# The chapel job

> **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: "The chapel job," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/prison-chapel-job/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The work assignment John Kiriakou was given at FCI Loretto after he volunteered to teach a class — *"if I want you to teach a class I'll ask you to teach a class"* — and was made a janitor in the chapel instead, at $1.08 a month.*

- **Where:** The chapel at [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto)
- **Role:** Janitor, later described as orderly
- **Pay:** About $5.25 a month, later $1.08
- **How he got it:** By volunteering to teach a class

**The chapel job** was [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s work assignment at [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto), and in his telling it is a small case study in how the [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons) treats what a prisoner has to offer.

Loretto had, he notes, a substantial education programme — and prisoners with masters' degrees. When Kiriakou volunteered to teach a class, the answer came back: *"if I want you to teach a class, I'll ask you to teach a class."* He was made a janitor in the chapel.[1][2] The pay he cites for the work is $5.25 a month in one telling and $1.08 in another.[2][3]

## What the job gave him

The posting turned out to matter more than the work. Kiriakou describes walking past the same cells every day on his way to the chapel — which is how he came to know an older Italian prisoner he befriended, and how he saw the man he calls [Larry](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/larry-spinal-cancer) deteriorate from a cane to a walker to a wheelchair over months of untreated back pain.[4][5]

It also gave him access to a member of staff outside the security chain. When Kiriakou raised Larry's case at the chapel's weekly staff meeting, the chaplain went to the medical unit and demanded that Larry be taken to an outside hospital — the intervention that finally produced an MRI, and the diagnosis of stage four spinal cancer.[6][7]

## See also

- [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto)
- [Larry](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/larry-spinal-cancer)
- [Education at FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/loretto-education-department)
- [The prison service economy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/prison-service-economy)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou — Whistleblower Protections, Torture, and Ju (2020-11-23), at 37:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Uq2aYrR5w&t=2277s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-11-23-revolutionary-change/
2. A Letter from John Kiriakou (2013-05-31), at 04:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV7Q8HTsQSM&t=249s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2013-05-31-thom-hartmann-program-a-letter-from-john-kiriakou/
3. S2E2 Rules Of The Game (2026-05-25), at 08:24. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a13a20b55b99c7f89a7e2b1/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-25-dead-drop-s2e2-rules-of-the-game/
4. John Kiriakou — Whistleblower Protections, Torture, and Ju (2020-11-23), at 38:28. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Uq2aYrR5w&t=2308s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-11-23-revolutionary-change/
5. S2E12 Dangerous (2026-08-03), at 21:22. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a6eaae961ae402f61b96f44/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-03-dead-drop-s2e12-dangerous/
6. S2E12 Dangerous (2026-08-03), at 22:24. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a6eaae961ae402f61b96f44/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-03-dead-drop-s2e12-dangerous/
7. S2E12 Dangerous (2026-08-03), at 22:54. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a6eaae961ae402f61b96f44/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-03-dead-drop-s2e12-dangerous/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/prison-chapel-job/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt