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The prison where Tiger King’s Joe Exotic is being held has reportedly “denied hoarding” the former zoo keeper’s letters.
The Netflix star is currently serving a 22-year sentence behind bars in Fort Worth, Texas for a murder for hire plot and animal abuses.
It comes after Exotic, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, revealed that he hadn’t received any communication, especially from his husband Dillion Passage, and feared he would be “dead in 2-3 months”.
According to TMZ , a representative from the Bureau of Prisons has since explained that the institution where Exotic is being held had been under a temporary lockdown.
The website also noted that it formed part of a national lockdown across all the prisons where inmates temporarily had limited communication, but they denied keeping letters from him.
A spokesperson for US Bureau of Prisons said: “On 1 June, in light of extensive protest activity occurring around the country, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) – in an abundance of caution – implemented a national lockdown,’ a spokesperson said in a statement.
“These additional, temporary security measures were implemented to ensure the good order and security of our institutions, as well as ensure the safety of staff and inmates.”
The spokesperson said that while Exotic’s “access to telephones and electronic communication was limited… inmate mail through the US Postal Service was collected and delivered regularly”.
NME has contacted representatives of Joe Exotic’s for comment.
Exotic, the focus of the recent hit Netflix docuseries, is serving his sentence after being accused of organising a murder-for-hire conspiracy to kill his rival Carole Baskin.
Discussing the possibility of Exotic ever being released from jail, Tiger King co-star Rick Kirkham spoke to the Sun after Exotic hand-wrote a letter to Donald Trump asking to be pardoned for his crimes.
“The very fact that Trump would even possibly consider pardoning someone as evil as Joe, is beyond my belief,” Kirkham said.
“Anyone who would support Joe being let go and out of jail has no idea that this was a man who will hold the revenge.”
The TV producer, who worked with Exotic for over a year at his Oklahoma zoo on a reality TV show (which is still unaired), added: “He will get revenge and he’s not going to come out a better man or a whole person.
“This is a guy that holds a grudge and he will get his revenge.”
In reference to both the murder-for-hire plot and Exotic’s documented history of animal abuse, Kirkham added: “I think it’s absolutely ludicrous to think that somebody would pardon him considering all the evil that most of us now know he did and that I know personally from having witnessed he did it.”
Kirkham previously said there are stories of Exotic abusing animals that never saw the light of day in Tiger King. “He enjoyed seeing people and animals hurt. He enjoyed it. He got off on it,” he said.
Tiger King is now streaming on Netflix.
The post Joe Exotic’s prison “denies hoarding letters” from Tiger King star following mistreatment claims appeared first on NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM.
