Reality Winner, the former contractor for the National Security Agency prosecuted for leaking, has been released from federal prison, her attorney announced on Monday. Winner was serving a 63-month sentence for slipping classified documents to The Intercept in 2017. “I am thrilled to announce that Reality Winner has been released from prison,” attorney Alison Grinter Allen said on Twitter, adding that her time behind bars was shortened for “exemplary behavior.” Winner has been released to home confinement, according to the AP, and is “barred from making public statements or appearances,” Grinter said.
Winner is still seeking a pardon from President Joe Biden, her attorney told the Verge. “The fight continues and I’ll still be taking meetings in Washington to press forward the case for commutation and pardon, but the family will be stepping back to concentrate on Reality and her health and healing. She became an aunt while she was behind bars, and she is going to spend as much time as she can bonding and tickling little feet as she adjusts to life in the world,” Grinter said.
Winner had leaked a NSA report detailing Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. Prosecuted under the Espionage Act, Winner pled guilty in 2018 and received her sentence as part of a plea deal. She later contracted COVID-19 in prison. In January, the Intercept reported that a prison guard had threatened Winner after she’d reported him for rubbing her arm in her cell.
