Accused CIA Leaker: ‘Ruthless, Soulless Assholes’ Run My Jail
Josh Schulte, a former CIA employee and alleged leaker, was particularly aggrieved that jail officials removed a basketball hoop from the recreation yard for no apparent reason.

Brendan McDermid/Reuters
An accused CIA leaker recently transferred to a Brooklyn federal jail has penned a scathing letter about the conditions of his detention, writing that his new lockup is being run by “ruthless, soulless assholes.” Josh Schulte accused jail officials of taking away a basketball hoop from the high-security inmates’ recreation yard without a reason, saying that “there is no legitimate governmental purpose to removing our balls.” Schulte, who prosecutors say was a crucial source for WikiLeaks in the 2016 leak of governmental data, also wrote in his letter to the Manhattan Federal Court that light is blasted into his cell every 10 minutes all day and night. He argued that his living conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center are preventing him from preparing for his retrial, which was ordered after his trial ended last year with a hung jury. The alleged leaker, who will be representing himself in court, issued an ultimatum, writing that the inmates in the high-security unit “intend to begin a hunger strike next week until the issues are resolved and we are treated less like concentration camp slaves.”
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