# Seven thousand letters > **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: "Seven thousand letters," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/seven-thousand-letters/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The correspondence John Kiriakou conducted from FCI Loretto — 7,000 letters to 675 different people over 23 months, begun because of an unsolicited postcard of a rose that reached him four hours into his sentence.* - **Letters written:** About 7,000 - **Correspondents:** 675 different people - **Period:** 23 months at FCI Loretto - **What began it:** A postcard of a rose from a stranger in Ringgold, Georgia - **When:** Kiriakou's first day, about four hours in **Seven thousand letters** is the figure [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) gives for the correspondence he conducted during his 23 months at [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto): about 7,000 letters to 675 different people.[1][2] ## The postcard Kiriakou dates the decision precisely. He had been in prison about four hours when mail call came, and a woman from Ringgold, Georgia sent him a postcard of a rose with a very nice note on the back.[3][1] His reaction was that he did not even know the person and that it was a thoughtful gesture, and he made a decision at that moment that he would respond to every piece of mail he received — with no idea, he says, that this would come to 7,000 letters to 675 people over the next 23 months.[1] ## What it produced Kiriakou says the correspondents became friends and have remained so ever since 2013, in constant touch. His summary of the experience is simply that it was wonderful.[1] It also solved the central problem of the sentence. Where most prisoners passed the time by working out and watching television — the prison, he says, is Groundhog Day, every day just like every other — Kiriakou was busy answering mail, and it kept him very busy.[4][5] He places it alongside reading and writing as his defence against [depression in prison](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/prison-depression), and says he read well over a hundred books in the same 23 months.[2] ## The book The same habit produced *[Doing Time Like a Spy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/doing-time-like-a-spy)*. Kiriakou says the book started off as a joke and that he did not even intend it to be a book — he simply thought he would write down some of the more ridiculous and more absurd things that happened.[5] He wrote it in longhand on legal pads, one word at a time, and it won two literary awards.[6] Separately from the personal correspondence, Kiriakou's public newsletter from inside became [the Letters from Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/letter-from-loretto), which he sent out through his attorney [Jesselyn Radack](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jesselyn-radack) as [legal mail](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/legal-mail).[7] ## See also - [Letter from Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/letter-from-loretto) - [Doing Time Like a Spy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/doing-time-like-a-spy) - [Prison Depression](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/prison-depression) - [Legal Mail](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/legal-mail) - [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto) ## Sources 1. S2E3 Circle Of Friends (2026-06-01), at 15:38. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a1cae87f7ef77595849152c/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-dead-drop-s2e3-circle-of-friends/ 2. S2E5 The Abyss (2026-06-15), at 20:08. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a29d3734df224c1a48bf864/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-15-dead-drop-s2e5-the-abyss/ 3. S2E3 Circle Of Friends (2026-06-01), at 15:04. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a1cae87f7ef77595849152c/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-dead-drop-s2e3-circle-of-friends/ 4. S2E3 Circle Of Friends (2026-06-01), at 13:56. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a1cae87f7ef77595849152c/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-dead-drop-s2e3-circle-of-friends/ 5. S2E3 Circle Of Friends (2026-06-01), at 16:13. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a1cae87f7ef77595849152c/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-01-dead-drop-s2e3-circle-of-friends/ 6. S2E5 The Abyss (2026-06-15), at 20:38. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a29d3734df224c1a48bf864/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-15-dead-drop-s2e5-the-abyss/ 7. S2E6 Use Your Words (2026-06-22), at 20:15. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/6a2ddfd9e6540bec0f3128d0/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-06-22-dead-drop-s2e6-use-your-words/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/seven-thousand-letters/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt