A federal judge in San Francisco has called out the local federal prosecutor’s office for asking a criminal defendant to narrow the conditions in which he can ask for compassionate release from prison as part of plea agreement.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, in an order issued Monday, called the move, which would push back by at least five months the length of time before the defendant could move for compassionate release, “inhumane,” “appallingly cruel,” and “senseless.”