“I Never Call Myself an ‘Inmate.’ I’m a Prisoner.”

John Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA waterboarding people and now he’s in federal prison in Pennsylvania for 30 months. He sent this letter to his lawyer from jail. Very good letter. Very interesting. Very much inspires me to not want to go to jail. Wasn’t wanting to go before, definitely not wanting to go now. Let’s all do the right things and stay out of jail, okay? Except as Mr. Kiriakou shows, that’s not enough actually! Not enough at all.

ANYWAY! Here’s how he describes demographics of his prison:

Loretto has 1,369 prisoners. (I never call myself an “inmate.” I’m a prisoner.) About 50% are black, 30% are Hispanic, and 20% are white. Of the white prisoners, most are pedophiles with personal stories that would make you sick to your stomach. The rest of the whites prisoners are here for drugs, except for a dozen or so who ran Ponzi schemes. Of the 1,369 prisoners, 40 have college degrees and 6 of us have master’s degrees.

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.