The Fifth Quarter

The Fifth Quarter
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THE GAME ISN'T OVER, THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER QUARTER. Brad, Has, and Ross got to the top by any means necessary. Then the Feds called game. They took the loss, served every day of their debt, and walked out with nothing but the lesson. Regulation is over. This is the Fifth Quarter — three men rebuilding reputation, relationships, and wealth in front of you, play by play. Real stories. Real numbers. No gurus. If you've ever had to start over — from a cell, from zero, from rock bottom — this is your show. New episodes weekly.

  1. 1d ago

    How to Make Money After Prison

    When you come home, everybody tells you to get a job. But what job, and what if you want more than a paycheck? Hasan, Brad and Ross get real about making money after prison: the first paycheck, trades and licenses, using AI the right way, starting small with what you have, and what "comfortable" actually costs today. No hype and no guarantees, just what worked, what didn't, and what we'd do differently. In this episode: - The first paycheck after prison, and what it felt like - 5Q: By the Numbers - Why we pay for mentors and knowledge - How to use ChatGPT for research, and why you make it show its sources - First job home: license, CDL and trucking - Testing a business idea before you spend real money - The middleman model, and how dealer buying works - Job, career or business, and what it costs to live comfortably Facts on screen are checked against primary sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025, Business Employment Dynamics, CPI), Florida HSMV, GSA/SAM.gov, AuctionACCESS and the EEOC. Pay and fees vary by state and change over time. This is a candid conversation, not legal, financial or career advice. There's always a fifth quarter. 0:00 Cold open: what it takes to start 0:41 Welcome: how to make money after prison 0:54 The first paycheck after prison 3:15 5Q: By the Numbers 8:16 Paying for mentors and knowledge 18:34 Getting started: phones, apps and local events 22:50 How we started using AI 29:01 Using ChatGPT the right way 35:13 Make AI show its sources 40:04 First job home: license, CDL and trucking 45:00 Is everyone built to be an entrepreneur? 46:03 Test a restaurant before you open one 48:50 A $200 lawn-care start 50:56 The middleman model 53:50 Buying cars for dealers 57:02 Learning any business with AI 59:25 Job, career or business? 1:01:59 What does "comfortable" cost? 1:03:05 Raising a family: the real numbers 1:04:43 RSA of the Week 1:06:01 Final word: there's always a fifth quarter

  2. Oct 29

    Inside RDAP: Pull-Ups, Team, and the Fight for a Year Off

    Did RDAP change how we think, or just teach us how to behave? Hasan and Brad were in the same RDAP class at FPC Montgomery, and Ross came through a class or two behind them. All three completed the residential program and the halfway-house treatment after it. In this episode they show you what the RDAP words actually meant: Jumpstart, pull-ups, lanyard colors, rollback and Team. They play a new game, Accept, Deny, or Team, run a pull-up for the camera, and tell the real stories behind Hasan's and Ross's time in yellow, including Hasan's first Team. In 5Q By The Numbers, the guys guess what share of eligible RDAP completers actually got the maximum sentence reduction. Brad guessed 85%. Ross guessed 90%. The real number was far lower. Then it's the communication tools they still use today ("beneficial," catching demand thinking, positive self-talk), what halfway-house follow-up treatment looked like for them, and at what age each of them would have taken RDAP if they could do it over. Accept, deny, or team? Play along and vote in the comments. This episode reflects our personal experiences and opinions. It is not legal advice. Contains strong language. RDAP is described as we remember it at one facility; it is not a statement of BOP policy at every site. 5Q BY THE NUMBERS - 19% (2,846 of 15,302) of eligible RDAP completers in fiscal years 2009-2011 received the maximum sentence reduction; the average reduction was 8.0 months. Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-12-320 (February 2012). https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-12-320 - The current BOP maximum RDAP reduction depends on sentence length and is not guaranteed: 30 months or less, up to 6 months; 31-36 months, up to 9; 37 months or more, up to 12. Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons, Program Statement 5331.02, Change Notice 3 (May 7, 2026); 18 U.S.C. 3621(e). https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5331_002_CN-3.pdf - First Step Act time credits are separate from the RDAP sentence reduction. Sources: 18 U.S.C. 3632(d)(4) (FSA time credits); 18 U.S.C. 3621(e) (RDAP reduction). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3632 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3621 The Fifth Quarter is an unfiltered conversation between formerly incarcerated men about what prison takes, what it teaches, and what comes after. The game isn't over. There's always another quarter. Hosts: Hasan Brown, Brad McCorkle, Ross CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open: did RDAP change how we think? 0:51 Welcome: same RDAP class at FPC Montgomery 2:44 The game: Accept, Deny or Team 8:30 The one-year "carrot" 9:55 Why RDAP, and getting in 12:13 First Jumpstart 13:47 How Jumpstart worked 17:39 Pull-ups, demonstrated 27:27 Denying a pull-up 32:24 Was Jumpstart a manipulation? 33:52 Raids, silence and time as leverage 39:54 What "Team" is 43:32 Hasan's first Team 51:30 What's at stake: the rollback 54:50 Did RDAP change people? 56:23 Ross in yellow 1:02:08 Communication tools that stuck 1:08:30 5Q By The Numbers: who got the max reduction? 1:11:26 Halfway-house treatment 1:14:58 More useful on the outside? 1:16:38 At what age would you take RDAP? 1:24:19 Sign-off: always another quarter

