Tighe: On the Most Abusive SHU; Raniere May Go to Dangerous Prison

raniere in shu painting
raniere in shu painting
Keith Raniere is in the Secure Housing Unit [SHU] at USP Tucson. This is the third or fourth time the prison officials sent him there. The latest visit is investigatory.
Raniere and another prisoner had an altercation. According to our source, the prisoner sucker punched Raniere. This happened hours after TNT aired the Heiress and the Sex Cult on July 26. 

I served as the consulting producer and appeared in the episode.

Clare Bronfman was the heiress.

Raniere and his assailant will remain in the SHU until officials determine who’s to blame.

If officials determine Raniere was a victim, he should return to his unit.

In this guest view, John Tighe discusses the SHU and his experiences there. He also speculates that Raniere is setting himself up for a transfer to a harsher prison.

USP Tucson is a safer prison among those designated maximum security. This is because most of the population there are sex offenders.

Sex offenders are targets at most maximum security prisons.

Many people believe Keith Raniere and Clare Bronfman, in coordination with a corrupt NY state trooper, were responsible for Tighe’s conviction and imprisonment. Many believe Raniere arranged for the State Trooper to plant child porn on Tighe’s computer.

It is a long story, and I hope to look into it one day.

So there is a poetic irony in Tighe’s comments below.

John Tighe

Prisoners have a choice. When it comes to prison, one can choose whether to have an easier or more challenging time.

Keith Raniere has chosen the latter from my experience.

A true moron all the way to the end.

Federal Medical Center, Devens had POS like him.

FMC Devens

At three in the morning, the Correctional Officers [COs] would come to their cells. Tell them to go straight to the Special Housing Unit [SHU].

Then at 6 am, a CO would tell the orderly to pack the inmate out of his cell. Within minutes, the orderly stole anything he wanted from his cell.

All the prisoner’s possessions, now in garbage bags, would be impounded.

The inmate would cool his jets in the SHU for anywhere from 30 days to nine months.

I was in the SHU for medical isolation many times.

Finally, at the end of my sentence, I was in the SHU for 4 months for ‘Covid Isolation’.

I was lucky. I would get out for chemo or RFA, but believe me, you need a strong mind to make it in the SHU. Being extremely ill doesn’t help.

The SHU is inhumane.

For very ill inmates, it’s the only place they can be isolated for compromised immune systems.

Same when you are scheduled to leave for treatment.

Each time I was scheduled to go to Beth Israel Hospital for cancer treatments, I would be taken from my cell to the SHU the night before, at about 8 pm.

I was strip-searched, given an orange jumpsuit, and thrown in a punishment cell.

Then I went through the reverse in the morning.

I went to Receiving and Discharge [R&D]. Another search and a travel uniform.

The purpose is so you can’t tell anyone that you are outside the prison. They are always worried about escapes.

I was placed in leg and hand shackles.

Then two Correctional Officers [CO’s], one of whom is armed, put me in a prison van for an hour-long ride.

On my return, I was taken back to R&D, strip-searched, and given my uniform back. Then I would return to my unit.

After a round of chemo, it’s exhausting. But that night, I still had to stand for the count and all the bullshit. I did this over a hundred times.

In the Secure Housing Unit (SHU) inmates spend 23 hours a day alone in their cells.

In all, I was also a patient chained to a bed for 30 days at Beth Israel.

Many inmates just refuse to embark on a “Trip” and die. Their choice.

After being assaulted by a Neo-Nazi gangbanger, a member of the Unforgiven, I spent 60 days in the SHU.

My jaw was broken, but in self-defense, I had headbutted him, and he was bleeding. My hands were swollen and bloody from punching back.

I was sent to the SHU “pending investigation.”

Luckily, my attacker was a murderer and threatened to kill the COs. Even in prison, you have a right to self-defense. After 60 days, I was cleared.

So, is the SHU cruel? Of course, it is. But many inmates deserve to be there.

The problem is many don’t. Especially those who are ill.

The SHU is cold, dark, and small.

Many inmates scream all day. Some turn to self-harm. Bang their heads on the walls, and eat their own feces.

You get little sleep, cold food, and almost no contact with family.

Getting back to Raniere.

When the prison administration decides to transfer a recalcitrant prisoner to another location, the prisoner is only told he is being transferred for “security reasons.”

He isn’t told where he’s going or when he’s leaving.

From what I saw in my five years in Devens, that is Raniere’s fate.

Keith Raniere Prison USP Arizona Interior
USP Tucson

The trip by multiple buses or a plane can take months.

Depending on where Raniere is assigned, he may be in grave danger.

If he is assigned to Bloody Beaumont, Misery Mountain, or Death Camp Atlanta, he might not last a week.

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  • Sometimes when you see a younger person it’s possible to Envision the adult they might become and in Reverse oftentimes with adults you can observe them and see the child they once were. And that is Keith.

    Doing anything for negative attention and then claiming he is being victimized. Unable to accept the consequences of his own actions and just a thoroughly unlikable insufferable human.

    As a kid people being repelled by Keith and that repulsion and avoidance of him feeding Keith’s desire to convince himself of his own superiority and then behaving in a way that even further repelled people. Thus creating a cycle where as an adult the only way Keith could ensure the fealty undying respect and sexual conquest he craved was to create a blackmail MLM and completely control the people around him.

    This is a fantasy keith must have been But using and building during many many years of rejection as such an unlikable kid.

  • Too bad we can’t go back in time — and send Kieth to Nekker Island and have him pick up all the used condoms from the Coach’s sex orgy.

    • Hey ‘Nice Guy’ –

      If you could pull yourself away from licking Frank’s crotch for a few minutes, I have a situation I’m hoping you can handle for me.

      CVS keeps sending me spam texts.

      Can you put in a message to the marketing dept to get them to stop?

      Thx

      Alanzo

      • Alonzo-

        The pharmacist was simply texting you to pickup you’re Zyprexa prescription. I bet you’re on all the psych meds. BTW, are the Scientology spies still chasing you?

        It’s funny that you always imagine me in sexual positions with other men. Whatever, gets you off Alonzo.
        ****

        Alonzo I thought you left Twitter and social media for good?

        .I guess sitting in your apartment alone talking to the wall — wasn’t as fun as you imagined. I’m glad you’re back cuz I love shitting on you. 😉

  • I agree with John Tighe! Raniere is setting himself up for a ticket to hell.

    In addition to his prison antics he had the NXIVM 5 harass an FBI agent and a former DOJ prosecutor.

    If he keeps it up Kieth is on his way to Colorado……

    Congrats to Nicki and Suneel for helping Raniere get to hell.

  • It would be interesting if Raniere got moved from BOP Tucson

    Do you think he understands that this is possible with his current behavior he could get the boot from his protected home in Tucson and sent to a place that he might not be so protected with his “birds of a feather” inmates?

    He does like to break the rules. He did it at the MDC and he is doing a good job of it at Tucson.

    Is that what it is going to take for him to clean up his act is to go to a place where he gets his ass kicked on a regular basis (or worse?}

    Maybe Suneel will give him an ear full next time he can talk to him that this is possible if he doesn’t clean up his act.

    That might not be enough for Raniere to clean up his act. He can’t seem to help himself. It’s in his DNA. He has to see how much he can get away with & how far he can push things

  • John

    I’ve been in the NJ State system. It was bad.
    Brutal guards. Freezing cold. Bright flourescent nights on in my cell all night. Terrible food. I got a bad infection while I was there.
    The only positive: my cellie. A murderer but had a heart of gold. He helped me find God and sanity. I did my time.
    I’m glad it’s over. I learned my lesson. Violence just hurts myself. I’ll do everything I can stay out of places like that.
    I’m glad I’ve got another chance.
    I thank God for my life and my opportunities to make life better on Earth.

  • The notorious mobster James ‘whitey’ Bulger was slain a day after he arrived at misery mountain. Raniere will likely be used as a sex slave before they take him out.

  • Raniere is busy filing complaints and using legal power to be heard. I predict death camp Atlanta or misery mountain. He’ll not be heard from again.

  • Thanks for sharing, John.

    Always interesting to hear how things really are, inside American’s horrible prisons.

    But I disagree that Keith will be found at fault (for this fight) or that he’ll be transferred away from Tucson.

    Keith is a pussy and there’s no way he started that fight.

    At MDC, Frank reported that Keith got picked on (by other inmates) on multiple occasions, without ever fighting back.

    More likely, the dude who punched him will be found at fault and transferred.

    As an aside —- Pea Onyu once talked about Keith’s legendary judo skills helping him in prison fights.

    However… Keith’s ‘judo champion’ title isn’t really helping him in prison fights.

    Keith was “East Coast Judo Champion” at age 12, he says. LOL.

    For those who don’t know —— 12 year olds don’t compete in ‘real’ judo (they’re not allowed to do submission holds, arm locks, chokes, dangerous throws, etc).

    In real judo, you can break your opponent’s arm (via arm locks) or choke them unconscious during a match, and it’s perfectly within the rules (assuming they don’t first ‘submit’ by tapping out). But 12 year olds are too young to be allowed to do any of that.

    Also… There are several dangerous ‘throws’ which 12 year olds aren’t yet allowed to do.

    12 year olds don’t practice REAL judo, it’s more of a modified ‘kiddie’ judo.

    Also, 12 year olds only compete against other 11 or 12 year olds in competition, not against adults. It’s a special ‘kiddie’ division, with different age limits (i.e., 9-10, 11-12, etc).

    Also, most 12 year olds compete at the white/yellow belt level (or possibly orange) —– which is basically just a ‘beginner’ level.

    At every local judo competition, there are many winners from various ‘kiddie’ divisions and different age groups.

    Therefore… Keith is among thousands of other kids who’ve won local judo competitions on the East Coast — while competing against other kiddies in the lower divisions (using ‘kiddie judo’, not real judo).

    It’s hardly an accomplishment to brag about as an adult.

    I wonder if Isaac Edwards would agree with this assessment.

    Frank, can you ask Isaac Edwards to comment on Keith’s judo claims? Or am I asking too much of you?

    • *For the US Judo Federation…

      ‘Arm locks’ cannot be done in competition until a child is at least 16 years old.

      ‘Chokes’ cannot be done in competition until a child is at least 13 years old.

      Other ‘dangerous’ throws can only be done in competition once a child reaches a certain age (but 12 years old is too young for these types of throws).

      12 year olds learn basic judo throws and that’s it.

      Even though they could technically rise to purple belt, most 12 year olds will be lower than that. I seriously doubt that Keith ever rose above yellow belt or orange belt.

    • I was 58 years old with no criminal history. I was told if I pled to a single count of Possession of child porn and receipt, I might get probation and no more than three years. Trial if found guilty is 20. I was also broke. Like 90% of other people, I pled out. A 2018 Pew Research Center study indicates that a staggering 90% of federal criminal cases end up with defendants pleading guilty to their alleged offenses. Most defendants who did go to trial, meanwhile, were found guilty, either by a jury or judge. (Defendants can waive their right to a jury trial if they wish.) Russia over 99% of criminal trials end in a conviction. So, ours is 96%. Not much better

      Put another way, only 320 of 79,704 total federal defendants – fewer than 1% – went to trial and won their cases, at least in the form of an acquittal, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

      They lied. I was given 70 months
      I had had a Gastrointestinal tumor that was malignant removed in 2012. They removed some of my small intestines in Alb Med an did a successful resection. The Judge was well aware of this at sentencing.

      In Prison I developed Thyroid cancer that led to metastatic Liver Cancer. I was very, very sick.

      I have since received an experimental liver transplant that I volunteered for. I received a liver from a drug overdose victim.
      Hopefully experiments like these can open up a new source of organs. I was terminal anyway said what the hell. Ex-Felons get what they can. I had my wife’s insurance. I am now 65 and have Medicare A&B

      I have been in rejection once but recovered. I’m not bad now and will be Boston next week for a Liver Biopsy. No big deal

    • I had no criminal history. Devins is one of the better ones and less than 120 miles from home.

      Not that it was good but was better than most. Except for a couple camps think Otisville. They all suck.

    • The rationale was “let’s take this pain in the ass journalist down for exposing the nxivm racket.”

      They tried but did not succeed in removing John Tighe.

      What John went through as a result of the heinous lies – Raniere’s karma for this vile act in particular ? – Oh My God.

      Bloody Beaumont, Misery mountain, Death Camp Atlanta? Where has Raniere made his new bed? Where now, will he have to lie in it?

      • Removing Tighe helped pave the road for DOS. The irony is that John going to prison had a direct impact on Keith going to prison.

  • This is one of the most powerful articles on Frank Report.

    When sentences are determined, you may as well have the judge select the prison based on the severity of psychological torture and risk to human life he intends to impose on the newly convicted felon.

    We should be upfront and clear – honest and transparent about the conditions our judicial process intends to subject our fellow man.

    Merely saying one year or ten years in prison is not sufficient nor honest.

    Let’s define the conditions our fellow man will endure, in words that have meaning as John Tighe provided for us.

    Raniere should not be subjected to these conditions. No man should.

