The former Detroit mayor's long-term residence in Oakdale, Louisiana. (Photo: Federal Bureau of Prisons)
Kwame Kilpatrick will spend Election Day, and apparently many other days, behind bars.
When the sun went down Monday, federal inmate No. 44678-039 -- aka Detroit's former mayor -- remained at the minimum-security prison above with about 900 other men in western Louisiana.
Family-floated claims that his early release is imminent, which resurfaced Monday, are like reports about Jimmy Hoffa's burial site -- balloons that float and burst periodically.
Original article, Monday morning:
We've been here before.
The convict who was mayor from 2002-08.
Back in May, state lawmakers and family members were telling people that ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was going to be released early from federal prison in Oakdale, La., because of the outbreak of Covid. By April at least 100 inmates and staff were reportedly infected and seven prisoners had died at that prison.
But it turned out to be false. The U.S. bureau rejected Kilpatrick's request for early release after serving seven years of a 28-year sentence.
Now the same state lawmakers, along with Kilpatrick's sister Ayanna Kilpatrick are insisting the 50-year-old will be released from prison early this week, even though the Bureau of Prisons website still shows his release date as Jan. 18, 2037.
— Ayanna Kilpatrick (@ayannakil) November 2, 2020
In a text to Deadline Detroit, State Rep. Karen Whitsett said "he is being released" Monday.
Deadline Detroit was unable to reach a spokesperson early Monday morning at the prison in Louisiana for comment.
If true, the question would be whether President Donald Trump was behind the move, and if so, if it was done to try to curry favor with Detroit voters just before the Nov. 3 election.
