Title: S2E6 Use Your Words
Show: John Kiriakou's Dead Drop
Date: 2026-06-22
URL: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a2ddfd9e6540bec0f3128d0/media.mp3
Duration: 0:32:40

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[06:26] And I wrote this newsletter. Now, very arrogantly, I modeled it on Martin Luther King's letter from Birmingham Jail. I called it Letter from Loretto. In the letter from Loretto, I talked about daily life, but I inadvertently exposed two crimes that had been committed against me by the guards, one of which was a felony. And I just wrote the details and I sent it to Jaisalyn. Jaisalyn sent it to Jane Hampshire.

[06:57] Jane Hampshire was the proprietor of a now defunct website called firedoglake.com. Firedog Lake was an alternative news site, slightly left of center, really terrific writers there, Kevin Gustala in particular. I didn't know that Jane was friends with Arianna Huffington, the founder of the Huffington Post. So I sent the letter to Jaisalyn. Jaisalyn sent it to Jane. Jane published it on Firedog Lake and then she sent it to Arianna and Arianna put it as a banner headline on the Huffington Post.

[07:31] Within 24 hours it went completely crazy, viral we would call it today. Within another 24 hours of it being published in the Huffington Post, I started getting calls at the prison. I mean not me, the prison was getting calls from CNN, from Fox, ABC News, Time Magazine, The Week Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, even Playboy and The Economist. And they all wanted to interview me and NPR.

[08:02] And I thought, you know what, this is going to be my superpower. I'm John Kiriakou. Welcome to Dead Drop, What Makes a Spy Tick? This is episode 6 in our series, Do Any Time Like a Spy. Before I get back to using my words to talk about prison, I want to use one word to express how we feel right now. That word is just wow, really and truly wow. Our audience keeps growing by leaps and bounds, which is very gratifying.

[08:33] We'd have done all this hard work anyway because we're storytellers doing what we do and what we like to do. That our work has gotten the reaction that it's gotten from so many people? Well, that's just what storytellers live for. If you promise to keep listening, we promise to keep storytelling. Maybe we shouldn't call writing writing, since all good writing is actually the product of lots of rewriting. If we wanted to be accurate, we would cut to the end of the chase and just call it rewriting. Rewriting demands thinking on one's feet.

[09:04] While a prisoner's day is regulated down to the minute, there are still ample situations where thinking on one's feet is essential. As with writing, a prisoner needs to be poised at all times to make changes, quick changes. That includes knowing when to get the hell out of dodge and live to fight another day. Rule number seven is don't be afraid to make a strategic retreat. There are some fights that you just can't win. So there's no harm in just retreating, regrouping, and then figuring out what plan B is going to be.

[09:34] When I published this letter from Loretto, everything changed for me. The guards emailed the letter to each other. One of the guards pulled me aside. She was one that I had just sort of ignored. She ignored me. I would see her in the hall. We wouldn't even acknowledge each other. She did her thing. I did my thing. She came right up to me and she said, that wasn't me you were talking about, swearing at you, right? No, you've been perfectly lovely to me. Oh, thank God. Do you mind if I ask you who you were talking about?

[10:05] Sure. It was Sarge. There was this horrible, horrible guard whose surname was Sarge. Sarge, like the nickname for Sarge. I said in the letter, you've heard that phrase, rode hard and put away wet. That was Sarge. She was an ugly, mean, foul mouth tattoo covered has been. A woman in her late 40s, maybe 50, who had had so many men who used her and abused her

[10:37] and tossed her aside that she just hated the world. And I said in the letter, she was the guard in my housing unit when I first arrived and she just could not say my name. She would say Terriaki, Kirikau, Kirkulu, whatever. I started in the hall one day, I was walking with Dave and she said, hey, you. And I turned and I looked at her. Are you the motherfucker whose name I can't pronounce? And I said, Kiriaku. How about if I just call you fuckface? Dave says, classy.

[11:08] I said, white trash is more like it. She heard me. She raids my cell, throws all my stuff on the floor, pictures of my kids walking all over them. I didn't realize that that was actually a crime for her to swear at me like that. It's not just a violation of Bureau of Prison Regulations. It's a crime. It's a misdemeanor, but it's a crime. The first time you do it, you get a verbal reprimand. The second time you do it, you get two weeks without pay. The third time you do it, you're fired.

[11:38] Well, I didn't report her to the prison authorities. I told everybody in the world what she had done in the letter from Loretto. The other crime that I exposed was one that I've already discussed. It was when the two clowns in the lieutenant's office tried to get me to do harm to this Kurdish prisoner and then tried to get the Kurdish prisoner to do harm to me. That's a felony. That is conspiracy to incite violence in a federal facility. I looked it up. That's two to five years in prison for doing something like that.

