Bullshit, lock him back up...

Paul Manafort released from prison due to virus concerns

Former Trump campaign chairman serving 7 1/2 year sentence is sent to home confinement

By JOSH GERSTEIN

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort — who was serving a seven-and-a-half year sentence on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller — was released to home confinement Wednesday due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus in federal prisons, a lawyer said.

Manafort's release quickly stirred criticism and complaints of political favoritism because he did not appear to have met the latest guidelines issued by the federal Bureau of Prisons about which inmates were eligible for placement on home confinement.

Under guidelines issued last month, federal authorities said they were approving home confinement for some prisoners who had served at least half of their sentences or at least a quarter of their sentences if they have less than 18 months left to serve.

Manafort, 71, had served about 23 months of his sentence, leaving him well short of the halfway mark and with about four-and-a-half years to serve before his scheduled release date in November 2024, as shown on the bureau website.

However, wardens, prisoners and lawyers for inmates reported significant confusion surrounding interpretation of those policies following a series of shifts in recent weeks. Officials have described the policies as detailing "priorities" for release and not ruling out departing from the guidelines in individual cases.

The guidelines do give priority to elderly inmates and those with serious health conditions. Manafort was briefly hospitalized with a heart condition late last year. During his trial on tax and money laundering charges in 2018, he sometimes appeared in a wheelchair and was said to be suffering from severe gout. His lawyers have also said he has bouts of depression and anxiety.

The decision to send Manafort to home confinement eases pressure on President Donald Trump to issue a pardon or commutation to Manafort. Trump has repeatedly decried as unfair Manafort's treatment by Mueller's prosecutors. However, the president has not claimed Manafort was innocent of the charges he faced, nor has he granted clemency to Manafort during the two years he has spent in prison since a Washington judge ordered him jailed in June 2018.

Generally, federal prisoners transferred to home confinement are not returned to prison, absent some violation of the conditions of their release.

Advocates for shorter sentences for state and federal inmates said they welcomed Manafort's release, but were concerned that authorities were not showing similar flexibility with other, rank-and-file prisoners.

"This looks bad. I don’t think any of the families we work with are upset that a 71-year-old with pre-existing conditions was sent to home confinement. It’s just that they want the rules to apply evenly," said Kevin Ring of FAMM.

"There are still plenty of BOP case managers telling people that they are not eligible until they serve 50 percent of their sentence. Heck, Michael Cohen was apparently told that, after originally being cleared for release. If the rules can’t even be applied consistently among former presidential staff, what can regular people expect?" RIng added.

Manafort was among the first people to be charged in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which examined possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election campaign.

Manafort, who was prosecuted in two federal courts, was convicted by a jury in federal court in Virginia in 2018 and later pleaded guilty in Washington. He was sentenced last March and was immediately hit with state charges in New York that could put him outside the president’s power to pardon.

New York prosecutors have accused him of giving false information on a mortgage loan application, but a local judge dismissed the case as violating a state law against holding a state trial on previous federal charges. Prosecutors are appealing that ruling.

As of Tuesday, 2,818 federal inmates and 262 BOP staff members had positive test results for COVID-19 at federal prisons across the country. Fifty inmates had died.

According to the federal prisons' website, nearly 2,500 inmates have been moved to home confinement since March 26, when Barr first issued a home confinement memo. More than 1,200 others have been approved and are in the pipeline to be released, a prisons' spokeswoman said.

Manafort’s release was first reported by ABC News.