By Chris Villani

Law360 (October 21, 2020, 3:03 PM EDT) -- A California woman who pled guilty in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions case asked again Tuesday to be released early from prison, citing a harsh "exit quarantine" during which she will have to endure three weeks crammed into a tiny cell for nearly 24 hours per day.

Elizabeth Henriquez already had one early release bid denied by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton in September, but the judge signaled then that he was open to reconsidering if the COVID-19 pandemic did not abate.

Henriquez argued Tuesday that she should get out seven weeks earlier than the planned Jan. 7 release date, saying the solitary confinement imposed due to the pandemic amounts to a more significant sentence than either she or Judge Gorton could have anticipated.

"Elizabeth will be allowed out of her tiny cell for only 10 minutes per day, three days per week, to shower and change clothes," the motion says. "She will be required to eat all her meals in her cell. She will have no access to the prison commissary. She will have no time outdoors. She will have no ability to electronically communicate with her family or her legal counsel."

The only thing that distinguishes the "quarantine" from solitary confinement is that Henriquez may have a cellmate, the motion states, "which in our opinion is even worse than being alone because it will deprive Elizabeth of any privacy (e.g., no privacy when using the toilet) and make her tiny cell even more physically cramped."

Even if she serves her full seven-month term, she will have spent more than six weeks, or about 20% of the sentence, in quarantine conditions as she entered and exited the Dublin, California, prison.

Under Henriquez's proposal, she would begin the exit quarantine Oct. 28, allowing her to be released Nov. 19.

Prosecutors plan to oppose the early release bid, according to Henriquez's motion. A representative for the government declined to comment Wednesday, as did Henriquez's lawyer.

The "exit quarantine" is required due to the continued threat COVID-19 poses in California, but Henriquez said she never expected to have to quarantine both on her way into and out of prison.

The motion also noted that Judge Gorton wrote in June that the pandemic had "abated" and would likely continue to abate, but that prediction has not come to fruition as cases spike across the country.

Back in March, when Henriquez was sentenced in what was — at least at the time — a rare videoconference sentencing, Judge Gorton said the pandemic would not be a reason to keep parents convicted in the high-profile case out of prison.

"I have every hope the COVID crisis will abate within a period of months and Ms. Henriquez will be able to serve her sentence safely," Judge Gorton said that day.

Henriquez pled guilty to agreeing, along with her husband, Manuel, to pay more than $500,000 to engage in a variety of schemes to get their daughters an unfair edge in the college admissions process.

Another "Varsity Blues" parent, Toby MacFarlane, received a seven-week reduction in his sentence due to having to spend time quarantining. Henriquez's motion on Tuesday stated that "Hot Pockets" heiress Michelle Janavs, who also pled guilty in "Varsity Blues" and received a five-month prison term, was released to home confinement after just six weeks behind bars.

The government is represented by Eric S. Rosen, Justin D. O'Connell, Leslie A. Wright and Kristen A. Kearney of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Henriquez is represented by Aaron M. Katz, Colleen A. Conry and Laura Gaffney Hoey of Ropes & Gray LLP.

The case is U.S. v. Colburn et al., case number 1:19-cr-10080, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

--Editing by Stephen Berg.

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