by guards. for a man who had homes in florida and wore python jacket, it would have been dauntsing. tonight he's been held at a federal prison in manhattan. the metropolitan correctional facility. that's after william barr's deputy intervened. he seeked his input on where manafort should be held. >> it's extraordinarily unusual and perhaps even entirely unprecedented for somebody as high ranking as the deputy attorney general to get personally involved in the designation of one particular inmate. >> reporter: another former prosecutor says the risk here is the optic of special treatment for manafort. >> if i were manafort's attorney, i would read this as a very hopeful message that the president and by extension the ag may still be looking out for us. they haven't forgotten about us. >> reporter: two weeks ago a source told cnn prosecutors in new york were trying to move manafort from the federal prison