It’s the morning of July 17th and we left Essex County around 8:15 am in a van. We arrived quickly around 9am to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, NY. We go through the intake process where we are unshackled, placed in holding rooms, clothes are taken, sneakers thrown out and when I ask about my necklace they say that I don’t have it on me, so they don’t have it. Apparently, I was supposed to ask the Essex CO’s about it when I left the van. Instead I just confirmed my name when I left the van. I’m given one set of brown boxers, socks, t-shirt and a jumpsuit that is way too big. The crotch is down to my knees and the bottoms are cut off. I’m also given Jackie Chan shoes that actually fit. By 11:30am we arrived at the intake pod on the fourth floor. The good news is that inmates are outside their cells. My co-defendant and I are assigned to the same cell. We got a hot lunch of nachos and canned corn that is a lot better and tastier than Essex. We immediately start asking questions. Most inmates have been there for 6 days. There is a small book cart, where we find some books. I picked One by One by Ruth Ware. We learn the toilets can’t be flushed more than one time every five minutes or else they stop working for over one hour. We talk with others and get acquainted. Then we watch a little TV which is small and has CC’s on, since the sound is off during daytime hours. There is a recreation (rec) area that is more than double the size of the Essex rec area. We can borrow shower shoes and run disinfectant on them before or after use. My co-defendant showers around 2:30pm and I decide to shower as well, since I figure I have no idea what to expect later. We get razors we can keep on us and so we both shave. My co-defendant gave up on shaving in Essex, so he shaves his beard he grew the past 6 weeks. We get locked in for the 4pm count at 2:55pm. When 5pm comes and we should be let out, we never get let out. We get dinner around 5:30pm, but are still locked in.
Thursday morning around 8am, we get breakfast and ask when we will be let out. They say an inmate died and it will be a while. I asked if we will be let out later that day and they rudely said – NO, we said it will be a while. Later that morning we get passed a paper through our cell door that says “Effective July 17th MDC was placed on modified operations, following an inmate death. Due to the nature of this incident, a thorough investigation will be conducted to ensure the safety and security of all staff and inmates. It is the expectation of the captain that the inmates will live in a safe and secure environment. Violence in this setting leads to negative consequences such as injuries, death, prolonged lockdowns, disruption of operations and programs and increased tension. Therefore, it is imperative all inmates adhere to the established rules, expectations and respect one another. As a result of this incident, the inmate population will remain secured until further notice. Legal visits will continue as normal. Social visits will be canceled until further notice. Return to normal operations is strictly based on the investigation’s results, in conjunction with the inmate behavior and will be accessed daily.”( Patti note- I knew he would be leaving on the 17th because of the tablet being shut off, on Thursday morning I checked the BOP site and Jim was showing at MDC Brooklyn and I’m wondering when I’ll hear from him. I see visitation is shut down there, but I don’t google or I would have seen about the death) https://www.yahoo.com/news/inmate-dies-violent-brawl-brooklyn-000800979.html
Friday morning they let out 6 inmates at a time for 10 minutes to shower. There is no access to phones or email. The book rack is completely empty (except a few books in Spanish and Russian) and we are bummed as my co-defendant has already finished his book. It’s Patti’s birthday and I was not able to contact her. We hear we are allowed to shower Mon, Weds and Fri, so our next time to get out of the cell and shower will be Monday. Saturday we get two extra sets of boxers, t-shirts and socks. Sunday, I ask how long we can expect to be locked down and the CO says last time this occurred the lockdown lasted one month.
Around 3pm on Sunday they passed out ice cream cones and my co-defendant was so happy. It was only his third ice cream since he entered prison on January 2nd, 2024
Monday morning I hear the CO knock on a neighbors door at 5:40am and he says you got 30 minutes to shower. We were let out later that morning. They said we still can’t use the phones or computers, even though the phones did have a dial tone. We actually found some books in English, which is good since I just finished my book. We passed lots of time by talking to one another and it really helped. I know much more about my co-defendant and his family and he knows more about me and my family now. While outside our cell I asked an orderly about the lockdown and travel and he said the lock down will be reduced starting Monday (one more week) and they typically leave for PA Tuesday or Thursday. We strategized about our return route and timing a LOT the day before and we decided tomorrow,Tuesday, should be the day we leave and travel via Harrisburg. My co-defendant said an Essex CO said he won’t be going through Oklahoma. My co-defendant left his camp in WV via Pittsburgh and everyone from his camp arrives via Harrisburg on Tuesday evenings. For me, I thought I would go back via Stewart airport on a Wednesday, but our camp is only 30-45 mins North of Harrisburg and I know they drop inmates off at Harrisburg on Monday mornings and people arrive from Oklahoma on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So our fingers are crossed as I write this on July 22nd that we will leave tomorrow. At this point my hair has not been cut in over 8 weeks and it is looking as long as some pictures of me in grade school. Both of us could use some nail clippers, since my nails were likely longer than Patti’s. I put in a request to have my nails cut at Essex and still after one week, they didn’t let me borrow clippers. At MDC upon our arrival, I asked the nurse and she said she would speak with her supervisor.
