By Dirk Nelson
Prisoners and Prisons Correspondent
The post concerning Keith Raniere’s incarceration at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, OK has been updated to reflect new information Frank Report obtained earlier today.
Unfortunately for prisoner Raniere [57005-177], the information indicates his current living conditions are worse than originally reported.
Instead of being in a dormitory-like facility, Frank Report has learned Raniere – known to his followers as “Vanguard” – is housed in a 2-man cell which is locked at night from 10:00 PM until 6:00 AM every day.
In his cell, in addition to a pair of metal bunk beds, there is a combination sink-toilet that affords no privacy whatsoever. And nothing else.
During the day, Raniere can venture out of his cell into a “common area” that is available to anyone living in the same unit. There are also a couple of TV rooms that are generally controlled by specific segments of the prisoners in the unit: a Black TV Room, a Latino TV Room, etc.
[It is not known if there is a Former Cult Leaders TV Room.]
Meals are served 3 times per day: breakfast at around 6:00 AM, lunch around noon, and dinner around 5:00 PM. There is no commissary – which means no extra food is available to inmates.
Raniere will spend the entire day in his unit. And each day will just as boring as the prior one.
But it is not permanent. Soon, he’ll embark either on a multi-stop bus trip that will allow him time to see parts of the country he may never have visited (Of course, being in handcuffs, leg-irons, and body-chains will take much of the fun of traveling out of the trip but, on the other hand, it’s also not costing him anything). He might also go by plane – in which case the sights will be from above the clouds – and the tour will be briefer.
If he goes by bus, Raniere will spend several days getting from Oklahoma City to Brooklyn. A plane trip will probably take less than a single day.
As previously reported, he will likely be housed in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, NY. His attorney will likely try to get him released on bail when he appears before the magistrate in Brooklyn. Should he fail to be granted release on bail – and the US DOJ has made a strong argument against it – he will likely remain in MDC until trial. If convicted, he will be assigned to one of numerous federal prisons. But, given the nature of his alleged crimes and his expected sentence, it’s likely that a conviction will result in him being sent to a maximum security prison.
MDC also might be his permanent home. And MDC is not particularly pleasant for prisoners. Anthony Weiner’s attorney begged his sentencing judge not to send him there.
Had the branding initials been those of Abe Lincoln or Bill Gates, Keith Raniere once told a DOS slave – nobody would have minded it. So why did Kieth Raniere burning his initials on women’s pubic regions land him in prison?
