Yes, effectively. The alternative to effectively giving oneself a life sentence is to comply with the order and allow the government the access they need to pro

Yes, effectively. The alternative to effectively giving oneself a life sentence is to comply with the order and allow the government the access they need to proceed with the criminal case. This man's incarceration on contempt charges will end on the day that he complies with the lawful order. Rawls is rolling the dice here. He's hoping that he can press this issue on constitutional grounds and that he'll prevail, which will prevent the investigators from accessing the contents of his disk and, in all likelihood, prevent his conviction. If he wins on the constitutional matters, he'll be able to walk free as a bird when the case is decided (and may end up being entitled to compensatory damages). That's the outcome he's hoping for. If he loses the constitutional case, he will probably decrypt the disks and allow the justice system to finish processing his case so that he can get an end date on his incarceration. In all likelihood, complying with the order will lead to his criminal conviction and a sentence of at least several years. After that sentence completes, he will be a convicted felon, and in most states, he will have to register as a sex offender. He will have to live under a variety of restrictions related to those statuses for the rest of his life. Rawls's hope is that the court will rule that he cannot be ordered to decrypt his disks on constitutional grounds. This is all a wager on his part. As his incarceration on contempt charges is essentially voluntary, characterizing it as an "indefinite" or "life" sentence is improper. He has no sentence. To go free, he need only comply with the lawful order that was served upon him (of course, he will probably be arrested on charges related to the data on his computer shortly thereafter, potentially before leaving the jailhouse), or convince a higher judge that the order should be stayed pending the outcome of the lawsuit challenging its validity. Another potential avenue to freedom, at this stage, would be convincing Congress and the President that the law should be modified so that either a) the judge's order is invalidated by new statutory requirements and the constitutional matter is no longer relevant; or b) the crime being investigated is no longer criminal.