“	Nate, did you find us a client in prison?	”
— Alec Hardison

Season premiere. It's the great escape when Nate battles a corrupt prison warden, Adam Worth IV to save the life of Billy Epping, an inmate targeted by prison guards after he witnessed the gang beating of another prisoner.

The Client

Billy Epping, an accountant serving a lengthy sentence at Rockford for a minor offense in order to keep the prison's census high. Billy is now the target of a prison gang, having been set up to take the fall for the beating of another prisoner.

The Mark

Adam Worth IV, CEO of Rockford Prison. Worth comes from a political family, but entered the world of private prisons when his own political aspirations failed. As a corporate prison officer, Worth has a vested interest in the inmate count at his prison, which cannot fall below 70% occupancy, and has been allowed to consult on sentences of potential inmates. He is very likely bribing judges to keep his count up and his federal funding flowing.

Locations

• Boston, Massachusetts
  • Rockford Private Correctional Facility
  • Nate's condo
  • unnamed court house
  • State Party Election Headquarters
  • First Boston Independent Bank

Guest Cast

• Elisabetta Canalis as The Italian
• Edwin Hodge as Billy Epping
• Dennis Bateman as Adam Worth IV
• Robert Blanche as Patrick Bonanno

Aliases

• Hardison: Lester Barrington-Jones
• Elliot: Wes Abernathy
• Parker: Fiona

Episode Notes

• Edwin Hodge, the brother of series star Aldis Hodge who plays Alec Hardison, guest stars as Billy Epping.
• Eliot Spencer introduces his alias Dr. Wes Abernathy in this episode. Abernathy is the antithesis of Eliot, a quiet, gentle person designed to counter Eliot's rough and tough personality.
• In this episode, Detective Captain Patrick Bonanno returns, still recovering from his injuries and newly promoted. When the episode was screened in Los Angeles for an audience comprised in part of Leverage fans, the audience cheered when Bonanno first appeared on camera.
• The warden refers to the profit in prison labor.  Although not as true now as it once was, prison labor still manufactures furniture and other goods which are used in state buildings or sold on the open market.  Perhaps most famous of these prison mill and cabinet makers at Folsom (CA) State Prison, which built furniture for state buildings until the late 90s.  Folsom SP still makes all of the license plates used in California, thus the old euphemism about making license plates when referring to going to prison.  
• This episode begins the Damien Moreau story arc with the introduction of "The Italian," a mysterious woman with unknown connections who gives Nate and the team six months to bring down Moreau or risk imprisonment, or worse.

Trivia

• Eliot has new glasses. Does he biologically need them or did a fight injure his eye(s)?
• Many of the candidates' names on the political posters featured in the episode are the names of Leverage writers and other production crew, including Geoffrey Thorne and Scott Veach. The politician featured in Parker's faked photographs is played by Mark Franco, a member of the production team.
• The model helicopter Parker flies during Nate's escape is painted in the livery of the Pomona (CA) Police Department's helicopter, a MD-500E which began service in August 2008.
• The mark's name, Adam Worth IV, is likely a reference to infamous 19th century criminal mastermind Adam Worth

Differences in Spanish dub

• The title El Caso de la Liberación translates to The Liberation Case.