SurvivingSet the site up the way you can read it best. Your choice stays on this device.
The books
Everything you need in a crisis is free on this site, and it stays free. The two books are the whole manual, organized and in print, and a paperback can be mailed to someone with no internet.
Asked to buy Busted by the Feds? Read the honest review first (survivingthefeds.com/books/busted-by-the-feds-review): the latest edition, the price, and what its readers say.
Print this. Copy it. Mail it to someone inside. That’s what it’s for. Just don’t sell it.
How to mail it inside, and what the mailroom rejectsPick where the case is right now. Each line tells you which book covers it. Where neither book does, it goes to the free guide for that stage.
Read it as soon as someone is charged, and before any plea is signed.
Read it well before the one-year deadline to challenge a federal conviction or sentence.
On Amazon, checked October 30, 2026: Surviving Pretrial is $12.99 on Kindle and $74.95 in paperback. The 2255 Motion Handbook is $9.99 on Kindle and $54.99 in paperback. Both Kindle books are included with Kindle Unlimited. Amazon sets the price, so it can change.
I wrote Surviving Pretrial and The 2255 Motion Handbook and earn royalties on them. — Bilal
A Kindle book can’t be mailed into a jail or a prison. The paperback can, if the facility allows it: order it new and ship it straight to the person, with their full name and number on the address. Federal prisons and county jails have different rules, so check the facility’s mail rules first.
The step-by-step: Send it inside covers the address, the number, what gets mail sent back, and the federal prison rules for books.
If someone inside has asked you for Busted by the Feds, read the honest review before you spend about $200 on it. It covers which edition is the latest, what it costs, and what its readers say, with every fact dated.
No. Everything you need in a crisis is free here, and it stays free: the checklists, the guides, the tools and every printable page. The books go deeper, keep it all in one place, and can be mailed to someone who has no internet.
The one for the stage the case is in now. Before sentencing, Surviving Pretrial. After sentencing, The 2255 Motion Handbook.
On Amazon, as a Kindle book or a paperback. Every button on this site goes straight to the Amazon listing. There is no store here.
No. I’m an Inmate Advocate, not a lawyer, and both books say so in their legal notices. They teach you how the system works so you can work with your lawyer and check the work.
This is educational information from a paralegal, not legal advice. Every case is different. Talk to a lawyer about yours.
Surviving the Feds is not a law firm and never provides legal advice. Everything here is for educational purposes only, drawn from lived experience and years of paralegal work in federal criminal cases. Using this site or app does not create an attorney-client relationship. Bilal Khan is not a lawyer. Nothing in the legal world is guaranteed, so talk to a lawyer about your own case.