change in public sector corrections and disability service delivery systems. He was the co-founder of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives.

The Illinois Innocence Project, a member of the national Innocence Project network, is a non-profit legal organization that works to exonerate wrongfully convicted people and reform the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

John Doc Fuller is a prison coach, motivational speaker, and author.

References

  1. ↑ "Prison consultants help inmates get good digs". http://NBC News/id/32184197/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/prison-consultants-help-inmates-get-good-digs/#.T34ops1CBht. 28 July 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  2. ↑ Robertson, Tatsha (April 9, 2004). "Not-so-hard-time: Consultants help well-to-do avoid tough sentences". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on July 13, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 "Madoff's Prison Adviser Gives a Lesson in Criminal Justice". New York Daily News. August 2, 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Herbert Hoelter obituary: prison consultant who helped Bernie Madoff and Martha Stewart". The Times. 29 July 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  5. ↑ Mills, Keith. "Hoelter's Admirable Project Paying Off". PressBoxOnline.com. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Future Trends in the United States Federal Sentencing Scheme". American University International Law Review. 13 (4): 1069–1094. 1998.
  7. ↑ "ncia". National Center on Institutions & Alternatives. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Abrams, Jonathan (11 October 2009). "Consultants Are Providing High-Profile Inmates a Game Plan for Coping". New York Times.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Oldenburg, Dan (June 2, 2003). "Mr. Liberty: As More White-Collar Criminals Land in Jail, a Sentencing Consultant Finds Himself in Demand". Washington Post.
  10. ↑ Hoelter, Herbert (October 2009). "Sentencing Alternatives - Back to the Future". Federal Sentencing Reporter. 22 (1): 53–58. doi:10.1525/fsr.2009.22.1.53.
  11. ↑ "Proceedings from the Symposium on Alternatives to Incarceration". United States Sentencing Commission. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  12. ↑ English, Simon (16 July 2004). "Martha Stewart turns to her latest status symbol, a trial guru". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  13. ↑ Munson, Lester (7 March 2008). "Vick at Leavenworth but isn't in prison drug program". ESPN.com. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  14. ↑ Zagorin, Adam (May 24, 1993). "Get Out of Jail, Not Quite Free". TIME.
  15. ↑ Henry, Samantaha (July 28, 2009). "Madoff gets prison consultant to help get the best behind bars". Minneapolis Star Tribune.
  16. ↑ "Commonwealth of Virginia v. Michael Vick" (PDF).
  17. ↑ "Symposium on Alternatives to Incarceration" (PDF). U.S. Sentencing Commission.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.