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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document663_ Filed 06/15/22 Page 32 of 77
(PAE), 2021 WL 1518622, at *4, *6 (SDNY Apr. 16, 2021) (considering defendant’s “13 months
of incarceration during a once-in-a-century pandemic” as part of defendant’s “history and
characteristics” in granting motion for compassionate release). The extraordinarily harsh
conditions Ms. Maxwell has faced during COVID warrant a downward variance.
This Court has “repeatedly found that the COVID-19 pandemic presents an extraordinary
and unprecedented threat to incarcerated individuals.” United States v. Tucker, 13 Cr. 378 (AJN),
2021 WL 37227450, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 23, 2021) (citations omitted). ‘“[T]he existence of
COVID-19 has created harsher conditions, and that’s a fact that the Court should take into
account.” United States v. Crispin, 19 Cr. 323 (JSR) (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 21, 2020), Dkt. 124 at 9. It
is beyond dispute that the pandemic has made incarceration harsher and more punitive than would
otherwise have been the case. This is because the federal prisons, as ‘prime candidates’ for the
spread of the virus, have had to impose onerous lockdowns and restrictions that have made the
incarceration of prisoners far harsher than normal.” United States v. Rodriguez, 492 F. Supp. 3d
306, 311 (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (internal citations omitted); see also United States v. Henareh, 11 Cr.
93 (JSR), 2021 WL 119016, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 13, 2021) (“the heightened restrictions imposed
upon all prisoners during the pandemic may enhance the deterrent effect of prison sentences served
during the pandemic by making the conditions of confinement harsher, both physically and
psychologically, than they would otherwise normally be.”); United States v. McRae, 17 Cr. 643
(PAE), 2021 WL 142277, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 15, 2021) (“a day spent in prison under extreme
lockdown and in well-founded fear of contracting a once-in-a-century deadly virus exacts a price
on a prisoner beyond that imposed by an ordinary day in prison. While such conditions are not
intended as punishment, incarceration in such circumstances is, unavoidably, experienced as more
punishing”).
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Extracted Information
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00010478.jpg |
| File Size | 731.5 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.0% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,149 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 17:59:18.336640 |