  • The SHU is cruel and unusual IMO, and should be banned. And though I’m pretty much against it, even for those that you mentioned John that may deserve it, I am not too troubled by Keith being in solitary. This is solely for the reason he did essentially the same thing to Daniela for 22 months.

    In some ways, her treatment was worse. Sure, she could get out and eventually did, but not without considerable consequence. There was no “get out for daily exercise”. She would go days, weeks, months, without human contact, and when Lauren showed up, she was deliberately cruel. There were no guarantees of medical care, or that she would be fed. There was no due process. No assurance that anyone would even notice she was alive. I don’t believe there was anything to sit on, a bed, or that she ever changed her clothes. No end date, Keith would have kept her in there until she died.

    So in this case Keith, you reap what you sow.

  • We’re a barbaric society. This is American justice? It’s horrifying.

    Thank you John, for showing the brutal reality of prison. I hope you are cancer free and able to live a promising life.

    • We’re a barbaric society. This is American justice? It’s horrifying. Anonymous

      Since 2016 the corrupt FBI investigated Donald Trump as a Russian agent based on a hoax which the FBI knew was false and probably concocted by Hillary Clinton.

      Then the US Congress impeached Trump on the notion that Trump had acted “improperly” in opposing government corruption in Ukraine.

      Then the corrupt American Deep State labeled Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian “disinformation” in order to conceal Biden family corruption in Ukraine and China.

      In January 2021 the FBI sent Agent Provocateurs to foment a riot on Capitol Hill in order to frame Donald Trump.
      (An agent provocateur (French for “inciting agent”) is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, the target, or a group they belong to or are perceived to belong to. They may target any group, such as a peaceful protest or demonstration, a union, a political party or a company.
      In jurisdictions in which conspiracy is a serious crime in itself, it can be sufficient for the agent provocateur to entrap the target into discussing and planning an illegal act. It is not necessary for the illegal act to be carried out or even prepared.)

      Recently the FBI rummaged through Trump’s house breaking into an empty safe and raiding Melania’s underwear drawer.

      The DOJ is an out of control Gestapo and together with its stormtrooper arm the FBI it is a danger to American civil liberties.

      • “ In January 2021 the FBI sent Agent Provocateurs to foment a riot on Capitol Hill in order to frame Donald Trump.”
        Are you serious? If yes, go see a doctor. The best you can afford……

        “ The DOJ is an out of control Gestapo and together with its stormtrooper arm the FBI it is a danger to American civil liberties.”

        No, you are dead wrong. The DOJ and FBI are protecting democracy, ant thus civil liberties in America.They are protecting the very thing you and a significant portion of Republicans are hell bent on destroying.

        • You two guys have extremely different views on the DOJ and FBI. I wonder if there is anyplace in the middle that you can agree on?

          • I can agree on the fact that Shadow has a genuine interest in history, judged by some of the info he has been posting on the FR. Some of it factual and interesting. So it baffles my mind how he simultaneously can adopt such extreme and nonsensical positions on, for example, a legally executed search warrant.

            I genuinely appreciate the mediation by Frank.

      • Toptip for Shadow: lock and load your AR15 and go to the nearest FBI-building and teach these “gestapo-stormtroopers” a lesson!
        We will not miss your insane conspiracy diarrhea on the FR.

        • Frank Report does not condone or support violence against anyone. We are also opposed to “conspiracy diarrhea,” for it always ends up messy.

          But we have found one effective method of protest. Dancing in front of FBI headquarters will get everyone’s attention. You might also consider offering donuts and coffee to agents as they exit in riot gear for the next raid.

      • “Since 2016 the corrupt FBI investigated Donald Trump as a Russian agent based on a hoax which the FBI knew was false and probably concocted by Hillary Clinton.”
        Yeah, and the Jan 6th insurrection never happened, just like the Twin Towers and the Moon landings. No doubt Hillary was eating at her favourite pizza restaurant basement LOL

  • Bloody Beaumont, Misery Mountain. I think USP Tucson needs an alliterative nickname too.

    How about Tickle Me Tucson?

  • Now is a good opportunity for the Tucson prison administration to move Keith Raniere to another prison immediately after his solitary confinement ends. It would be foolish of them to let this opportunity pass, proving their administrative incompetence. And they have a good argument for this action, because the transfer to another prison is directly related to Raniere’s rule violations and thus is not an arbitrary and unjustified action.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” He also appeared in "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM, and was credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premieres on May 22, 2022.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

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