  3. Oct 22

    Who Paid for Your Sentence? What Prison Cost Our Families

    Your sentence has a bill. The question is, who paid for it? Hasan, Brad and Ross get honest about what prison cost the people who never got sentenced: the kids, the spouses, the moms who flew in every month, and the friends who did or didn't show up. They talk about when it finally hit home that their families had become victims of their choices, living two lives until the double life collapsed, whether your family owes you loyalty while you're inside, and how therapy and RDAP changed the way they listen. In 5Q By The Numbers, the guys guess how much money people inside actually have, what prison jobs pay, and which family member is most likely to support someone who's incarcerated. The answers surprised all three of them. Then it's Stay, Leave, or It Depends, the small things that mattered most inside (yes, Friday ice cream), and some hard-earned advice for anyone on supervised release. Who showed up for you, or who did you show up for? Tell us in the comments. This episode reflects our personal experiences and opinions. It is not legal advice. Contains strong language. 5Q BY THE NUMBERS - About 77% of federal commissary accounts held $249.99 or less on Dec. 4, 2024. Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Register 89 FR 102022 (Dec. 17, 2024). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-12-17/html/2024-29692.htm - Federal prison institution work assignments pay 12 to 40 cents an hour. Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons, Work Programs. https://www.bop.gov/inmates/custody_and_care/work_programs.jsp - 86% of adult children with an incarcerated parent spend money to support them, averaging $5,470 a year; 60% of those adult children are 18 to 29. Source: FWD.us, We Can't Afford It: Mass Incarceration and the Family Tax (June 2025). https://www.wecantaffordit.us/ The Fifth Quarter is an unfiltered conversation between formerly incarcerated men about what prison takes, what it teaches, and what comes after. The game isn't over. There's always another quarter. Hosts: Hasan Brown, Brad McCorkle, Ross CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open: Friday ice cream 0:31 Who paid for your sentence? 6:56 When it finally hit home 19:26 Two lives, two identities 24:59 What's done in the dark 31:41 5Q By The Numbers: who funds prison? 35:24 Does your family owe you loyalty? 40:49 Control the controllables 44:13 Rebuilding trust and therapy 55:13 Stay, Leave, or It Depends 1:08:13 Who shows up: $50, a letter, ice cream 1:15:41 RSAs: life on supervised release 1:20:39 Your PO is not your friend 1:23:51 Staying away from old habits 1:27:17 Always another quarter

