Reality Winner Is Out of Jail But Far From Freedom
White House Protest for Whistleblower Reality Winner - 2yr Anniversary Washington D.C. June 3, 2019 ~ photo Pamela Drew
Press Freedom Tracker reports eight people since 2017 have been prosecuted for leaks to journalists. Three, including Reality Winner, were sources for The Intercept. Under the Obama Administration an additional eight whistleblowers were prosecuted for leaks to the press showing assaults on our First Amendment are bipartisan.
Like so many whistleblowers Reality was charged under the 1917 Espionage Act when she shared an NSA report with The Intercept that she believed was evidence of Russian phishing emails targeting the 2016 election voter registrations.
Unlike the crime dramas we watch where citizens are read their rights and law enforcement repeat the lines, “You have the right to remain silent” meant to protect an arrested suspect's Constitutional right against self-incrimination, when FBI raided Reality's home in Augusta, Georgia, in June 2017 she was interrogated with no respect for her Miranda Rights. This alone would invalidate any case against a defendant in the Hollywood portrayals of American justice but that no longer reflects our system.
In direct violation to our Constitutional protections that prohibit self incriminating evidence obtained without Miranda Rights read, Reality Winner was jailed pretrial and sentenced to 63 months with three years of supervised release. Winner’s lawyer tweeted news of Reality’s release from prison this week but the ordeal is far from over. She is still in custody in the residential reentry process. Her lawyer Alison Grinter Allen wrote. “Her release is not a product of the pardon or compassionate release process, but rather the time earned from exemplary behavior while incarcerated.”
As the fellow whistleblowers Jesselyn Radack and Thomas Drake pictured in Lisa Ling’s tweet remind us, telling the truth should not be a crime. Democracy is based on the consent of the governed; when government operates in secret and violates the laws and the Constitution it is the whistleblowers who protect our freedoms.
Until the truth tellers are recognized for their vital role and the prosecutions cease we are all at risk of losing what remains of our rights. Reality Winner has taken the first step out of a brutal and inhumane jail cell but her freedom and ours is far from this initial move from a life behind bars to an onerous BoP system of transition.
Only massive public pressure, that continues beyond the prison walls, will restore our rights to where they were before the September 11, 2001 events were used to destroy our Constitution in the name National Security.
Learn more about Reality Winner’s case and join the continuing fight for justice with a full pardon and action by Congress to protect all whistleblowers and jail real criminals.