Recently, former NFL start Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy while sitting in a Kansas prison. In 2006, Vick made almost $15 million. Now he makes next to nothing working in prison. He bankruptcy filing shows $16 million in assets, but over $20 million owed to creditors. Vick wasted a whopping $18 million over two years, and forensic accountants had to be hired to find out just where all the money went.

What did with the money: Invested in bad business deals like a car rental company, a liquor store, and a restaurant, hired a multitude of financial advisers, gave money away to family members, bought multiple houses and cars, gave extravagant gifts to others, and wrote out lots of checks to "cash." Among the things he has lost: homes, farms, yachts, a bunch of vehicles, and a race horse. The Atlanta Falcons want millions of dollars back from him, and the taxing authorities want $1 million from him for unpaid taxes and interest.

So was it all worth it? Was it worth throwing away a lucrative career to torture some dogs for sport? I suspect not. Vick intends to play football when he gets out of prison, with his release scheduled for July 20. He has told the bankruptcy court he thinks he can still make a lot of money as an NFL quarterback. I'm not sure there's any team out there willing to take a chance on him. He hasn't played in a long time, and may not be physically ready. Even if he is, what team wants the negative reaction from fans for bringing him on?

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

I've always been fascinated with how underground economies work due in part to my addiction to reading any story about prison escapes. I can clearly remember the mastermind doling out packs of cigarettes to keep someone quiet or acquire a critical piece of the escape plan. Indeed cigarettes were the de facto currency for prisoners, who cannot possess real currency, until smoking was banned in 2004. Since inmates can no longer barter with cigarettes they've turned to pouches of mackerel to fill the need for a common currency inside prison walls.

Even though bartering isn't officially allowed inside prison walls, prisoners are expected to dole out a few pouches of mackerel when you get your haircut. The use of fish by prisoners to create their own economy is a reminder that virtually anything can be used as currency. Even outside prison walls we don't need to rely on government minted tender to complete transactions so long as there are willing parties involved. For all I know there's a subset of people in my town who would gladly accept Chuck E. Cheese tokens or Antartican Dollars for my daily needs.

If you build it, they will come. But not necessarily.

A recent three-part report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reveals that the building spree by Milwaukee Public Schools is a dismal failure.

The $102 million initiative to revamp buildings was supposed to get students into local neighborhood schools and improve education. Instead, newly furnished classrooms are used for storage, and half-empty buildings are sprinkled throughout the district. Many specialty teachers in the fields of science, art and music have been downsized in budget cuts while enrollment has continued to tumble.

Like many urban school districts, Milwaukee Public Schools works with some of the poorest children in the city. Many of the children literally do not have parents. They may be living with a grandparent, uncle, aunt or other relative. At the school where my husband works, more than 20 children are bused to school from a homeless shelter. Even those who are lucky enough to have a biological parent often have only one. At a recent open house at an elementary school of approximately 200 children, only six fathers showed up.

It is clear that what these children need are parents, not just buildings. And if they do not have parents involved in their education, someone else better be available. Instead of facilities and expensive buildings, the money would have been better spent with additional staffing in the classroom, mentors for individual development, and tutors for special help. The $102 million could have purchased a lot of services for these children and their families.

My mother in law has often joked about being on the "See Food diet" as in if she sees it she eats it. The prisoner's in Polk County Florida are being put on a brand new nutrition regimen which could result in a second generation of Subway's Jared. The Sheriff in Polk County has switched the prisoners off of everyone's favorite PB&J and introduced the "Polk County See Through Diet" in which prisoners are served cold meat sandwiches sliced so thin you can see right through them. This move won't just produce inmates capable of walking the catwalk in Miami upon release but also save the county over $10,000 this year.

It sees that budget crunched county has missed a real cash cow here since they don't plan to market the "Polk County See Through Diet" to the rest of America! They could easily pay for housing double the inmates by partnering with Richard Simmons or Billie Mays to sell this amazing new health system for 3 low payments of $19.95. They could even cut costs and employ the prisoners to produce and manufacture the system during their incarceration.

Fear not though loyal readers you can still save money without committing a felony: just cut out a slice of bread from breakfast and for lunch trade in your Dagwood inspired sandwich for a more reserved one containing the "butcher's special" sliced thin enough to see through. Don't worry if you follow the "Polk County See Through Diet" you'll still get your recommended allotment of calories for the day all while saving money. You wouldn't believe how far a pound of baloney will go if it is sliced thinner than institutional toilet paper!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the idea of releasing prisoners early in order to save money. Prison budgets are apparently busted, and this is one solution being considered (and in some places implemented) to reduce the budgets.

California lawmakers have found a new argument in favor of releasing prisoners early: It will make the prisons safer. Gee, that was my first concern. Let's not worry about everyone outside of the prisons and how safe they will be with the early release of convicted felons.

The California proposal would reduce the prison population by 40,000 over the next four years and put the maximum inmate count at 132,500. That's just silly. You can't stop sentencing people to prison just because of a numbers game. There are many other factors that go into a prison sentence, namely the violence of the offense and the offender's criminal history. The number of prisoners shouldn't trump these very serious factors.

No one likes the idea or the reality of prisons. They're expensive, and they're not really solving the crime problem in America. At the same time, law-abiding citizens need to be protected from violent and habitual criminals, and prisons are one way to do that. A better solution needs to be found. We can't just open the prison doors to save some money.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

With budgets stretched thin, several states are considering letting inmates out of prison early to save money. Even though they may be more likely to commit new crimes, politicians are saying the cost of those crimes is far less than the cost to keep the prisoners locked up.

One argument in favor of letting prisoners out early suggests that those in prison for things like "minor drug offenses" aren't a danger to society and should not have been locked up in the first place. That's a nice thing to say, but where's the proof that there are people in prison "only" for "minor" drug offenses?

Where I come from, you have to commit an awful lot of crimes to actually end up in prison. And that minor drug offense? The only way it's going to get you into prison here is if you've already got a double digit rap sheet. As a former probation officer, I can't tell you how many times I've seen judges try everything they could to avoid sentencing a criminal to prison.

I recently read about a jail in Maryland cutting back on supplies for prisoners. The ideas included limiting inmates to three rolls of toilet paper and two bars of soap per week. I've been trying to figure out how much toilet paper and soap I use each week, and those limits sound like more than enough to me.

Now jails in Wisconsin are cutting costs by removing items from the menu. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches no longer have the jelly. The Milwaukee County Jail is likely going to cut dessert out of its daily menus. Some of the hot meals will now become (cheaper) cold meals.

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke makes a good point: "As long as the taxpayers have to struggle with rising food costs and eat more Hamburger Helper, as long as they have to adjust their living and eating habits, why should they have to pay increased costs for people who have disregarded society's rules?"

Jails around Wisconsin admit they're doing things like cutting back on meat and limiting the amount of bread prisoners are allowed to have. And I think this policy is fine, as long as the prisoners are getting adequate nutrition each day. Sorry, but jail and prison are not fine dining establishments. Prisoners deserve adequate amounts of food and proper nutrition, no more and no less.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.