  4. Oct 15

    I Got a 5K. Did I Snitch? Cooperation vs. the Street Code

    Hasan took a four-level leader enhancement, sat for two meetings with multiple federal agencies, and at sentencing the government filed a 5K1.1 substantial-assistance motion for him. So he puts the question to Brad and Ross straight up: did he snitch? Brad comes from the old school, and for him the line is the betrayal: sitting down against your co-defendants. Ross says RDAP gave him a different word for it: accountability. The three of them get into telling on yourself versus telling on someone else, what happens when people who have never been in trouble get caught up in the process, and the men still doing time out of loyalty to a code. In 5Q By The Numbers, Hasan asks how many federal defendants actually receive a 5K1.1 departure. Brad guessed 85 percent. Ross guessed 65. The real number is about 8 in 100. Then the conversation turns to what comes after: finishing what you start, the booms the three of them have lived through, and why Hasan, who is not a coder, says AI is the tool anyone with imagination and patience should be learning now. Where do you draw the line between snitching and cooperating? Tell us in the comments. This episode reflects our personal experiences and general discussion. It is not legal advice. 5Q BY THE NUMBERS Substantial-assistance departures. Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, FY2025 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics, Table 37, note 1: of the 66,662 individuals sentenced federally in fiscal year 2025, 5,423 received a §5K1.1 substantial-assistance departure below the guideline range. That is about 8 in 100. https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/annual-reports-and-sourcebooks/2025/Table37.pdf https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/annual-reports-and-sourcebooks/2025/Table01.pdf The Fifth Quarter is an unfiltered conversation between formerly incarcerated men about what prison takes, what it teaches, and what comes after. The game isn't over. There's always another quarter. Hosts: Hasan Brown, Brad McCorkle, Ross CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open: "I got a 5K. Did I snitch?" 0:32 Hasan puts his own case on the table 1:39 What does "snitch" mean to you? 2:12 Telling on yourself vs. telling on someone else 4:29 Why "snitch" means something different to everyone 5:54 Snitch or cooperator? 8:04 RDAP and the power of accountability 10:26 Prison: the ultimate accountability 12:25 There's no "but" 14:28 Brad: where I draw the line 15:53 Loyal to a code over family 16:22 5Q By The Numbers: how many get a 5K? 17:51 What "substantial assistance" means to us 19:44 Ross: 100 people on one indictment 22:01 When first-timers get caught up 24:57 Forgiving the people who turned 25:48 What a year in prison can teach you 27:38 Finishers win 29:19 Brad: finish what you start 30:37 Is college still the move? 32:11 Four booms, three generations 33:16 Who is really building wealth right now? 36:56 "I'm not a coder": building with AI 40:39 A month instead of a four-year degree 42:05 AI is a tool 43:14 Social media meets the AI boom 47:04 Brad's phone dies 48:31 Why we keep talking 49:30 Close

  5. Oct 8

    Can the Wrong Lawyer Cost You Years? What We Learned in Federal Court

    Hasan paid $175,000 for a federal defense attorney. At his bond revocation hearing the judge gave him ten days to report to prison, and his lawyer's entire contribution was two words. Brad changed attorneys in the middle of his case too. Ross has been through three federal cases: one lawyer he paid for, two the court appointed. This episode is about what that choice actually costs. What separates real advice from the answer you want to hear. Whether a bigger retainer buys you anything at all. Why federal and district experience mattered in our cases. And the red flags that would make us end a consultation before it starts. Brad closes it out with an RSA about betrayal, grief, and choosing grace. What question do you wish you'd asked before hiring a lawyer? Tell us in the comments. This episode reflects our personal experiences and general discussion. It is not legal advice. 5Q BY THE NUMBERS Acceptance of responsibility. Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2025 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics, Table 22. Of the 61,245 federal cases in fiscal year 2025 for which the Commission received complete guideline application information, 96.1% received an acceptance-of-responsibility reduction: 35.7% a two-level adjustment and 60.4% a three-level adjustment. 3.9% received no adjustment. Guilty pleas. Source: same Sourcebook, Table 11. Of 66,662 federal sentencing cases in fiscal year 2025, 65,099 were resolved by a guilty plea and 1,563 went to trial, which is 97.7% and 2.3%. This is a different denominator from the figure above. https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/annual-reports-and-sourcebooks/2025/2025_Sourcebook.pdf Who has a lawyer. Source: U.S. Courts, 15 July 2025: "Over 90 percent of defendants in federal criminal cases have court-appointed counsel, because they cannot afford their own lawyer." https://www.uscourts.gov/data-news/judiciary-news/2025/07/15/funding-crisis-leaves-defense-lawyers-working-without-pay The Fifth Quarter is an unfiltered conversation between formerly incarcerated men about what prison takes, what it teaches, and what comes after. The game isn't over. There's always another quarter. Hosts: Hasan Brown, Brad McCorkle, Ross CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 0:16 Can the wrong lawyer cost you years? 1:34 Real advice vs. the answer you want 3:17 5Q By The Numbers: who actually has a court-appointed lawyer 4:37 $100K and inexperienced, or a federal specialist? 6:51 When your lawyer and the judge go way back 8:53 Does paying more buy you control? 10:16 What Hasan thought $175,000 was buying 15:11 "$175,000 for 'will do'" 16:02 The $50,000 phone call 16:59 Brad and the pre-indictment window 18:46 Chef Wednesdays, then the revocation 22:02 "$400,000 for trial, or $200,000 to plead" 24:38 Ross: one lawyer he paid for, two the court appointed 26:07 How appointed counsel can work 29:56 Should your lawyer fear the prosecutor? 34:51 Lay low and play slow 35:56 Information vs. indictment 39:22 Ross's 14-page letter to the judge 41:28 Brad's PSA: speaking at sentencing 44:58 The mindset shift 46:06 RDAP, accountability, and learning to apologize 51:43 The street psychologist 53:55 5Q By The Numbers: acceptance of responsibility 55:50 The correction: the real numbers 57:59 Is your lawyer a salesperson? 1:00:37 What the judge sees when you walk in 1:06:11 Tears in the courtroom 1:08:33 The word RICO 1:13:07 Red flag, green flag: "I know the prosecutor" 1:16:17 Red flag, green flag: trial is a separate fee 1:21:10 Red flag, green flag: "I've never practiced in this district" 1:24:09 Brad's RSA: grace after betrayal 1:31:53 Close