[12:11] It's impossible to prosecute because you have to convince the U.S. attorney that this is a case worth taking up and nobody is going to prosecute a federal prison guard. Not unless he's smuggling in cell phones and drugs because they get prosecuted for that all the time. But for something like this, not a chance. Summertime and the living is easy, am I right, John? That is one of the best parts of Summer Allen. Living really does feel easier. You're about to travel. Good thing you've got a couple of quince pieces going with you.

[12:42] They are as relaxed and comfortable as I want to feel. That's why whether I'm traveling or staying at home, I reach for the same quince go anywhere pieces again and again. Quince focuses on well made essential. They're the t-shirt I reach for first every time. In all seriousness, I just bought another one today. They're my favorite t-shirts too. And when the ocean breeze kicks in at night, as it does here in LA, a quince lightweight cotton sweater is sublime. And perfect for travel too, which these days has all kinds of new challenges

[13:14] that impact how you pack. So versatility really matters. You got to pack smart, like a spy. That's why a pair of quince's 100% European linen pants and a couple of linen shirts are coming with me. They're breathable and easy to throw on. Sometimes I add a t-shirt underneath for a whole other look. They're the summer upgrade anyone's rotation needs. Starting at just $34. That's not a typo. No, it's not. Everything at quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands.

[20:15] read and inspected and photocopied and sent to the FBI. And I knew that thanks to the Freedom of Information Act. They can't do that with legal mail. So I would write and write and write and write not just my book, but the letters from Loretto. I would send them to Jesselyn and I would write Attorney Jesselyn Radak, Esquire, Government Accountability Project, Washington, DC. And then I would write legal mail, legal mail at the bottom and on the back. Legal mail. They can't touch legal mail like a diplomatic pouch.

[20:46] I would walk to the mail room. I'd say, I've got some legal mail. I had the stamp on it and it goes straight into the bag. I was like, how's he getting these out? What are you, stupid? How do you think I'm getting them out? Legally. And he didn't get the double entendre because he was too stupid. One of my greatest supporters was my cousin, Kip. Kip Reese. Kip lives in Pittsburgh. So it was a relatively quick, easy drive. It was about 40, 45 minutes to come to the prison. Kip's one of the sweetest guys you could possibly know.

[28:05] If it had been out in the real world I wouldn't have paid the guy five seconds of thought. But because we're there together all the time or at least at every meal I just couldn't stand it anymore. So I thought okay how am I gonna fuck this guy up. The problem is that he sat at the Aryan table where I sat so I couldn't accuse him of being a pedophile or could I. So I went to the law library. My second year there I was at the law library pretty much every single day.

[28:38] Go to the law library and I look him up. Of course there are 150 people with his name in the law library archives. I find a case from the 1970s from Ohio where a guy with the same name beat and raped a male prison guard. So I printed it and then I carefully cut out the paragraphs and then over the course of the next few days I created what looked like legitimate court papers saying that it was this Bob Jones who had done this in Ohio in the 70s continued to lead a life of crime

[29:15] turned to meth in the 90s and then got arrested again and then turned to meth again and got arrested a third time and this was just a continuation of a life of crime that began when he raped a prison guard a male prison guard. I went to the shock collars and I said this fucking guy I just got a tip that there was more to this guy than meets the eye so I went and checked it out and look what's on the prison law library computer system. Well the white shock collars there were two of them. One is like no is he old enough to have done this in the 70s he would have been like 20 years old

[29:50] yeah he did it and the other one's like he fucking did it man he's a pedophile not a pedophile he's a homo we can't have homos at the Aryan table we'd all be laughing stocks so they banished him to the pedophile rat table which was also I guess the gay table who knows. He had no idea what happened no idea would have befallen him but I thought I gotta silence this guy before he does me some real damage. The power of rumors is very very strong.

[30:21] One of the things that I learned very early on in prison like within the first few days was that information is the most important currency to know what is really going on bestows upon you power oh yeah information was far more important than max and stamps. Max and stamps might get you a seat at the poker table max and stamps might get you an extra set of underwear or socks but information gave you power that was far more important.

[30:55] In the next episode you'll hear even more of the words that flowed from me at Loretto. Turns out that the pen is mightier than the sword and a shit ton of corruption. Again we thank you for listening and for liking rating reviewing and commenting on the podcast and on our words it really means a lot to us until next time I'm John Kiriakou. Dead Drop is written by John Kiriakou and Alan Katz. Cost art and touchstone productions produces the podcast and John Kiriakou, Alan Katz and Nick Mechanic are its executive producers.

[31:40] This podcast it's a cost and touchstone production. Every wireless service comes with a cost right wrong the text now app lets you do your thing for free get real talk real text and 5g data for must have apps with no monthly bill need more data add it right from the app done go back to free no long-term contracts no pressure no surprises just wireless that works around you text now we've got your back download text now in
