Officials transferred Giarrantano for a time to the mental health unit at the Powhatan Correctional Center, then to the Buckingham Correctional Center. He was stabbed by another inmate and has asserted that officials spread the word that he was a "snitch", which they deny. They eventually moved him to a prison in Utah, for his own protection. It was later reported in the Richmond Times Dispatch that he was transferred to Utah Supermax because the Virginia Corrections Director "had a politically hot prisoner that he wanted get rid of". He was transferred to Joliet, Illinois, and returned to Virginia in March 1997. He had kept communication with supporters at Amnesty International and other groups.