High-profile inmates like Michael Cohen and Billy McFarland are trying to get out of custody over coronavirus fears. Here are 10 who tried to get home early.
Kelly McLaughlin
- COVID-19 has infected hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and is currently spreading in prisons and jails across the US, including the notorious Rikers Island.
- Some states and counties have started releasing hundreds of inmates to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, but the federal prison system has not made any mass releases.
- Several high-profile inmates have asked to be released, including rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, Michael Cohen, and Billy McFarland.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
As the novel coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the United States, multiple high-profile criminals and accused criminals have asked to be let out of prisons early.
COVID-19 has infected hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and has already hit US prisons. It is currently spreading across New York's infamous Rikers Island, and smaller facilities in Texas, South Dakota, and Michigan have reported cases.
Counties and states have started releasing hundreds of inmates from jails and prisons in New Jersey, Cleveland, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, and more. But the federal prison system has not taken similar measures.
Public health and corrections officials have issued warnings over current prison conditions and the possibility of COVID-19 spreading in such facilities, but no decisions have been made as to whether or not high-risk inmates will be released.
In the meantime, some well-known inmates — including Michael Cohen and Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland — have asked to be released citing concerns of the virus and, in some cases, long-lasting health problems.
Tekashi 6ix9ine is the most famous inmate to be released already. He cited his asthma, which puts him at higher health risk for COVID-19, as a reason to spend the rest of his sentence at home. Cohen, too, is set to be released, according to his lawyer, though it's not clear when he'd get out.
At least one other high-profile inmate — a parent who pleaded guilty in the college admissions scandal — has also already been released, but many others will likely remain behind bars.
Here are some of the most high-profile inmates asking to be released.
This article has been updated.
Read the original article on InsiderAnother college admissions scandal parent was denied his request to be released.
Devin Sloane, the founder and chief executive of a drinking water and wastewater systems business in Los Angeles, California, who was also sentenced in the college admissions scandal, had requested early release because of the coronavirus but was denied.
Judge District Judge Indira Talwani said in her ruling seen by the Los Angeles Times that Sloane had not exhausted all other avenues of securing early release, nor did he have a "life-threatening condition."
Sloane's sentence ended on April 1.
One college admissions scandal parent was released two weeks early because of 'unique health circumstances.'
Agustin Huneeus Jr., a Napa Valley vintner who was sentenced to five months in prison in the college admissions scandal in October, was released early over concerns about the coronavirus.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Huneeus was released two weeks early. A judge cited "unique health circumstances" in approving his request to be released, the LA Times reported.
He will serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.
Bill Cosby's spokesman said that his 82-year-old client is blind and relies on other inmates who could put him at risk if they contract COVID-19.
In a statement sent to Insider, Bill Cosby's spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, said that his client is blind and that he's concerned for the 82-year-old's health.
He said because of Cosby's old age and blindness, he relies on other prisoners and correction officers regularly who could put him at risk if they contract COVID-19.
Cosby's lawyers have yet to file an official motion asking for his release, but Wyatt said they are considering asking for him to be placed under house arrest.
"Mr. Cosby has not been tested for the virus — but is feeling fine — other than being blind and his blood pressure spiking at times," Wyatt said.
'Pharma bro' Martin Shkreli asked for a temporary release to try to find a cure for COVID-19.
Shkreli, a biotech entrepreneur serving seven years in prison for defrauding investors out of $10 million, asked to be temporarily released for three months in an 11-page scientific paper posted on his pharmaceutical company's website.
He argues that a three-month furloughed release would allow him to help develop a cure for COVID-19, which has killed thousands of people across the world.
"As a successful two-time biopharma entrepreneur, having purchased multiple companies, invented multiple new drug candidates, filed numerous INDs and clinical trial applications, I am one of the few executives experienced in ALL aspects of drug development from molecule creation and hypothesis generation, to preclinical assessments and clinical trial design/target engagement demonstration, and manufacturing/synthesis and global logistics and deployment of medicines," the statement read.
Shkreli's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, told Newsweek that he plans to formally request a furloughed release soon.
"Mr. Shkreli has prepared a coronavirus research proposal, which, if accurate could help scientists and doctors better understand how to deal with the coronavirus that is killing so many people," he said. "We will be requesting a three-month furlough so that he could do his research in a laboratory under strict supervision."
Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland wants to serve the rest of his six-year sentence at home because of concerns of "extreme" allergies and asthma.
Fire Festival founder Billy McFarland, who has been in prison since 2018, after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges, asked a federal judge on Tuesday to serve the remainder of his six-year sentence under home confinement.
According to court documents seen by Business Insider, lawyers say McFarland is at a higher risk of developing severe symptoms or dying from COVID-19 because he has "extreme" allergies and asthma.
The federal prison where McFarland is serving his sentence is FCI Elkton, a low-security prison in Ohio where 39 people have tested positive and six inmates have already died from COVID-19.
Bill Johnson, a US congressman representing Ohio, called Elkton "a breeding ground" for the virus, and inmates have voiced concerns about the facility's conditions.
R. Kelly's lawyers say the jail he's being held at has put in few precautions in place to prevent the spread the virus.
Lawyers for R. Kelly, who is in a Chicago federal jail awaiting trail on child photography and other charges, said the R&B singer's life is at risk because the facility has put in few precautions in place to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
According to CBS News, the 53-year-old's lawyers filed court papers in March saying sanitizer and soap are limited at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center, and two-men cells make social distancing difficult.
"The health risk to Mr. Kelly, because of his age and existing health issues, especially considering the conditions at the MCC, necessitates his release on bail," Kelly's lawyers said in the filing. The filing did not detail Kelly's heath issues.
A judge denied Kelly's request on April 7, according to court papers seen by Insider. The judge said Kelly had "not established compelling reasons warranting his release."
Bernie Madoff's lawyer called for all high-risk inmates to be released.
A lawyer for 81-year-old Bernie Madoff, who's serving a 150-year sentence for running a $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme, is calling for all at-risk prisoners to be released because of the novel coronavirus, including his client.
"The federal prison system has consistently shown an inability to respond to major crises," Madoff's attorney Brandon Sample told the Associated Press in March. "My concerns are even more amplified for prisoners at federal medical centers and those who are aged."
Madoff, who has terminal kidney disease, asked last month to be released early so he could have time with his family while still alive.
Michael Avenatti's history of pneumonia could put him at a higher risk for COVID-19, his lawyer says.
Michael Avenatti, who was convicted of trying to extort Nike, asked a judge in March if he could be released to home confinement.
A court motion seen by Fox News said Avenatti's cellmate at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center experienced flu-like symptoms.
Avenatti, 49, also had pneumonia last year, which could put him at a higher risk for COVID-19, his lawyer, H. Dean Steward said.
"He is part of the general population incarcerated under unsanitary and disease-prone conditions," Steward said.
Avenatti has not been sentenced in his case and is in prison awaiting his sentencing hearing.
Michael Cohen's lawyer says he will be released from prison early.
President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, requested in March to either be released early or serve the remainder of his three-year prison sentence in home confinement, citing concerns about the coronavirus.
His request was initially denied by Judge William H. Pauley III, who said it was "just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle."
But on April 16, Cohen's lawyer told CNN that the federal Bureau of Prisons notified Cohen on Thursday that he would be released early. The exact release date is unknown.
Spokespersons from the BOP and US attorney's office in Manhattan declined to comment to CNN about Cohen's potential release.
Cohen, who started his prison sentence in 2019 after pleading guilty to tax, bank, and campaign finance crimes, is scheduled to finish his sentence in November 2021.
Tekashi 6ix9ine, who will be spending the rest of his sentence at home, feared his asthma put him at a higher risk for COVID-19.
Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, real name Daniel Hernandez, was approved to serve the rest of his prison sentence in home confinement in court papers filed April 2.
He had cited concerns about his asthma when asking to be released. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, and people with asthma are at higher risk from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hernandez, 23, was first sentenced to 24 months in prison in December after pleading guilty to several crimes related to his involvement with the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods gang. He's due to be released by August.
"It seems like just a matter of time before all prisons in the area are hit with the virus, both inmates and guards," Hernandez's lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, said in a letter to Judge Paul Engelmayer in March. "Mr. Hernandez has been complaining to prison officials this week of shortness of break, but apparently the warden of his facility will not allow Mr. Hernandez to go to the hospital despite the recommendation of the facility's medical director that Mr. Hernandez be treated by a doctor at a hospital."
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