# Kiriakou's prison designation > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Kiriakou's prison designation," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-prison-designation/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The discrepancy between the minimum-security work camp John Kiriakou was sentenced to and the low-security prison the Bureau of Prisons actually placed him in, which he cites whenever the subject of preferential designations arises.* - **Sentence:** 30 months - **Requested and granted:** Minimum security work camp, with no objection from the prosecution - **Actual placement:** The low-security prison across the street - **Remedy available:** A motion his attorneys estimated would take two years to be heard - **Facility:** [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto) When [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) was sentenced to thirty months for blowing the whistle on the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)'s [torture programme](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/enhanced-interrogation), his attorneys asked the judge to send him to a minimum-security work camp. The judge asked the prosecution whether there was any objection; there was none, and she granted it.[1] The placement did not survive contact with the Bureau of Prisons. Kiriakou describes the reporting process, "you literally just drive to the prison and knock on the door and say, 'I'm here to turn myself in'", and how, on arriving at the camp, he was sent across the street to the main prison to be processed and brought back. At the prison he was taken round the back instead. When he objected that he was meant to be at the camp, the officer laughed and told him: "not according to my paperwork. You're not."[2][3] Four or five days later he reached his attorneys and reported that he had been put in the actual prison "with the pedophiles and the drug kingpins and the mafia dons." Their answer was that they could file a motion, but it would be two years before a court date, so he would have to tough it out and be home in two years regardless. He served the sentence at [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto).[3][4] Kiriakou raises the episode whenever preferential treatment inside the [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons) is at issue, most pointedly against the transfer of [Ghislaine Maxwell](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ghislaine-maxwell) to a minimum-security camp.[5][6] ## Why the judge's recommendation is worthless Asked about a judge's request that a newly sentenced defendant be held near his family, Kiriakou dismissed the whole category. *"The judge recommending to the Justice Department that they keep him close to family is like me recommending to the Justice Department that they keep him close to family. It counts for literally nothing, because it is the sole responsibility of the [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons) to decide who goes where."*[7] He cites his own designation as the proof: *"the judge can say all he or she wants, as my judge did, that I should go to a minimum security work camp. It makes no difference to anybody."* He extended the same expectation to [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange).[7][8] ## See also - [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto) - [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons) - [Ghislaine Maxwell](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ghislaine-maxwell) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou Podcast: Nick Bryant on the Unanswered Questions in the Epstein Case (2026-07-13), at 24:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD04X4pbFWc&t=1475s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-13-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-nick-bryant-on-the/ 2. John Kiriakou Podcast: Nick Bryant on the Unanswered Questions in the Epstein Case (2026-07-13), at 25:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD04X4pbFWc&t=1505s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-13-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-nick-bryant-on-the/ 3. John Kiriakou Podcast: Nick Bryant on the Unanswered Questions in the Epstein Case (2026-07-13), at 25:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD04X4pbFWc&t=1537s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-13-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-nick-bryant-on-the/ 4. John Kiriakou Podcast: Nick Bryant on the Unanswered Questions in the Epstein Case (2026-07-13), at 26:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD04X4pbFWc&t=1567s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-13-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-nick-bryant-on-the/ 5. John Kiriakou Podcast: Nick Bryant on the Unanswered Questions in the Epstein Case (2026-07-13), at 26:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD04X4pbFWc&t=1598s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-13-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-nick-bryant-on-the/ 6. John Kiriakou Podcast: Nick Bryant on the Unanswered Questions in the Epstein Case (2026-07-13), at 27:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD04X4pbFWc&t=1630s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-13-the-jk-report-john-kiriakou-podcast-nick-bryant-on-the/ 7. Kevin Gosztola (Unauthorized Disclosure) (2024-02-19), at 32:50. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1E8EypwzPA&t=1970s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-02-19-kevin-gosztola-unauthorized-disclosure-kevin-gosztola-unauthorized-disclosure/ 8. Kevin Gosztola (Unauthorized Disclosure) (2024-02-19), at 33:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1E8EypwzPA&t=2002s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-02-19-kevin-gosztola-unauthorized-disclosure-kevin-gosztola-unauthorized-disclosure/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-prison-designation/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt