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Network for Public Health Law

U.S. v. Steinger

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Overview

Vulnerable Prisoner Release. U.S. v. Steinger (U.S. District Court – Southern District of Florida): On March 18, 2020,Joel Steinger, a 70 year-old Florida prisoner incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center in North Carolina for mail and wire fraud conspiracy, filed a motion requesting that his sentence be reduced to time served due to “extraordinary and compelling reasons” related to COVID-19. A memorandum in support of the motion notes that he suffers from serious medical conditions, including spinal stenosis, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sleep apnea, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which have left him bedridden. Further, Steinger states the COVID-19 outbreak “has led many experts to note the increased exposure of high risk populations to disease within prisons, which are like petri dishes of contagion” and that he “falls within the demographic of those most highly exposed to COVID-19 disease and fatality” according to CDC. 
View all cases in the Judicial Trends in Public Health – April 2, 2020.