We both have a restless sleep Monday night and we wake to breakfast being served a little after 7am and think the worst. We discuss having to stay another day or up to a week at MDC, but during breakfast the CO comes to our door and says, “Letko, pack your stuff, you’re leaving.” I look at my co-defendant and say a big “sorry, I wish they called you too.” I head down to intake with about 6 others from our pod. They forced me to not take my legal notes and this journal which I had written at MDC and said they will send it separately – not on the bus. We are escorted to different holding rooms where we total around 25. While waiting, I learned there was another inmate killing a little less than 60 days ago at MDC.
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2024/06/24/brooklyn-federal-jail-murder-conditions
(Patti note- so basically an inmate at MDC Brooklyn was murdered in a fight on July 17, 2024 and a different inmate was murdered on June 7, 2024-Glad I didn’t know this until after Jim was back in Lewisburg, but I know the place was horrible and had a bad reputation)
We change out of our browns into all orange pants, t-shirts, boxers and socks and are then cuffed and shackled. The only thing we can take on the bus are eyeglasses and the marshals will take meds on the bus, but hold onto any meds. We leave MDC around 10am. Our route takes us through downtown Brooklyn, over the Verrazano and Goethals bridges, up the turnpike past Newark Airport, to 280 West to 80 West. It’s nice to view these areas through real windows after being locked up inside and transported in the metal Essex vans for the past 6 weeks. We hit lots of traffic just before and after the Delaware Water Gap and arrived at Lewisburg a little before 2pm. I inform other inmates what our route will be and that we get off exit 210 and are only 10 minutes off route 80, so they warm up a little to me, especially those who I met in Essex. Some folks heard of their destination from Essex. So if they aren’t going to Lewisburg, they are aware they are being held there and then transported to other federal prisons like Allenwood, Butler, etc.. We pull through the wall and gates of the 90 year old Lewisburg medium prison. Everyone else is called except 3 of us, who are headed to the camp.
When finally called we exit the bus and are unshackled and then exit the prison and are told to walk unescorted down to the camp. The two other inmates are surprised by the freedom and are unfamiliar with the grounds, so I take the lead and walk us into the control center in the admin building. Upon arrival we are each selected to change out of our orange clothes and get the khaki pants and white underwear and t-shirts. I met my counselor who was nice enough to save my cube and bottom bunk for me. I had a bunkie who arrived one month prior. He was not too happy to be forced to the top bunk; however, he is really nice and we get along well. It was so welcoming and I felt so free to be able to walk outside without shackles and handcuffs. I locate my personal belongings and gradually unpack everything as my bunkie starts cleaning up and making room. I don’t bother to change clothes or put more comfortable sneakers on. I just enjoy the outdoors and beautiful warm weather catching up with everyone, going to dinner and then playing some bocce. Everyone is excited to see me and I share many details. To those who have been through a similar experience, I feel more respected now. I finally shave and am in disbelief how close a shave I get with my cheap 3 blade razor. My hair is still super long, but my barber is aware and quickly gets me on his schedule for a cut in two days. I hear the CO manager of the commissary is still out on maternity leave and almost everything is out of stock. Luckily, all amenities are open except for the gym, which is fine since the outdoor gym and track work fine for me this time of year.
