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Steve Bannon won’t be spending his prison term in a ‘Club Fed’ as he had hoped, sources say
CNN —
When former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon goes to prison, he won’t be serving time at what’s known as a “Club Fed,” the most comfortable type of facility in the federal system, as he had wanted, according to people familiar with the arrangements.
Instead of a minimum-security prison camp, where many nonviolent offenders serve their time, Bannon – now a right-wing podcaster with a following of loyal Trump supporters – is set to report next month to the low-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, one of the sources told CNN.
A federal judge ruled recently that Bannon must turn himself in by July 1 to begin serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress even as he appeals the case. His attorneys initially thought he may be able to do his time at a camp, the sources said.
But Bannon isn’t eligible for the lowest-level prison setup because he still has a pending criminal case against him in New York, where he is fighting the charges and set to go to trial in September. That case accuses him of defrauding donors in a fundraising effort branded the “We Build the Wall” campaign for a border wall between the US and Mexico.
Bannon was convicted by a federal jury two years ago in Washington, DC, for not complying with a subpoena for an interview and documents in the US House’s January 6, 2021, investigation. He has remained a staunch Trump ally and has been a vocal supporter of his presidential reelection bid.
Bannon’s lawyers have written to the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals that his imprisonment shouldn’t happen this summer, as the trial-level judge has ordered, because he would be behind bars “for the four-month period leading up to the November election, when millions of Americans look to him for information on important campaign issues,” according to a recent filing for Bannon.
“This would also effectively bar Mr. Bannon from serving as a meaningful advisor in the ongoing national campaign,” Bannon’s lawyers wrote.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons declined to comment, saying it could not release specific information on prisoners until after they’re in custody, for security and privacy reasons.
The prison in Connecticut where Bannon will live houses a large number of white-collar criminals, but it also may house violent and sex offenders in its men’s population.
It doesn’t have cells, and instead houses its inmates in open pods. Yet it does have a noticeable barrier — referred to colloquially as “the wall” — between the prison facility and the outside world, which prison camps don’t have.
More than 1,000 male prisoners are in the Danbury facility. Its much smaller adjacent prison camp for women was immortalized in a former prisoner’s memoir that inspired the TV show “Orange is the New Black.”
Some of Bannon’s defense attorneys, when contacted by CNN on Monday, weren’t aware of the plans or available, and Bannon hasn’t commented directly.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/17/politics/steve-bannon-danbury-prison-contempt-of-congress/index.html
