Yesterday, Keith Alan Raniere celebrated his 62nd birthday.
He spent it in the Special Housing Unit at USP Tucson. Prison officials assigned him there because of a fight on July 25. This is his 32nd day in the SHU – where he spends 23 hours per day in a small cell – and one hour out for exercise and hygiene.
Another inmate who participated in the altercation earned a berth in the SHU.
Prison officials are investigating who initiated the hostilities.
The former East Coast Judo champion told officials he did not start the fight.
According to reports, the inmate saw TNT’s The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which features Raniere. Moments after it aired, he accosted Raniere and sucker punched him.
Last year, the man known as Vanguard also spent his birthday in the SHU. In 2021, he had a 100 stay – surrounding his birthday – which is ten times longer than the old Vanguard Week. The offense was an apparent inappropriate passing of messages between one of his followers, Nicki Clyne, and another inmate.
Raniere’s followers celebrated his nativity for 10 days yearly in the Adirondacks.
A view of the SHU, where Raniere spent his 61st and 62nd birthdays.
A view of a prison cell at MDC, similar to one where Raniere spent his 58, 59 and 60th birthdays.
A view of Silver Bay where Raniere spent his 46-57th birthdays.
This is Raniere’s fifth birthday in custody.
He spent three at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. On his 60th birthday, his followers regaled him with lively music and dance.
The YMCA lodge below housed many devotees of the ethicist of NXIVM during Vanguard Week.
Raniere’s followers celebrated his nativity for 10 days yearly in the Adirondacks.
Vanguard Week was celebrated from late August to early September. At the resort in Silver Bay, on the shores of Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains, his followers came.
As many as 500 paid more than $2,000 to join the fun, frolic, gaiety, and merriment. And also imbibe the teachings and the glory. NXIVM became the whole world for those 10 days.
The followers of Raniere rented the entire 650 YMCA campus. It was an almost exclusive mingling of NXIVM adherents with each other and Raniere.
The only non-Nxians were the staff at the YMCA. Imagine what it was like when 500 Nxians gathered for 10 days.
For the first three days, Raniere would not appear in public. Then on the evening of the third night, his birthday, he would arrive in the theater for a night of tribute and entertainment.
Vanguard appears on stage on his birthday.