The next morning, Wednesday, while I’m at breakfast and commissary at 6am about 50 SIS CO’s raid the camp housing units. Luckily, I had everything I needed for work. They forced everyone who was still in the units to walk out through metal detectors requiring anyone wearing a watch to put it back in their lockers. So I’m like great, if my new bunkie (who I barely know) has any contraband, I’m going to be sent to the SHU (Special Housing Unit) upon my return from work. Just what I need to extend a miserable past 6 weeks. So I head to work, where I have to get computer access back and catch up on some things. While I was out my CO manager and a senior inmate covered my job, so work was easy but I kept busy double checking things they did. Upon returning to camp, no one was called out during our check-in count, which was a relief. I hit the computers and discover my access is back on. (Computers and phones are disabled on days you travel within the BOP, so this was the first time I could reach out to Patti, since July 16th.) While at the computers my new bunkie comes up and tells me I should return to our cube to put my property away. He was tired of staying in the cube and watching it for me. I return to find all the contents of my locker and bags (which I just put away the previous night) are now tossed all over our cube floor and my bed. SIS even decided to place a smashed hard boiled egg (which wasn’t ours) in the middle of our cube floor, which my bunkie already cleaned up. I go through most items and confirm everything is there, but on Sunday when I’m looking for stamps, I find two books of stamps (40 total) are missing. Others tell me their watches, which they were forced to leave in their lockers, were gone. I hear that in previous raids stamps went missing. Something else they did was take the combination locks out of cubes and placed them locked on other cube lockers. So the owners had trouble accessing their lockers after the raid. Typically they just unlock with a master key and leave the locks next to the lockers in the same cube.
I took my first run for two miles Wednesday and felt pretty good after not running for 6 weeks. The next day my legs really ache and I could not remember the last time they were that sore. I decided to run every other day for the first week and workout my abs daily and feltl in good shape. My blood pressure when at MDC was 109/65 with a pulse of 69, which is close to what it was at the health fair. On July 29th I weighed myself at work and am down to 167, from 174.( Patti edit-I noticed right away that he looked much thinner) So apparently the smaller food portions and less snacking along with continuing my workouts made me a little thinner. Patti visited me both Saturday and Sunday and it was SO NICE to finally see her. It had been 8 weeks. We celebrated our 33rd first date on August 13th. We missed visits and calls on Father’s Day and on Patti’s birthday.
Upon arrival back to camp from work on July 29th, we noticed my friend from bocce who traveled to Buffalo arrived back. His trip consisted of a bus ride to Ohio, where he stayed about one week in a federal prison and then took a bus to Niagara County where he stayed 4 weeks and then spent 12 days in Ohio on his way back. He says both prisons did not require him to quarantine and he was allowed out of his cell between 7am and 9pm. He also received a tablet upon arrival in Niagara County. So even though his trip was a little longer than mine, not being locked down and having more tablet time must have been nice.
On Saturday July 27th Patti noticed my co-defendant was in Oklahoma, so he must have left MDC on Thursday and taken a plane from Stewart Airport to Oklahoma. (Not what Essex told him.) Then on July 31st, Patti notices he is back to Gilmer prison camp in WV. He had a home confinement date of July 30th to be released that morning, but he likely traveled that day and missed getting released. We eventually find out he receives all his FSA for June, July and even August and is released from BOP custody on August 9th, skipping home confinement. So for all the travel and hassle the trial caused him, he did not get any additional time off for it.
Since arriving back at camp, I’m flagged like a new arrival. I had to skip work to see the dentist for the same exam they performed 8 months prior. I asked about getting on the cleaning schedule and he said if I was already on the list, I would have lost my spot. I said I was not on the list, but decided to get myself added to the list that has a two year wait, in case I have bad luck and am still here in two years. I’m also required to miss work another day to see the Physician Assistant (PA) for a physical that was also performed about 9 months prior.
Patti checked on my FSA on July 31st and told me my projected release date (PRD) went back 15 days. That means they took back the 15 days credit of FSA they gave me on July 1st for June and didn’t give me the 15 days for July, likely due to me traveling and not programming per the BOP guidelines and handbooks. My co-defendant got his FSA credit, so this does not make sense to me. Overall it should not affect my exit date from RDAP and into a halfway house, but it can affect my home confinement release date, which is currently slated for July 7, 2026. Upon arrival back to camp, I also heard the RDAP program cycle that started July 30th had many folks enter with earlier release dates and didn’t take nearly as many inmates into that cycle as the previous cycle, because it is capped at 96 inmates for the total class. Therefore, it is not likely I will get into the October 30th class. This pushes my stay at the camp back about 3 months more that I predicted earlier this year, assuming I get into the January 30th class.
On August 26th, I mailed out claims and receipts to the BOP regional office in Philadelphia for the lost stamps, sneakers and necklace. I’m told by other inmates the claims go to the facility where the loss occurred and that all their claims at Lewisburg have been denied and their response letter says you can’t appeal them. My total is around $165, so not too much. On August 15th I received my draft journal notes I wrote in MDC and immediately started finalizing and emailing out to my daughter Kelsy and wife Patti.
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