NECC Prosecutors Oppose Svirskiy Release

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Charging that his plea for early release from prison is based on false premises, federal prosecutors are asking a federal judge to order a convicted former pharmacist to serve his full 30-month sentence in a federal prison.
In a 16-page filing in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan argued that Gene Svirskiy is not actually at high risk for contracting the deadly coronavirus because he is serving his sentence in a separate but adjacent prison camp where no inmates have been infected.
Svirkiy's attorneys had cited a sudden increase in infected inmates at the main federal prison in Fort Devens, Mass. But, Strachan said in her brief, that those infected inmates are in a separate 101 inmate facility though at the same location.
Stating that Svirskiy has failed to prove that there are compelling reasons justifying his request to serve the remainder of his sentence under home confinement, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to reject the request.
Svirskiy was one of 14 persons indicted in 2014 following a two year probe of the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated drugs produced at Svirkiy's workplace, the New England Compounding Center.
As Strachan's filing points out Svirskiy was convicted of racketeering, mail fraud and violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act. He also supervised an unregistered drug technician who was working at NECC.
"Svirskiy not only participated in this fraudulent enterprise, he directed key parts of it," the prosecution filing states.
The motion states that contrary to the plea filed by his attorney, Svirskiy does not meet recently set guidelines for the early release of inmates at risk for contracting Covid-19.
Citing "extraordinary" efforts by the federal Bureau of Prisons to prevent the spread of the virus, prosecutors said Svirskiy "was in about as low a risk" as would be possible under the circumstances and still has two thirds of his sentence to serve.
Strachan noted that Svirskiy, who is in his late 30s, does not face the high risk of elderly inmates for contracting the disease.
"Svirskiy should be held accountable for his conduct and serve the remainder of his sentence," the motion states, adding that early release would undermine the deterrent effect of his sentence.
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