(WWJ) Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will be released early from federal prison, sources say, due to the pandemic.
According to a Friday news release from the Ebony Foundation, Kilpatrick has been granted a compationate release after serving only seven years of his lengthy sentence.
State Representative Karen Whitsett of Detroit says she got confirmation directly from President Donald Trump, who told her Thursday that Kilpatrick would be one of 3,000 prisoners released because of the coronavirus.
“We already felt that he had definitely gotten more time than he had absolutely deserved, and that he is not a menace to society,” Whitsett told WWJ’s Charlie Langton.
Whitsett said there have been 42 cases of COVID-19 and five deaths at the federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, where the 49-year-old Kilpatrick remained held on Friday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
People close to the ex-mayor told WDIV that he’s currently under a 21-day quarantine in preparation for his release. Family members said they were hopeful that Kilpatrick would get out on June 10.
Once released, Whitsett told WWJ that Kilpatrick will be held under house arrest.
Detroit’s current mayor, Mike Duggan, expressed his support for Kilpatrick.
“When he was teaching at Marcus Garvey and going to law school at night at DCL, he’d study in his father’s office, which was next to mine, and his twins would play on the floor in my office at the county building,” Duggan said during Friday’s press conference. “He’s one of the most extraordinarly talented people I’ve ever met. I think he has a lot to contribute….I’ll be doing anything I can to help him get a fresh start.”
The two have known eachother since Kilpatrick was in high school.
Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years behind bars, convicted in 2013 on 24 felony counts of public corruption for a criminal racket involving extortion, bribery, conspiracy and fraud. Prosecutors said he used his positions as a state representative and then mayor to enrich himself and his friends.
He was not expected to be paroled until 2037.
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Source: WWJ News Radio
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