June 18, 2024
When former 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, reports CNN.
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 United States and Mexico.
Bannon was convicted by a federal jury two years ago in Washington, D.C., for not complying with a subpoena for an interview and documents in the U.S. 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 D.C. 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 has 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. More than 1,000 male prisoners are in the Danbury facility.
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.
Bannon and Peter Navarro—another Trump adviser who was sent to prison for contempt of Congress in the January 6 investigation—are not able to be released earlier than their four-month terms in prison, as some first-time offenders can be, because their sentences don’t include time under supervised release, people familiar with their situations tell CNN.
Navarro is set to be released on July 17. This means that both Navarro and Bannon will be behind bars during the Republican National Convention in mid-July.
Both men retained prison consultant Sam Mangel to help them have the best setup on the inside.
Bannon is awaiting word from the DC Circuit this week on whether a panel of three judges would be willing to keep him out of prison for the moment. He has already lost one round of appeals, but his lawyers say he intends to go to the Supreme Court.
Research contact: @CNN
