FORT WORTH, Texas (CN) — Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner, who admitted to leaking classified information on Russian election meddling to the press, has been released from federal prison into a halfway house, according to her attorney.
Attorney Alison Grinter Allen announced Monday that Winner, 29, from Kingsville, Texas, has been released from Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth.
”She is still in custody in the residential reentry process, but we are relieved and hopeful,” Allen said in a statement posted to Twitter. “Reality and her family have asked for privacy during the transition process as they work to heal the trauma of incarceration and build back the years lost. Her release is not a product of the pardon or compassionate release process, but rather the time earned from exemplary behavior while incarcerated.”
Winner is currently being held at a reentry facility in San Antonio until Nov. 23, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
An Air Force veteran, Winner worked as a translator and cryptologist before joining the NSA and was the first leaker prosecuted by the Trump administration under the Espionage Act. She was sentenced to over five years in federal prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to one count of transmitting national security information.
She admitted to using her security clearance to share a classified report with The Intercept regarding Russia's attempt to help get former President Donald Trump elected in 2016 by hacking into a voting software supplier in Florida.
Winner’s family and supporters have unsuccessfully lobbied for a presidential pardon or early release for several years. Federal courts refused last year to grant her a compassionate, early release under the First Step Act during the Covid-19 pandemic in spite of her claims that she is immunocompromised due to an eating disorder.
The medical prison at FMC Carswell where Winner was held had a breakout of Covid-19 cases, with Winner herself becoming infected and several other inmates dying. The trial court ruled last year that Winner failed to show “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for a reduction of her sentence.
The Trump administration declined to pardon Winner after her lawyers formally requested a commutation of her sentence in February 2020. Trump did tweet on his now-suspended Twitter account that what Winner did “is ‘small potatoes’ compared to what Hillary Clinton did.”
Allen added that her client is still banned from making public statements or appearances.
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