Ex-Pimco CEO Says 29 Days in Solitary Is Twice UN’s Torture Standard

(Bloomberg) -- Former Pimco chief Douglas Hodge, who received the longest sentence of all the parents so far in the U.S. college-admissions scandal, complained to a judge that he’s endured almost a month in solitary confinement, nearly twice as long as what the United Nations defines as “torture.”

Hodge, 62, was sentenced in February to nine months in federal prison after he admitted paying $850,000 in bribes to get four of his kids into the University of Southern California and Georgetown University as phony soccer and tennis recruits, part of a sprawling case in which three dozen parents have been charged.

After twice winning delays on his start date, Hodge says he reported to the federal prison in Otisville, New York, on June 23, to begin serving his term because of an unidentified “family health emergency.”

While he knew he’d have to spend two weeks in medical quarantine as a new arrival at the facility, Hodge says his stay in solitary has been repeatedly extended and that prison officials say it could be “indefinite.” Hodge says he’s been held alone in a 7-foot by 11-foot cell almost continuously since his arrival, only allowed out for less than 15 minutes a day.

Hodge is seeking to be released to serve a reduced term at home, saying he’s at risk for contracting the virus because of his age. He noted in a filing that another parent, Toby MacFarlane, 57, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in prison, was released in mid-April because of the outbreak.

U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton, who’s presiding over both cases, reduced MacFarlane’s sentence to time already served, citing the pandemic.

Hodge argues that the UN has called for a ban of any period of solitary confinement longer than 15 days.

“Mr. Hodge spent 29 days in solitary confinement –- every day in the same cramped cell, alone, without any outside stimulation aside from his short walk to pick up his meals and the infrequent time-limited phone call,” his lawyer Brien O’Connor wrote. “This four-week-and-one-day ‘quarantine’ is double the period constituting a prohibited practice amounting to torture under the United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules.”

As of July 27, Hodge’s lawyer said, Otisville had 27 inmates test positive for the virus, and one inmate and a staffer have active infections. Hodge wasn’t even supposed to be at Otisville, a medium-security facility, because he was initially assigned to a low-security prison camp, according to the filing.

Christina Sterling, a spokeswoman for Boston U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, declined to comment.

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