MEMORANDUM & ORDER Defendant Geraldo Vega (“Defendant”) seeks a reduction of his sentence, pursuant to the First Step Act, 18 U.S.C. §3582(c)(l)(A), in light of health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, his age, his underlying medical conditions, and Federal Correction Institute Fort Dix’s (“FCI Fort Dix”) pandemic response. (Mot., D.E. 777; Suppl. Mot., D.E. 778.) For the reasons set forth below, the motion is GRANTED. BACKGROUND I. Factual and Procedural History The Court presumes familiarity with the facts that have been recited in prior orders and decisions from this Court and the Second Circuit. See, e.g., United States v. Vega, 11 F.3d 309, 310-12 (2d Cir. 1993). By way of brief background, Defendant was arrested in 1985 by state authorities for narcotics-related offenses. He was released on bond but failed to appear at trial. He was thereafter convicted in absentia on multiple state narcotics offenses and sentenced by the state court in absentia to a term of twenty-five years to life imprisonment (the “State Sentence”). Defendant continued with the narcotics organization until his arrest in 1988. In 1989, a federal grand jury indicted Defendant, alongside many others, on various racketeering, narcotics, firearms, and money-laundering offenses, among others, arising out of the distribution of hundreds of kilograms of heroin and for Defendant’s role as second-in-command within the narcotics organization. Defendant, and others, proceeded to trial before the Honorable Arthur D. Spatt.1 After sitting through two-thirds of trial, Defendant pled guilty to a one-count superseding information that charged him with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin and more than 500 grams of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§841(b)(1)(B) and 846. On November 15, 1991, Judge Spatt sentenced Defendant to 360 months’ incarceration, to be served consecutively to the State Sentence. In September 2010, the state court vacated the State Sentence under New York State’s 2004 Drug Law Reform Act and resentenced Defendant to an effective sentence of fifteen years. (State Order, Ex. C to Def. Mot., D.E. 777-4.) In vacating the State Sentence, the state court noted that Defendant, who was then 54 years old and suffered “severe hearing loss,” was “cited as a mentor to other inmates, has taken many courses involving drug counseling and has worked assisting other inmates.” (Id.
