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This is Charlie Shrem’s 2015 Prison Journal – “A New Beginning”, the small leather-bound book he carried with him during the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) in prison.

Excerpt from Shrem’s forthcoming memoir (journal entry preserved in his own words):

March 2015

Here in Lewisburg Prison, I learned that there is a program called RDAP, the Residential Drug Abuse Program. RDAP is the prisons most intensive treatment program. Cognitive Behavior Therapy is used in a modified therapeutic community model where inmates experience living in a pro-social community. Inmates live in a unit separate from general population; they participate in half-day programming and half-day work, school, or vocational activities for 9 months.

In reality, RDAP is 24-hours-a-day because your life in prison revolves around it. If you graduate, you can get time taken off your sentence — from six months to a year. The program focuses less on drugs, more on dissecting your life and rational thinking. Why do you feel the way you do, and how does that affect your actions and reactions?

I may try and get into the program. I would get to go home earlier, and it would help in my quest to better myself.

Thanks to some unknown benefactors on the outside, my petition was granted and was accepted into the program.

Charlie wrote in this journal daily, jotting down workouts, thoughts, and notes. It was with him through some of the hardest and most transformative days of his life. On the inside cover, his signature from that time remains, a reminder that even inside prison walls, he was still Charlie Shrem.

The journal is filled with workout logs, scribbled notes, and torn scraps of paper tucked into the back pocket. These weren’t just exercises or random notes — they were survival. Every set of pull-ups, sit-ups, and burpees was his way of staying sane, keeping discipline, and building strength while the world outside kept moving.

Excerpt from Shrem’s forthcoming memoir (journal entry preserved in his own words):

June 2015

The prison gym is a scary place.

Sounds dumb, I know. For 2 months, I stayed as far away from the gym as possible. I was overweight and had a huge beer belly.

The first week in prison, I approached someone who claimed to be a trainer. He said he’d train me for 20 MAKS a month, so I tried it out. He said we would train every day and take a 2-day break. I thought this was somewhat excessive, but I didn’t complain.

We went to the gym that day, and it was a terrible experience. He was angry, and he didn’t explain why we were doing any of the exercises. I felt my form was bad, and we weren’t getting into the flow, so I quit.

It took another few weeks before I would even try again.

For Charlie, RDAP wasn’t just a program; it was a structure, was focus, and it was a reset. That’s why the cover reads: “A New Beginning.”

Journal Details:

Year: 2015
Dimensions: 6 ¼" x 3 ½"
Weight: ~1 lb (with papers tucked inside)
Materials: Faux leather cover, stitched binding
Inside: Workout logs, personal notes, torn scraps of paper, and Charlie’s signature

Significance: Unlike most prison ephemera, this journal survives as a deeply personal relic of transformation and survival. It documents the inner life of one of Bitcoin’s earliest pioneers at a pivotal crossroads — a record not just of incarceration, but of discipline, reflection, and rebirth.