S2E1 Welcome To Loretto

About this episode

In this episode, John Kiriakou recounts his arrival at Loretto Federal Prison and the unexpected challenges he faces in a harsh prison environment.

THE BLURB: In season one, we told the story of how CIA counter terrorism officer John Kiriakou chose to tell ABC journalist Jonathan Ross the truth - that the CIA had tortured and waterboarded detainees like Abu Zubaydah. The CIA went on the warpath against John, finally forcing him to accept a plea deal of thirty months reducible to 23 months in federal prison. In season two, John arrives at Loretto Federal Prison and enters a world unlike anything he'd ever encountered before. Though John had expected to serve his sentence at a "Club Fed" style work camp, the Bureau of Prisons chose instead to put John in a more prison-like prison with drug dealers, mafiosi and child molesters. Every bit of John's training as a spy would serve him well as a prisoner. SHOW NOTES If you are enjoying Dead Drop, please check out our other podcasts at Costard & Touchstone . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Hosts: John Kiriakou, Alan Katz

Topics covered

• CIA
• prison experience
• counter terrorism
• waterboarding
• plea deal
• personal story

Keywords

• CIA
• Loretto Federal Prison
• John Kiriakou
• waterboarding
• plea deal
• counter terrorism
• prison life

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA, Costard & Touchstone

Places: Loretto Federal Prison, federal prison

More episodes of John Kiriakou's Dead Drop

• S2E4 With Friends Like These · June 8, 2026 · 33 min
• S2E3 Circle Of Friends · June 1, 2026 · 60 min
• S2E2 Rules Of The Game · May 25, 2026 · 35 min
• S1E27 Prisoner Ex · May 11, 2026 · 36 min
• S1E26 Did John Le Carre Invent The Modern Spy? · May 4, 2026 · 1h 8m
• S1E25 The Whistleblower · April 27, 2026 · 52 min