Chief Judge J. Randal Hall of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Augusta. (Courtesy photo)

Citing administrative difficulties created by the coronavirus pandemic, the chief judge of Georgia's Southern District has refused to expedite a request to release media informant Reality Winner from a prison, where at least two inmates are infected with COVID-19.

Chief Judge Randal Hall denied a motion by Winner's counsel Joe Whitley, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta and Macon, for an immediate hearing to commute the remainder of the former U.S. Air Force veteran's 63-month sentence to home confinement.

"The current global pandemic wrought by COVID-19 has affected all aspects of the judicial system in some capacity," Hall said. "The court will therefore not accelerate the briefing schedule for this matter."

The judge then gave federal prosecutors two weeks to respond to Whitley's motion urging Winner's release, adding that the government "may, but is not required to" submit its response before 14 days have elapsed.

Hall's decision not to expedite consideration of Winner's commutation request is at apparent odds with a memo that U.S. Attorney General William Barr issued in March, 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. Earlier this month, Barr intensified his push for the early release  of prison inmates, because the spread of COVID-19 had affected the Bureau of Prisons' ability to function. 

Among inmates slated for release to home confinement is Michael Cohen, former lawyer and fixer for President Donald Trump, who has been serving a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to campaign-finance violations and other offenses associated with a scheme to buy the silence of two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump before the 2016 election.

"We respect the court's decision. Nonetheless, we are disappointed in its ruling denying expedited treatment of our request to have Reality Winner released," Whitley said Friday.  " As the attorney general has recognized, the global pandemic presents monumentally serious issues of life and death, and is growing increasingly worse by the day inside densely populated facilities like our jails. In view of this threat, and in light of Ms. Winner's situation, we believe Ms. Winner should be released  to home confinement – like many other non-violent offenders who have been released by federal judges across the country."

Winner— the first person prosecuted by the Trump White House for leaking information to the news media — pleaded guilty in 2018 to a federal statute intended to prevent military secrets from being stolen and given to U.S.  enemies. Winner leaked to an online magazine a single document that included specifics on attempts by Russian intelligence operatives to hack state election systems across the nation. She has served more than 34 months in detention.

Whitley moved for an immediate hearing a week ago, arguing 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.   He said Winner also has underlying health issues, including a history of respiratory illness, that make her more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. 

Whitley said that time was of the essence as it was "only a matter of time" before Winner was exposed.

FMC-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas where Winner is serving a 63-month sentence reported its first COVID-19 case on April 10 and a second case three days later. U.S. Bureau of Prisons coronavirus case numbers from Texas have remained unchanged since then, but the prison has banned all visitors until further notice.

But on April 3, the NBC television affiliate in Dallas reported that a pregnant Carswell inmate rushed to a Fort Worth, Texas, hospital to deliver a premature baby was critically ill with a suspected case of COVID-19 and placed on a ventilator. According to the report, the prison was locked down and 31 inmates were quarantined. 

On April 8, the television station reported that six Carswell prison guards also were showing symptoms of the virus and awaiting test results at home.

Last Sunday, Carswell inmate Mendy Forbes told KERA, NPR's Dallas affiliate, that the prison has run out of soap, toilet paper, and sanitary pads. She said that inmates sleep four to a cell, less than three feet apart. After KERA broadcast the interview, Forbes' father said his daughter was placed in solitary confinement.