# RDAP

> **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: "RDAP," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rdap/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The Bureau of Prisons' Residential Drug and Alcohol Program, which takes a year off a federal sentence on completion — the single most valuable piece of advice John Kiriakou says he gives to people facing prison time, alongside good-conduct credit and halfway-house conversion.*

- **Full name:** Residential Drug and Alcohol Program
- **Run by:** The [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons)
- **Benefit:** A year off the sentence on completion

**RDAP** — the Residential Drug and Alcohol Program — is the [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons) course that takes a year off a federal sentence on completion, and the centrepiece of the practical advice [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) gives people who are about to be imprisoned.

His explanation of the arithmetic is straightforward: a federal prisoner earns good-conduct credit, and on top of that *"you get another year off for RDAP"* — and, he adds, you are in a low-security prison while doing it.[1][2]

The same arithmetic underlies the counsel he gave [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale) when Hale was facing sentencing and the figure of five years came up. Kiriakou told him five years was *"a steal"*, and that there is a trick to doing the time.[3] He applies the same reckoning generally: three and a half years feels like thirty, but once past the first year, with [halfway house](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/halfway-house) time, house arrest and good-behaviour credit, three and a half years is really about two.[4]

Kiriakou's own sentence produced none of these reductions. Because he was writing the [Letters from Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/letter-from-loretto) about conditions inside, he received no halfway-house time at all and served every single day.[5]

## What the counselling consisted of, and the all-or-nothing rule

Kiriakou describes the programme as ten or twelve months of drug and alcohol counselling worth up to eighteen months off a sentence — with the qualification that decides cases: *"you have to complete the whole year before you get the reward."*[6][7]

What the counselling actually was, in his own institution, he reports without comment: *"at least in the prison that I was in, you go every week and you watch videotaped episodes of *Intervention* from A&E — and that counts as your drug and alcohol counselling."*[7]

The all-or-nothing rule is what makes removal from the programme a punishment in itself. [Jeremy Hammond](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jeremy-hammond) had two months left when he was pulled out and sent to the federal holding centre in Alexandria to face a grand jury — which, on Kiriakou's arithmetic, *"effectively added 18 months to his sentence."*[8][9]

## See also

- [Bureau of Prisons](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bureau-of-prisons)
- [The halfway house](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/halfway-house)
- [Daniel Hale](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/daniel-hale)
- [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou — Ep 133 (probe dup vs 6kmi7Tkpf7Q) (2023-02-08), at 28:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LThb4bBpGUw&t=1686s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-08-fortress-on-a-hill-john-kiriakou-ep-133-probe-dup-vs-6kmi7tkpf7q/
2. John Kiriakou — Ep 133 (probe dup vs 6kmi7Tkpf7Q) (2023-02-08), at 28:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LThb4bBpGUw&t=1720s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-08-fortress-on-a-hill-john-kiriakou-ep-133-probe-dup-vs-6kmi7tkpf7q/
3. John Kiriakou on the Persecution of Daniel Hale (Ep. 5533) (2021-06-01), at 05:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tU2jvrjAx0&t=318s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-06-01-scott-horton-daniel-hale-persecution/
4. awakeradio1 (2016-02-23), at 12:01. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SKfZ5f_29Y&t=721s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-02-23-awakeradio1-awakeradio1/
5. awakeradio1 (2016-02-23), at 15:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SKfZ5f_29Y&t=909s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2016-02-23-awakeradio1-awakeradio1/
6. Kevin Gosztola (2020-01-03), at 19:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeU8ioca92M&t=1192s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-01-03-kevin-gosztola-kevin-gosztola/
7. Kevin Gosztola (2020-01-03), at 20:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeU8ioca92M&t=1224s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-01-03-kevin-gosztola-kevin-gosztola/
8. Kevin Gosztola (2020-01-03), at 20:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeU8ioca92M&t=1254s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-01-03-kevin-gosztola-kevin-gosztola/
9. Kevin Gosztola (2020-01-03), at 21:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeU8ioca92M&t=1286s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-01-03-kevin-gosztola-kevin-gosztola/

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