USA v. Rangel

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
RACHEL RANGEL,
Defendant.
Case No. 3:15-cr-00110-SLG
ORDER REGARDING MOTION FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE
Before the Court at Docket 94 is defendant Rachel Rangel’s Motion for Early
Home Confinement. The government filed a response at Docket 97 and does not
oppose Ms. Rangel’s motion. The Court grants the motion, and the BOP shall
immediately release Ms. Rangel.
On November 3, 2016, this Court sentenced Ms. Rangel to 96 months of
imprisonment after she pleaded guilty to one count of Drug Conspiracy.1 Ms.
Rangel is currently housed at the Cordova Center, a federal Bureau of Prisons
(BOP) re-entry center, in Anchorage. Her projected BOP release date is
September 17, 2021.2 Ms. Rangel asserts that she will become eligible for home
1 Docket 86.
2 Fed. Bureau of Prisons, Inmate Locator (available at www.bop.gov/inmateloc/) (last accessed
Jan. 13, 2021).
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confinement on approximately March 17, 2021.3 Ms. Rangel seeks to be
immediately released from the Cordova Center to home confinement.4 The
government maintains that it is exercising its prosecutorial discretion and does not
oppose Ms. Rangel’s request release for release to home confinement.5
The First Step Act of 2018 amended 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) to allow
federal inmates to move the district court for a sentence reduction after exhausting
their administrative rights.6 If the defendant has exhausted their administrative
rights, a district court must consider the motion on the merits. On the merits, the
court must find that “extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant” a sentence
reduction, that the applicable factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) support a
sentence reduction, and that “such a reduction is consistent with applicable policy
statements issued by the Sentencing Commission.”7
3 Docket 94 at 3.
4 Docket 94 at 1.
5 Docket 97 at 2.
6 First Step Act of 2018, PL 115-391, Dec. 21, 2018, 132 Stat 5194. Prior to this amendment,
only the Director of the Bureau of Prisons could bring a motion to reduce an inmate’s sentence.
7 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c). In Pepper v. United States, 562 U.S. 476, 490–93 (2011), the Supreme
Court held that when resentencing a defendant whose sentence has been set aside on appeal,
“a district court may consider evidence of a defendant’s rehabilitation since his prior sentencing
and that such evidence may, in appropriate cases, support a downward variance from the
advisory Guidelines range.”
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Case No. 3:15-cr-00110-SLG, United States v. Rangel
Order Re Motion for Compassionate Release
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I. Exhaustion of administrative rights
An inmate has exhausted her administrative rights if the inmate has sought
compassionate release from the warden of her BOP facility and has been denied.8
Ms. Rangel does not appear to be in a BOP facility that has a warden, although
she has taken steps to try and request administrative relief.9 The government does
not contest that Ms. Rangel has exhausted her administrative rights. The Court
will consider the motion on the merits.
II. Merits
Having reviewed each party’s filing, the Court finds that Ms. Rangel has
shown an extraordinary and compelling reason to reduce her sentence due to her
severe asthma10 and finds that the applicable 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors weigh
in favor granting relief in this case and releasing Ms. Rangel to home confinement
approximately five weeks early. Ms. Rangel has completed the BOP’s Residential
Drug Abuse Program and participated in the RDAP aftercare program.11 She is
currently engaged in outpatient treatment, is employed at a veterinarian’s office,
and has leased an apartment in Anchorage.12
8 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A).
9 Docket 94 at 6.
10 See CDC, People with Moderate to Severe Asthma, available at
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/asthma.html (last accessed Jan.
13, 2021).
11 Docket 94 at 3.
12 Docket 94 at 3, 8.
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Order Re Motion for Compassionate Release
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In light of the foregoing, the Court GRANTS the motion at Docket 94 as
follows:
1. The Clerk of Court shall prepare an amended judgment reducing Ms.
Rangel’s sentence to time served and immediately commencing
supervised release.
2. Ms. Rangel shall be placed on a 5-year term of supervised release. Ms.
Rangel shall be subject to the standard conditions of supervised release.
Ms. Rangel shall be subject to the standard and special conditions of
supervised release ordered on November 3, 2016, in the original
judgment.
3. In addition, as special conditions of supervised release, Ms. Rangel shall
• Comply with any release plan or directives set by the U.S.
Probation Office, including any directives as to wearing a GPS
monitoring device;
• Serve a period of home confinement at 1082 West 26th Avenue,
Apt. 4, Anchorage, AK 99503 until September 17, 2021. Ms.
Rangel shall not leave the home during this period other than to
attend scheduled work shifts, scheduled controlled substance
treatment, scheduled or emergency medical appointments,
scheduled legal appointments, or as otherwise approved by the
Probation Office;
• Ms. Rangel shall proceed via private transportation (no use of
public transportation) directly to the designated location for home
confinement (1082 West 26th Avenue, Apt. 4, Anchorage, AK
99503) immediately upon release from the Cordova Center;
• Ms. Rangel shall self-isolate at the home for 14 days after her
arrival there. Ms. Rangel shall not have close physical contact with
any other residents of the home during this self-isolation period;
Ms. Rangel may only leave quarantine for emergency medical
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purposes that require immediate medical attention or
hospitalization;
• Submit to a COVID-19 test at the end of the 14-day quarantine
period and provide the test results to the U.S. Probation Office. If
Ms. Rangel’s test if positive, she must continue to self-quarantine
until she obtains medical documentation that she has recovered
from COVID-19; and
• Comply with all local, state, and federal public-health mandates
related to COVID-19.
4. The BOP shall immediately release Ms. Rangel.13 If the U.S.
Probation Office is unable to initiate Ms. Rangel’s supervision and/or
approve Ms. Rangel’s housing, the Court shall promptly be notified so
that this order can be amended.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED this 14th day of January, 2021, at Anchorage, Alaska.
/s/ Sharon L. Gleason
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
13 The government’s request that Ms. Rangel for 21 days at the Cordova Center prior to her
release is denied. Docket 97 at 2. The Court notes it is denying the government’s standard
request because Ms. Rangel is ordered to proceed via private transportation directly to a private
residence and to quarantine and self-isolate there, as opposed to being released to a halfway
house or reentry center. See United States v. Scparta, Case No. 18-cr-578 (AJN), 2020 WL
1910481 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 19, 2020) (denying government’s request for BOP quarantine and
instead ordering self-quarantine in a private home); United States v. Tarraciano, Case No. 2:17-
cr-001870-KJM, 2020 WL 5878284 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 2, 2020) (same).
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