# The fifteen-minute call

> **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 fifteen-minute call," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-fifteen-minute-call/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*How Marty Gottesfeld, held in the communications management unit at Terre Haute, allocated the single fifteen-minute telephone call he was permitted each week: an email to his wife, his two attorneys and John Kiriakou, with the call going to whoever answered first.*

- **Prisoner:** Marty Gottesfeld
- **Facility:** CMU at Terre Haute, Indiana, the converted old death row
- **Allowance:** One 15-minute call a week
- **Method:** Email to four people; first to answer got the call

**The fifteen-minute call** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account of how [Marty Gottesfeld](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/marty-gottesfeld) rationed his weekly contact with the outside world while held in the [communications management unit](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/communications-management-unit) at Terre Haute, Indiana.

## The system

Gottesfeld was allowed a single fifteen-minute telephone call each week. What he did with it, in Kiriakou's description, was send an email in advance to his wife, his two attorneys and Kiriakou himself, and whoever answered first was the person he talked to.[1]

The unit itself has a history Kiriakou finds pointed. The number on his caller display came from the federal prison at Terre Haute, and the CMU there occupies the old death row: a new one was built and the original converted.[1]

## What he wanted to talk about

The two men had corresponded for years before ever speaking, and Kiriakou describes the shock of seeing the number come up.[1] He kept asking the obvious questions, are you all right, what can I send you, do you need books, do you need magazines, how is your health, and Gottesfeld did not want to discuss any of it. He wanted a conversation with somebody about normal daily life: who won the playoff game, what Kiriakou was reading.[2]

Kiriakou draws the general conclusion from the particular: human beings are social animals, and cutting a person off from that is the torture.[2] He notes separately that Gottesfeld was still fighting as hard at that point as at the very beginning.[3]

## See also

- [Marty Gottesfeld](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/marty-gottesfeld)
- [Communications management unit](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/communications-management-unit)
- [Solitary confinement](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/solitary-confinement)

## Sources

1. In Limine — John Kiriakou (2023-02-06), at 58:32. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud096a018e9&t=3512s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-06-in-limine-podcast-in-limine-john-kiriakou/
2. In Limine — John Kiriakou (2023-02-06), at 59:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud096a018e9&t=3543s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-06-in-limine-podcast-in-limine-john-kiriakou/
3. In Limine — John Kiriakou (2023-02-06), at 58:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aud096a018e9&t=3482s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-06-in-limine-podcast-in-limine-john-kiriakou/

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