Reality Winner

Former NSA contractor Reality Winner has asked a federal judge to commute her sentence for leaking to the media and release her from a federal prison where two inmates have already been infected by COVID-19.

Winner's attorney, Baker Donelson partner Joe Whitley, filed a motion Friday in the Southern District of Georgia asking Chief Judge Randal Hall to order the release of Winner and allow her to serve the remainder of her sentence in home confinement.

Whitley, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta and in Macon, argued that Winner's release is warranted because she is housed in close quarters at FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where social distancing is impossible and supplies of hand sanitizer have run out.

Whitley's motion is Winner's second attempt to secure her release this year. In February, Alison Grinter—an attorney with Legal Access Texas—filed a petition with the U.S. Justice Department seeking to commute Winner's sentence shortly after President Donald Trump issued a series of high-profile commutations and pardons.

Winner has been in custody since her June 2017 arrest. She pleaded guilty to a single count of espionage in August 2018 and has served more than 34 months in detention.  With federal good time, Winner's release date is still two years off, Whitley said.

Whitley also cited Winner's history of respiratory illness and an immune system compromised by bulimia that makes her particularly vulnerable to the virus. "The best chance Reality has to weather this pandemic is to be released and be permitted to live with her family in rural Texas," Whitley said.

Whitley also asked the judge for an immediate hearing, saying it's only a matter of time before Winner is exposed.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons reported Sunday that 352 inmates and 189 prison staff members have tested positive for the virus. Ten inmates have died.

Whitley also argued that commuting Winner's sentence would resolve sentence disparities between her and other similarly-charged defendants who received far less prison time.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine of the Southern District of Georgia, declined to comment.

Whitley's move to secure Winner's release comes just three weeks after U.S. Attorney General William Barr issued memos advising the Bureau of Prisons to release inmates to home confinement where appropriate, and directing U.S. attorneys to consider the medical risk associated with individuals placed in federal custody. 

Whitley also said Winner's offense was nonviolent and involved a single document. "This was not a Wikileaks-like 'dump' of massive amounts of sensitive data, nor was it a disclosure of military secrets to a foreign intelligence service," he said. 

Winner—a U.S Air Force veteran and former NSA contractor—was convicted under a federal statute intended to prevent military secrets from being stolen and given to enemies of the U.S. The leaked document included specifics on attempts by Russian intelligence operatives to hack state election systems across the nation.