When Michael Avenatti got arrested in California last week for unspecified violations of his pre-trial release, he was remanded to New York’s MCC, the prison where Jeffrey Epstein may or may not have killed himself.
According to his attorney H. Dean Steward, Avenatti is being held in the same cell where the government held El Chapo pending trial, which is the federal prisons equivalent of “the hole” — a “special administrative measures” area where inmates are cut off from contact with other inmates. Steward is asking the court to direct the Bureau of Prisons to move Avenatti to the general population.
Regardless of your feelings about Avenatti, there isn’t much of an argument for keeping the guy in solitary. Inmate Martin Gottesfeld, housed adjacent to the El Chapo unit, describes the conditions for The Intercept:
The facility itself is trash, with cockroach-infested meal trays and frigid, leaky cells. One inmate resorted to drinking from his toilet when the water was shut off. (Its sister facility across the river is now the subject of public attention, as detainees have been living without heat.)
Not to get conspiratorial, but what honest BOP official looked at Michael Avenatti charged with pilfering from clients and thought, “El Chapo… Avenatti… seems about right.” One of them led a murderous drug cartel and the other might have swiped thousands of dollars he owed to his clients. Totally equivalent!
His former client and alleged victim Stormy Daniels got a bum rap that looked every bit like some a trumped up political charge. Could Avenatti be getting the same treatment from a BOP MAGA-head?
Inside El Chapo’s Confinement: Cockroaches, Frigid Temperatures, Tacos, and a Three-Lieutenant Escort [The Intercept]
Michael Avenatti being held in same cell that housed Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, lawyer says [NBC News]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.