Name: COVID-19 outbreak that killed his fellow inmates will help set Kwame Kilpatrick free
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COVID-19 outbreak that killed his fellow inmates will help set Kwame Kilpatrick free

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Detroit Free Press UPDATE:The coronavirus outbreak&nbsp;that sentenced some of Kwame Kilpatrick's fellow inmates to death may help set the former Detroit mayor free next month — 21 years early.Kilpatrick supporters and his former brother-in-law&nbsp;said Friday that Kilpatrick will soon be freed from Oakdale minimum security prison in western Louisiana. He will spend about three weeks in quarantine before being released to live with his mother, former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, who moved to Georgia from Detroit several years ago.Kilpatrick, 49, was scheduled to be released from federal prison on Jan. 18, 2037. He was sentenced to 28 years after being convicted of 24 counts of public corruption ranging from racketeering, to bribery and fraud in 2013. He has failed on every attempt to overturn that sentence, winning his freedom only after being sent to one of a handful of prisons where the spread of COVID-19 has been so severe that U.S. Attorney General William Barr on April 3 directed the federal Bureau of Prisons to free as many prisoners as possible by putting them on home confinement.Kilpatrick supporters, including billionaire entrepreneur Peter Karmanos and state Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, D-Detroit, had appealed to President Donald Trump to grant Kilpatrick clemency. But the worldwide&nbsp;coronavirus outbreak appeared to derail&nbsp;— or at least delay&nbsp;— that effort.&nbsp;Nevertheless, state Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, who has been pushing for Kilpatrick's freedom, said that she learned of the ex-mayor's pending release from the president during his Thursday visit to Michigan."He said that he was being released,"&nbsp; Whitsett said, adding: "I'm elated for him. ... An out is an out. ... He's done his time. And I think, 'My God, when is long enough long enough.' "Whitsett also said that she confirmed with the White House that Kilpatrick is&nbsp;among 3,000 inmates who will be released.Daniel Ferguson III, who was married to Kilpatrick's sister Ayanna, said&nbsp;he&nbsp;received an email circulated among Kilpatrick supporters in which the former mayor wrote a couple days ago: "I am well, it's on ... See you all soon ... LOL Lord have mercy. LOL"Ferguson said that his ex-wife also confirmed to him that the former mayor would be freed.Ferguson, who still lives in Detroit, said he reached out to his former in-laws as word spread of Kilpatrick's pending release."I called Ayanna and she was so hysterical and going crazy that I knew it was true," said Ferguson. Kilpatrick's sister and mother&nbsp;moved out of Detroit several years after Cheeks-Kilpatrick was defeated in her bid for a seventh term in Congress.Ferguson said he now hopes his cousin, Bobby Ferguson, also will be freed from prison.Ferguson, a contractor and close friend of Kilpatrick, was convicted of racketeering and other public corruption charges along with Kilpatrick. He is scheduled for release on Jan. 29, 2031. Ferguson&nbsp;is housed at Elkton, another prison&nbsp;hit especially hard by the coronavirus and one of the places where the Bureau of Prisons&nbsp;is trying to "maximize appropriate transfers to home confinement.""One down," Daniel Ferguson said, "one to go."Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Scott Taylor would not comment on Kilpatrick's status beyond confirming that he is an inmate at Oakdale."For privacy, safety and security reasons, we do not discuss information about an individual inmate's conditions of confinement or release plans," he said.According to the Department of Justice, more than 3,100 prisoners have been designated for home confinement since late March.To date, the 2,000-inmate prison housing Kilpatrick&nbsp;has seen eight coronavirus deaths and 100 infections and was on a list of prisons ordered by the feds to speed up the removal of vulnerable inmates.Neither Kilpatrick's attorney Harold Gurewitz nor the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit had heard Friday morning that Kilpatrick may be released.Late Friday, Matthew&nbsp;Schneider, the U.S. Attorney for Michigan's Eastern District, said: "My office has not been told of any plans to release Kilpatrick." He declined to elaborate.Earlier this year, he pledged&nbsp;to fight to keep Kilpatrick in prison."My office is willing to provide any assistance to the Pardon Attorney to explain what really happened in Detroit under Mr. Kilpatrick’s watch," Schneider told the Free Press in February. "As the elected mayor, he ran a criminal enterprise that corrupted wide swaths of city government in the early 2000s — at a time when city residents desperately needed honest and effective city services.""So far, Mr. Kilpatrick has shown absolutely no remorse for his crimes. He denies any responsibility for the 24 federal felony offenses of which he was convicted, and he has served only one quarter of his sentence,"&nbsp;Schneider said on Feb. 19,&nbsp;one day after Trump granted clemency to 11 convicted criminals, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has known Kilpatrick since the former mayor was in high school. Duggan was asked during his Friday briefing to comment on the possibility that Kilpatrick would soon be released."I'll be doing anything I can to help him get a fresh start," he&nbsp;said.Duggan met Kilpatrick while working as&nbsp;a top aide to then-Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara.&nbsp;Kilpatrick's father Bernard was a Wayne County Commissioner at the time.&nbsp;Kilpatrick graduated from Detroit's Cass Technical High School in 1987.Word of Kilpatrick's pending release spread after the EBONY Foundation, which has been lobbying for Kilpatrick's freedom, announced Friday morning that&nbsp;the ex-mayor&nbsp;"has been granted early release" amid COVID-19 fears. &nbsp;More:More:In March, EBONY, in coordination with the National Baptist Convention of America, the NAACP, National Business League, and a coalition of over 30 black megachurches called for Kilpatrick's early release. Detroit leaders delivered a&nbsp;letter to Trump seeking clemency for Kilpatrick.The coalition’s plea referenced the president’s recent pardons and commutations and the "extremity" of Kilpatrick’s sentence. It&nbsp;also cited the April 25 coronavirus death of Kilpatrick's fellow inmate, Patrick Jones, 49, who was serving a 27-year sentence for a drug-related crime when he became ill at the federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana.“Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for his crimes. And while there has been a lot of debate about his guilt or innocence, we were arguing neither, rather, we were opposing the excessive nature and length of his sentence. Kwame Kilpatrick’s punishment of a 28-year sentence did not fit the crime.” says Rev. Keyon S. Payton, National Director, Community Outreach and Engagement.Payton said that his organization has been lobbying the White House since January to grant clemency to Kilpatrick. On Thursday, he said that the White House and Kilpatrick’s family informed his organization that Kilpatrick had been granted “compassionate release.”“I’ve been in very close communication with the family and the White House …&nbsp;our understanding is that he will be home with his mother on June 10 in Atlanta,” Payton said. “We’re ecstatic.”Kilpatrick has long argued that he was wrongfully convicted and railroaded by overzealous prosecutors. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case.Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who oversaw the 2013 prosecution of Kilpatrick, declined comment on his pending release. She previously&nbsp;told the Free Press that Kilpatrick&nbsp;could have had it worse.&nbsp;McQuade noted that his sentencing guidelines called for life in prison, but prosecutors thought that was excessive and recommended 28 years instead. Kilpatrick received the same 28-year sentence as former&nbsp;Cuyahoga, Ohio County Commissioner Jimmy DiMora, who was convicted in 2012 of public corruption charges..Kilpatrick's downfall started in 2008 after the Free Press published text messages that showed Kilpatrick lied during a police whistleblower trial when he denied having an affair with his chief of staff and gave misleading testimony about the firing of a deputy police chief.The&nbsp;Free Press report triggered criminal charges that ended his political career and put him behind bars. After a six-month trial in U.S. District Court, a&nbsp;jury convicted&nbsp;Kilpatrick of running a criminal enterprise out of the mayor's office to enrich himself and his friends.&nbsp;Staff writers Jennifer Dixon and&nbsp;Brian McCollum contributed to this report.Contact M.L. Elrick: melrick@freepress.comContact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

Detroit Free Press UPDATE:The coronavirus outbreak&nbsp;that sentenced some of Kwame Kilpatrick's fellow inmates to death may help set the former Detroit mayor free next month — 21 years early.Kilpatrick supporters and his former brother-in-law&nbsp;said Friday that Kilpatrick will soon be freed from Oakdale minimum security prison in western Louisiana. He will spend about three weeks in quarantine before being released to live with his mother, former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, who moved to Georgia from Detroit several years ago.Kilpatrick, 49, was scheduled to be released from...

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The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primarily serves Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Washtenaw, and Monroe counties.  The Free Press is also the largest city newspaper owned by Gannett, which also publishes USA Today. The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 189 Years".

COVID-19 outbreak that killed his fellow inmates will help set Kwame Kilpatrick free

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