Why Wasn't Epstein A "Lieutenant Hold" Like El Chapo?

Were the Wrong Persons Fired?

The officer in charge of the day watch where Epstein was held created this sign, according to the Justice Department inspector general (Justice Department Bureau of Prisons, 2019).

The officer in charge of Jeffrey Epstein’s prison unit posted the sign, above, according to the Justice Department’s inspector general (I.G.). Absent firsthand experience in the federal Bureau of Prisons (B.O.P.), the sign may give the impression that Epstein was flagged for just about all the attention his jailors knew how to give him.

But something they chose not to do is likely more illuminating.

Epstein’s jailors could not put him in the Witness Protection Program. Only prosecutors could have initiated that. And it is fair to ask why there is no indication they considered it.

But Epstein’s jailors could have put him on a lieutenant hold.

The lieutenant hold technique calls for a lieutenant to be present the entire time the inmate is out of the cell and the lieutenant is required to provide supervisory oversight during the inmate movement.

—Center for Naval Analyses (C.N.A.), Federal Bureau of Prisons: Special Housing Unit Review and Assessment (December 2014), pg. 175

I was at the M.C.C. when Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera arrived. As I wrote for The Intercept, he was a three-lieutenant hold.

Guzmán was, of course, a worse security threat to staffers and the prison itself, which are the usual factors for a lieutenant hold. But he and Epstein had at least one thing in common. The I.G. repeatedly called Epstein “one of the BOP’s most notorious inmates.”

The danger to Epstein’s life, moreover, and his potential value as a witness were both readily apparent and echoed by the press.

“There's no doubt in my mind that no jail will protect you when there’s[sic] powerful people that want to reach you—wherever you are,” victims’ attorney Spencer Kuvin told Law & Crime. “If he’s going to implicate anyone in power that has the ability to reach in and somehow get to him—his life is definitely in jeopardy.”

Nevertheless, the I.G. did not claim that Epstein was a lieutenant hold. And if the I.G.’s report is to be believed, he hardly could have been one.

Specifically, the I.G. wrote: “The available video showed that at approximately 7:49 p.m. on August 9, [2019,] Epstein was escorted toward the L Tier stairway.”

It is impossible to prove or disprove that the prisoner in the video was Epstein; the video is too grainy. But it shows a single officer, whom the I.G. reported to have been a regular C.O., performing the escort in a black uniform.

Lieutenants in federal prisons wear white shirts, something that is so well known that they are called “white shirts” roughly as often as they are called “lieutenants.”¹

The lack of a lieutenant escort is also one of the few instances in which the I.G.’s report agrees with both the video and the witness statements.

Thus, it is fair to ask why the B.O.P. did not put Epstein on a lieutenant hold. Had it done so before the night in question, things could have gone much differently.

As it was, according to the I.G.:

At approximately 7 p.m., contrary to BOP policy but with the permission of a Unit Manager, Epstein [wa]s permitted to place an unmonitored telephone call to a number with a New York City area code, purportedly to speak with his mother. In actuality, Epstein sp[oke] with someone with whom he allegedly ha[d] a personal relationship. After the call, Epstein [wa]s returned to his cell, where he remain[ed] without a cellmate.

Epstein’s cellmate had been transferred earlier that day.

The I.G. also wrote:

According to the Day Watch Activities Lieutenant, he did not know that Epstein was without a cellmate. Other senior officials, including the Warden, [an associate warden], and the Captain, were also unaware of […] the need to assign Epstein a new cellmate.[…] The Captain told the [inspector general] that since Epstein was in the attorney conference room all day, no one may have even thought about it, and may have only become aware when they put Epstein back in his cell after his attorney visit that evening.

A lieutenant hold would have ensured that a “senior official” saw that Epstein had no cellmate that evening. And the practical reality of implementing a lieutenant hold almost certainly would have put all the M.C.C.’s lieutenants on notice that psychologists had ordered that Epstein have a cellmate.

A lieutenant also may have questioned Epstein’s unmonitored phone call that evening.

The I.G. knew about lieutenant holds. Its choice to not ask about the lack of one for Epstein seems deliberate. Only the two COs who were on duty in Epstein’s unit that night were fired or charged, not the “senior official[s]” who had the choice to issue a lieutenant hold and opted not to do so.

On a larger level, this is another instance where the general public has been underinformed of standard prison practices by an astoundingly uncurious I.G. and flippant mass media, thus preempting tough questions.

I credit Substack subscriber

Mj

for starting me down the road to this piece.

Mj

commented on one of my previous writings with a well-thought-out analysis of the jail video and I.G.’s report. Among other things, it questioned whether the prisoner the I.G. reported to have been Epstein was really Epstein. This caused me to question, if he really was Epstein, why was there no lieutenant hold?

Mj

’s questions highlighted for me the value of reader interaction and that none of us is as smart as all of us. Toward that end, I have created a three-question subscriber survey. Use the button directly below to ask me anything that has left you curious. Who knows where it may lead.

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And please consider reading, if you have not already, Moorea Maguire’s summation of the recent research out of Tufts on endocrine-disrupting chemicals. They are a grave public-health threat that warrant our attention.

Breast Cancer

You may read more about Maguire’s Substack, Mirrors, Signal, Blindspot, at this link here.

1. Captains also wear white shirts, as does a type of junior lieutenant called a “prime.” Also, at least one person the I.G. reported to have been a lieutenant wore black over her white shirt. Overall, however, the likelihood is small that the single person who escorted Epstein back to his cell was a lieutenant whom the I.G. misreported to have been a regular C.O. Moving a prisoner with a lieutenant hold usually involves a lieutenant in addition to a regular C.O., not instead of one.