  6. Oct 1

    Were We Ever Broken? What Prison Actually Changes | Adam James

    Three men who met in federal prison, came home, and are rebuilding money, reputation and relationships in public. This week a fourth man sits down with them. Adam James did his time at FPC Montgomery alongside all three of us, and Hasan mentored him through part of RDAP. He runs a behavioral health agency in Tulsa now. He came on with a claim that split the table before we were ten minutes in: none of us were ever broken. Ross says that is not true of him. He says he was broken, and he says it plainly. Brad says he walked out of the program with a completely different outlook than the one he walked in with. Hasan says he did not know he was a mess until he got to prison. Four men, the same program, four different answers to the same question, and none of them back down. The argument underneath it is about what rehabilitation actually is. Adam's position is that RDAP did not rehabilitate him. It gave him tools and it gave him language, but what changed him was people. People rehabilitate people. We put the numbers next to that claim early, because the claim deserves them: of the people released in 2010, 48.2 percent of those who completed RDAP were rearrested within eight years, against 68.0 percent of people who were eligible and did not get it. Adjust for everything else and completers were 27 percent less likely to be rearrested. So the program does something. The question is what, and to whom. Then it gets personal. Adam could have gone home sooner and chose to stay in the program longer than he had to, and he explains why in a way that is harder to argue with than the statistics. Ross tells the story of the man who lied to the whole compound about his out date and was simply gone one morning, which turns into a rule: never tell anyone when you are leaving. Adam talks about walking around deliberately disheveled, shirt untucked, because he did not want anyone thinking he was smart. In there, being smart is a target. We spend a long stretch on where selling yourself ends and lying begins, and we do not land it neatly. One man calls it embellishing. Another calls it a lie. By the end of it we are not sure those are two different things, and that is roughly where the conversation leaves it. There is also the part where Adam admits what he thought this show was. He assumed we had invited him on to expose him. Then he asked himself one question about that assumption, and the answer changed what kind of conversation this became. And there is a room full of grown men crying in RDAP, which Adam describes without flinching and counts himself in. We close with his RSA of the Week. RSA stands for rational self analysis: you take a mental snapshot of what set you off, before you act on it. His is about the story he told himself on the way here. After that, the GOAT speech, which you should hear him tell rather than have us describe. If you have ever wondered whether prison broke you, or whether you were carrying something in long before you got there, this one is for you. CHAPTERS 0:00 Were We Ever Broken? 0:10 Back With the Men He Did Time With 2:04 5Q By The Numbers: Does RDAP Work? 5:42 What Did You Want Out of RDAP? 9:50 The Argument That Made Him Sign Up 14:45 He Stayed Longer Than He Had To 18:37 Never Tell Anyone Your Out Date 19:57 Adam the Storyteller 27:15 Selling, Embellishing or Lying? 36:00 Reinventing vs. Rewriting Your Story 37:57 Redefining Success After Prison 44:18 Grown Men Crying in RDAP 45:47 People Rehabilitate People 47:37 None of Us Were Broken? 53:07 My Original State Was Never a Foundation 56:25 Money or Mission? 1:04:30 Adam's RSA: The Story He Told Himself 1:07:07 The GOAT Speech 1:11:12 Playing It Down to Survive Source for the RDAP numbers: U.S. Sentencing Commission, "Recidivism and Federal Bureau of Prisons Programs: Drug Program Participants Released in 2010" (May 2022). THE GAME ISN'T OVER, THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER QUARTER. New episodes every Thursday, 7 PM ET.

  7. Sep 24

    Prison Doesn't Rehabilitate You — So What Does?

