Cell transfers at Loretto
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Cell transfers at Loretto were, in John Kiriakou's description, a real process to move from one cell to another, with no guarantee of success.

On arrival a prisoner had no say whatsoever in where he slept. Kiriakou says the bunk and the cell were assigned by the prison, and that a new arrival simply took what he was given.

The counselor

Everything came down to the so-called counselor. Kiriakou's definition is that the counselor is just a guard who has been assigned to be a prisoner's designated pain in the ass.

When Kiriakou applied at the six-month mark, the counselor told him he had not been there six months. Kiriakou said he had, six months as of the previous day, in fact. The counselor said he would check it; Kiriakou said he expected he would. The counselor then signed off.

The receiving cell

The other requirement was the consent of the men already in the destination cell, and it had to be given in writing. Kiriakou describes identifying a cell across the hall and down a couple of doors that had a couple of good guys in it, including Robert the Australian and Frank Russo, who had already moved there, and an empty bed left by a release.

He asked whether he could move in, and was told absolutely. The move was then cleared with Marlon Beard.

One prisoner in the room was excluded from the decision entirely: Kiriakou notes that there was a pedophile in that cell who did not get a vote.

Afterwards

Kiriakou says it took a couple of weeks to sort the new cell out the way it ended up being. He shared a bunk with Russo; a prisoner he calls Dave Phillips moved in from another unit at the same time and took another bunk, with the one above it empty; and Beard and the pedophile completed the room.

The restrictions on the pedophile were set by the prisoners rather than the staff. Kiriakou says the man knew the rules, pedophiles could only sleep in the room, could not hang out or sit there, and could never have visitors, and quietly did his time.

Kiriakou's earlier cell had been a worse fit. He describes being disliked there partly because he had never been in prison before: when the red light came on signalling 120 seconds to return for the standing count, he did not know what it meant, and with five seconds left his cellmates physically pulled him back into the cell by the shirt to stop everybody being sent to solitary confinement.

See also

- FCI Loretto
- Marlon Beard
- Frank Russo
- Dave Phillips
- Robert the arsonist
