(FORTUNE Magazine) – So, Ivan, you think a couple of years in the slammer will be rough? Your life probably won't be much fun after prison either. Like any convicted felon, you will not be allowed to vote, carry weapons, or hold any occupation like practicing law or selling real estate that requires a public license. White-collar offenders typically find reentering society more difficult than they expect, says Wesley Robinson, a former lawyer and guest of the state (for mail fraud) who now works for National Legal Professional Associates, a consulting firm for ex-cons. Another famous crook who did time for securities fraud during the 1970s complains, ''Society does not automatically accept you as a rehabilitated member. You have to struggle and fight and claw your way back to the middle of the road.'' Forget about what they did to stoolies in those old prison films, Ivan. It's when you get out that you've got to worry. Says G. Gordon Liddy, the Watergate felon: ''Huge numbers of people who differed with me politically ended up admiring me for not informing on my associates.'' But, he adds, ''Boesky's a rat,'' so he's bound to be shunned forever. Even though Liddy received a letter from American Express saying he'd been selected to be a cardholder while he was in solitary confinement, you are going to have money problems. What are you going to do? Forget about writing your memoirs: Any money you earn after jail might be snatched by the investors who are suing you for damages of $1.7 billion. And besides, reviewers thought your book on takeovers three years ago was a real snooze.