The hashtag Free Reality Winner is trending on Twitter.
A documentary, the United States versus Reality Winner, has premiered at South by Southwest. In 2017, the 29 year old former Air Force intelligence specialist and Native Texan in 2017 leaked to the Intercept a document showing Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Her mother, Billie Winner Davis says her daughter started her out pleading not guilty to the charges. "They denied her bail. She was stuck in a small, rural county jail in Georgia. They wouldn't let her out. The court kept ruling against her. She was pretty much worn down and forced to accept an offer that they gave her."
Winner pleaded guilty to a charge filed under the espionage act, the illegal transmission of top secret information, and was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Winner says "Yes, what she did was a violation because she didn't have the right to take that information and she didn't have the right to give that information to someone who wasn't entitled to that information. What she did was give the American people the truth, that the Russians had done more than just interceded in our election in 2016, they actually tried to attack our voting systems."
She says there was no way the Trump administration was going to release her. "She told the American people what he didn't want us to know. Under this new administration I feel maybe there's a chance for
clemency."
Reality's sentence ends in November. Billie doesn't want to wait that long. "Every single day that she spends in prison is a day too many. Prisons have been on a lockdown status for the past year due to covid. There are no services, there is no rehabilitation. Every single day is torture. For her to have to learn to survive in that environment, for me as a mother, I can't take it anymore."
Winner Davis says her daughter filed for compassionate release with the prison system and didn't hear back. They filed with the court and she was denied, even though she met the criteria. "And then of course in July she tested positive for covid. She was actually congratulated by the prison guard when the prison guard gave her her test results. Can you imagine anyone congratulating someone when they're positive with covid?"
She says she's very excited about the documentary finally being complete. She worked with a film crew for over three years as they've followed her case. "We saw it and for me it was very emotional and very painful. It was reliving all of those very difficult times we've gone through on this journey and knowing we haven't seen the end of it."