    Brad McCorkle and Ross served federal time. In this episode they answer the question the system never asks out loud: if prison is supposed to rehabilitate people, what actually changes the men who come home? They talk about what prison really teaches, why re-arrest rates fall so sharply with age, what a camp costs a man's body, and the people who genuinely changed them. It is not a comfortable conversation and it does not land where you think. "Did it make you a better criminal?" "No, it did not make me a better criminal." "We went to criminal university. That's what prison is." The two numbers at the centre of this episode are re-arrest rates by age at release, from the United States Sentencing Commission's recidivism research: about 70.1% for people released before age 21, and about 16.4% for people released after age 60. Age at release is one of the strongest predictors there is. What the three of them cannot agree on is why. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 0:10 The robe, and the question from last week 1:07 What the Sentencing Commission found 6:37 70.1% vs 16.4%: what age does to re-arrest 9:36 Ledbetter, 80 years old, and a fresh five 12:33 What actually changed us 15:12 The skills prison really teaches 18:19 Learning to weigh consequences 27:21 "Did it make you a better criminal?" 28:36 "We went to criminal university" 30:22 The traits we brought home 39:16 The people you are forced to live with 45:32 Changing the environment 50:39 What the body pays 57:18 Can a program change anyone? 1:03:18 Burnout on both sides of the desk 1:06:11 Do they even know their job? 1:09:18 Next week: Adam James Hosted by Hasan Brown with Brad McCorkle and Ross. THE FIFTH QUARTER Head. Hustle. Heart. The game isn't over — there's always another quarter. New episode every Thursday, 7:00 PM ET. #TheFifthQuarter #PrisonReform #Reentry #CriminalJustice #Rebuilding

  8. Sep 17

    4 Prison Terms. 15 Years. What Finally Made Him Break the Cycle?

    Nathan "Nate" Richard went to prison four times. Fifteen years, all told. What broke the cycle was not the fourth sentence. Ask him and he says his son first. Then he tells you about a church service in county jail, before that last bid even started, that he only walked into because his brother would be there. He rode a bike thirteen miles each way to parenting classes to get custody of his son. He spent three years as a freight broker. He now runs Felon Entrepreneur, an app with free jobs and business resources for people coming home: a job-finder map, resumes it fills in and sends for you, AA and NA meeting listings, and a course library. Hasan, Brad and Ross put the numbers in front of him, and then get out of the way. This is the first guest episode in the show's history. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 0:45 Meet Nathan - the felon entrepreneur 2:08 Four times, fifteen years 3:48 What was different about the last time 4:32 5Q by the Numbers: how many get re-arrested? 6:08 The realest thing I could do was be a father 8:26 Is prison designed to rehabilitate anyone? 12:40 Return to prison: one in two 14:39 Untreated addiction, and why people go back 19:43 Just get a job - the employment numbers 22:20 You can get a job. Just not the one you want 31:14 What prison actually taught me 34:09 Brad's grandmother 37:17 Grief you can't put anywhere 40:00 Nathan's mother 44:35 Rebuilding wasn't one big break 47:54 The plea, and the brother who beat the case 50:54 Why I still sleep at night 55:03 A church service he only went to for his brother 59:34 Ross on the church, and what it cost him 1:03:39 A crack baby who couldn't read until eleven 1:05:04 How the three of them actually met 1:12:26 The app, and testing it honestly 1:14:56 Did you ever get triggered? 1:17:27 RSA in real time 1:20:12 Life ain't over THE NUMBERS IN THIS EPISODE Every statistic quoted is from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The framing matters as much as the figure, so here it is in full. 71% re-arrested within five years. BJS, 34-state study of 2012 prison releases, five-year follow-up. An arrest is not a conviction - the episode says so on tape, and it is the difference between a number and a smear. 46% returned to prison within five years. Same study, the 21 states that report return-to-prison data. This counts returns for a parole or probation violation OR a new charge - not new convictions alone. 33% had no formal employment at all in four years. BJS, Employment of Persons Released from Federal Prison in 2010, NCJ 303147. Of roughly 51,500 people released from federal prison in 2010 whose records could be linked to Census employment data, 33% had no recorded formal employment during any of the 16 quarters after release. Which also means two in three did find work at some point. It counts formal, on-the-books earnings - not informal or self-employed income - and it is not a current unemployment rate. GUEST Nathan "Nate" Richard - @felon_entrepreneur THE FIFTH QUARTER Life ain't over. There's always another quarter.

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THE GAME ISN'T OVER, THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER QUARTER. Brad, Has, and Ross got to the top by any means necessary. Then the Feds called game. They took the loss, served every day of their debt, and walked out with nothing but the lesson. Regulation is over. This is the Fifth Quarter — three men rebuilding reputation, relationships, and wealth in front of you, play by play. Real stories. Real numbers. No gurus. If you've ever had to start over — from a cell, from zero, from rock bottom — this is your show. New episodes weekly.

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  • Creator
    The Fifth Quarter
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © The Fifth Quarter
  • Show Website
    The Fifth Quarter