Samourai developer describes 30-day prison transit ordeal
Keonne Rodriguez, the Samourai Wallet developer, has written from FCI McKean about a month-long transfer through the Bureau of Prisons transit system that he calls the worst 30 days of his life.
Key points
- Rodriguez was moved from FPC Morgantown after his request for a transfer furlough was denied on 8 June.
- He left Morgantown on 10 June and spent about 30 days in transit, including a stop at the Oklahoma City transfer hub.
- The journey involved two trans-continental flights, three multi-hour bus rides and two holding facilities.
- He was shackled and chained for transport and shared a cell with a man serving 20 years for murder.
- The letter is the seventh in his series and will continue in a second part.
Keonne Rodriguez, a developer of Samourai Wallet, has published the seventh letter in his series from prison, describing a month-long transfer through the US Bureau of Prisons system that he calls the worst 30 days of his life. The letter was syndicated by Bitcoin Magazine from The Rage.
Rodriguez writes that he was told on 5 June he would be moved from FPC Morgantown for a drug and alcohol treatment programme, which takes about nine to ten months and can cut a year off a sentence. He requested a transfer furlough so he could travel at his own expense, but the request was denied on 8 June without explanation.
He left Morgantown on 10 June, stripped and searched, issued ill-fitting clothes and placed in ankle shackles, wrist cuffs and a waist chain. Six inmates were transferred that day on a bus that stopped twice so officers could buy breakfast and then cigarettes and energy drinks, adding more than an hour to the trip.
Transfer request denied
The bus reached Greenbriar Valley Regional Airport, where inmates were transferred between buses before boarding a white plane operated by the US Marshals. Rodriguez describes a Cold War-era aircraft with safety stickers in German and Russian, a frozen turkey sandwich lunch and a flight to Oklahoma City, the Bureau of Prisons transit hub.
At the Oklahoma City facility he was held in crowded concrete rooms, where other inmates smoked K2, also known as deuce. He was strip searched again, put through a body scanner and eventually assigned to Range 4D in the general population, despite expecting a minimum-security camp.
His cellmate was a man called Shadow, serving 20 years for murder. An officer he nicknames Officer Just-A-Minute gave him half a foam mattress and no toilet paper, and the cell light stayed on all night. Rodriguez writes that he silently sobbed and wanted to call his wife, Lauren.
Shackles and flights
The letter says the transit story will continue in a second part. Bitcoin Magazine notes that it is a guest post and that the opinions are the author's own.