A man accused of plotting an attack on a federal medical facility in Fort Worth asked a judge in December to deport him instead of sending him to prison, saying he didn't deserve to spend time behind bars, records show.

Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud was arrested in 2015 on allegations he planned a trip to Texas to attack the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth in an attempt to free Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Mohamud, who was born in Somalia, came to the U.S. at 2 years old and had been living in Ohio, was sentenced to 22 years in prison last week.

Court records obtained by The Associated Press show Mohamud wrote a letter to his judge in December, proposing deportation over prison time.

Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud, of Columbus, was accused in April 2015 of receiving training on weapons, combat and tactics in Syria, and then returning to the U.S. with a plan to attack a military base or a prison. The attacks were never carried out. (AP Photo / Franklin County Sheriff's Office)

"I truly don't believe I deserve prison at all," Mohamud said in the letter to federal Judge Michael Watson.

Mohamud added: "So if the concern is risk assessment then deportation would set everyone's hearts at ease."

He said he didn't want to leave his family but called his proposal "completely fair and just."

According to the government, Mohamud applied for a passport to travel abroad only a week after he became a U.S. citizen in 2014.

He bought a ticket to Greece with a stop in Turkey, where he disembarked before going to Syria, prosecutors said in court documents. They said he never intended to go to Greece.

Mohamud trained with al-Nusra Front, an extremist organization affiliated with al-Qaeda, prosecutors said.

The attacks were never carried out. Mohamud was arrested in 2015 and pleaded guilty a few months later to providing material support to terrorists and to lying to the FBI about his travel to Syria, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

At sentencing on Jan. 22, Mohamud told Watson that he knew what he'd done was wrong and that he'd fallen into the trap of radicalization while abroad.

Mohamud, 26, tried to fire his attorney in a second letter dated Dec. 15, saying they weren't communicating well. A handwritten note on the letter says Mohamud's request was withdrawn Jan. 9 in court.

His attorney, veteran Columbus defense lawyer Sam Shamansky, declined to comment.

Shamansky had asked for leniency, saying Mohamud didn't have his father around when he was growing up, was brainwashed while abroad "by professional head twisters" but later realized his error and abandoned his plot.

Prosecutors noted Mohamud contacted others from jail after his arrest and told them not to say anything.

But for his sentence, Mohamud may eventually get his wish.

The local Homeland Security Investigations office said after Mohamud was sentenced last week that it would seek to strip him of his citizenship and deport him to Somalia.

By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, The Associated Press

Posted by Naheed Rajwani, staff writer