During a layover in Poland, Vaulin — the 31-year-old accused by the United States of operating KickassTorrents (KAT), the web's most popular place to illegally obtain movies, songs, and video games — was arrested by authorities.

Until last week, Vaulin had been held at Warsaw-Bialoleka Investigative Detention Center with little contact to the outside world while the Polish government evaluated a US extradition request. Last Tuesday, two days before his release, The Verge sat down with Vaulin in his jail cell for a two-hour interview — the first since his arrest — to discuss his extradition fight and his life inside jail.

The day before I arrived at Bialoleka, I attended a court hearing in Warsaw to decide on a request made by Vaulin's attorneys that, after 10 months, he be released on bail for medical reasons. Vaulin suffers from a spinal condition from well before his arrest, his lawyers say. Just like with his previous requests, the court turned him down. But this past Thursday, the court unexpectedly reversed its decision.