By Chris Villani

Law360 (September 3, 2020, 7:08 PM EDT ) A California woman in prison for bribing her daughters' way into college in the "Varsity Blues" case asked for an early release Thursday, citing harsh pandemic-induced measures including a 25-day lockdown mostly spent crammed in an 80-square-foot cell with another inmate.

Attorneys for Elizabeth Henriquez told U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton Thursday the conditions she has had to endure are far worse than what the judge envisioned when he sentenced her to seven months in prison. From June 29 through July 23, Henriquez was confined to her cell nearly 24 hours a day, her legal team said.

Four days into that lockdown, put in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus, Henriquez was given a cellmate in the eight-by-10-foot space, making the conditions even worse than solitary confinement, according to Thursday's filing seeking to get her out four months early.

"She was allowed to leave the cell for roughly ten minutes per day, three days per week to shower," the memorandum stated. "If she needed to use the toilet, she was forced to use the toilet in her cell in full view of her cellmate."

Her time in prison has been hard even after being released into the general population, Henriquez argued, because COVID-19 restrictions bar her from seeing her family or accessing mental health services at the Dublin, California, prison.

Henriquez argued that three months should be shaved from the prison term due to the time in lockdown, including an expected 14-day quarantine before any release. Another month should be shaved off to account for the ban on family visits, she said.

If Judge Gorton were to grant her request, her release date would move from Jan. 7, 2021, to Sept. 28, 2020.

In making her case, Henriquez cited another "Varsity Blues" parent, Toby MacFarlane, who received a seven-week reduction in his sentence due to having to spend time quarantining.

"In the court's words, 'MacFarlane's two-week confinement in solitary quarantine in a higher security facility is the equivalent of two months in the camp to which he was originally assigned,'" Henriquez's motion stated.

Henriquez argued that her time in lockdown was nearly twice as long and, unlike in her case, the rest of MacFarlane's time in his Tucson, Arizona, prison camp was served under normal conditions.

A representative for the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment, but Henriquez's motion said the government plans to oppose her request.

When Judge Gorton sentenced Henriquez in March, he said the pandemic would not be a reason to keep parents who were ensnared in the headline-grabbing case out of prison.

"I will not forfeit the obligation of a federal judge to impose a sentence that is warranted by the defendant's conduct," the judge said at the time. "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."

In June, the judge denied motions by Henriquez and another parent to swap their prison terms for home confinement due to the pandemic. Henriquez said Thursday she would agree to serve four months of home confinement if she were released this month.

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.

Her lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

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 Janice Carter Brown.

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