Joel clearly planned everything, including his own arrest. The reason he was sweating so much at the synagogue is because he ratted himself out, had a letter to give to Midge and stashed some cash away for himself. He did this all just so Midge would be clean of the mob, so maybe he thought going to prison means…

The downside is that this series shows that the fault of Iron Fist can’t all be blamed on Scott Buck, what with Finn Jones still making bad acting choices with the character.