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Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have never been the friendliest candidates for leniency in sentencing or treatment in prison after being convicted for their role in the college admissions scandal.
Giannulli’s lawyers, however, have made an argument for him to be released prematurely from federal prison, and it’s an argument that supporters of prison reform might embrace. Lawyers said in an emergency court petition the fashion designer suffered “significant” mental and physical damage as a result of being held for eight weeks in solitary confinement due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the ‘establishment.
Lawyers wrote that their 57-year-old client had spent nearly 40% of his five-month sentence in Lompoc prison in solitary quarantine, “despite testing negative for COVID-19 at least 10 times and despite multiple requests of his lawyer who (the US Bureau of Prisons) releases him from quarantine.
Proponents of prison reform have long combated the use of solitary confinement in US prisons and prisons, claiming that any prolonged isolation amounts to torture because it causes severe mental and physical distress. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have sounded the alarm over the “dramatic growth” in the use of solitary confinement and lockdowns as a means of ” stem the spread of the coronavirus in their facilities.
Giannulli, who was sentenced for his role in the college admissions scandal, is expected to serve his sentence in the minimum-security satellite camp at Lompoc prison, according to the motion. Instead, he was immediately placed alone in a small cell at the medium security facility – in what is termed in prison parlance “the hole”. He was confined to this small cell 24 hours a day, with only three short 20-minute breaks per week. He was finally transferred to the camp on Wednesday.
“Mr. Giannulli’s mental, physical and emotional well-being has been considerable,” the motion reads.
Loughlin, who was released from Dublin Federal Prison on December 28 after serving a two-month sentence, is said to be “stressed” over her husband’s well-being, People reported.
“This whole nightmare won’t end completely until Mossimo is released,” a source close to the former “Full House” actress told People.
Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded guilty last May to fraud charges, admitting to paying $ 500,000 in bribes to get their daughters, Isabella, 21, and Olivia Jade, 20, admitted to the University of California South under the false pretext of being crew crew recruits.
Loughlin, her husband and daughters have become the center of America’s anger over wealthy parents who have been caught paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to have their children already privileged students are enrolled in the best American colleges. Influencer Olivia Jade had made public on her YouTube channel her indifference to academics, while evidence submitted by prosecutors showed Loughlin and Giannulli had their daughters pose on rowers for photos to be submitted with their fake sports profiles . Giannulli also berated Olivia Jade’s high school counselor after raising concerns about questionable information in her USC candidacy.
Former Bel Air Country Club members have vehemently insisted their innocence for more than a year and accused prosecutors of misconduct and disproportion. They ultimately made plea deals after prosecutors released evidence showing Olivia Jade and Isabella’s possible complicity in the corruption system.
Loughlin, 56, reported to Dublin Federal Correctional Facility on October 30 and was initially housed with other inmates in a storage building which has been converted to a makeshift COVID-19 isolation unit prison consultant Holli Coulman told the Bay Area News Group. She was eventually transferred to the general population, sharing a cabin with three other women, said Coulman, who helps federal defendants prepare for life in prison with his Pink Lady Prison consultants.
According to the new court record, Giannulli’s experience appears to have undergone the same treatment as thousands of other people in American prisons. Studies in recent years have shown that 60,000 to 80,000 prisoners are held in some form of solitary confinement on any given day, with researchers claiming that such confinement can lead to depression, paranoia, psychosis, panic attacks and difficulty concentrating and remembering. A study published in October claims that any time spent in solitary confinement causes lasting harm and puts a person at increased risk of death within the first year after release from prison, due to drug addiction, drug overdose. opioids, suicide and homicide.
With the onset of COVID-19, an estimated 300,000 state and federal prisoners were confined to their cells, either in solitary confinement or locked out, according to a report by a coalition of groups that oppose the solitary confinement, which includes the ACLU and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Giannulli reported to Lompoc federal prison on November 19. In December, her son, Gianni, wrote on his Instagram account that his father was “locked in solitary confinement for a full month” and was “released only every 3 days. for a few moments to take a shower, ”according to ABC News, which captured a screenshot of Gianni’s Instagram post.
Lompoc was the site of one of the nation’s worst prison COVID-19 outbreaks, with the virus killing four inmates and infecting more than 1,000 people, including dozens of staff, the Santa Barbara Independent reported. The outbreak subsided over the summer, but the prison began to see a further increase in cases as a new outbreak of the virus spread across the country.
Giannulli’s lawyers have said it is understandable that the Prisons Office should limit the spread of the virus, including quarantining new detainees for a limited period, but they say subject their client to nearly two months of quarantine lonely, in a higher security institution than he was originally assigned, is “unfair” and “extraordinary”.
The lonely quarantine, the lawyers said, is a harsher punishment than was warranted given Giannulli’s crimes and track record – “a successful 57-year-old father, husband and businessman with no criminal record.” They also pointed out that there was no basis for the prolonged use of solitary confinement in the guidelines the US Department of Justice issued to the Bureau of Prisons to stop the spread of the virus.
Giannulli is also expected to be eligible for house arrest under directives from former Attorney General William Bar in March and April. The guidelines asked the Bureau of Prisons to identify candidates for house arrest, based on a number of criteria: the inmate’s age and vulnerability to COVID-19; the security level of the establishment housing the inmate; whether the inmate’s crime was violent and the inmate represents a danger to the community; the inmate’s disciplinary history while incarcerated; and whether the inmate has a solid release plan.
Giannulli’s lawyers said his age made him vulnerable to serious illness from COVID. He is also a non-violent offender, was not convicted of misconduct in Lompoc and would return home to a “stable family environment”. Lawyers added that Giannulli had “the resources” to safely quarantine himself at his home for the remainder of his sentence.
“In short, Mr. Giannulli meets all of the house arrest criteria identified by Attorney General Barr,” the motion reads. “These facts, combined with the extraordinary circumstances of his long period of isolation in quarantine, justify the requested reduction of his sentence and his transfer to house arrest.
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