Later this week former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to be released from prison after serving seven years of his 28-year sentence for his role in a major corruption scandal.
On Sunday night his sister, Ayanna Kilpatrick, tweeted “Due to suffering severe health challenges we expect Kwame Kilpatrick to receive a grant for COVID-19 compassionate release from the FBOP this week.”
Kilpatrick’s release date is still listed for January 18, 2037, on the Bureau of Prison inmate directory.
Earlier this year his family believed he would be released due to Covid-19, but the request was denied by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
In 2013, he was convicted for racketeering, mail fraud, and wire fraud, among other charges. Kilpatrick is currently serving his 28-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Oakdale, Louisiana, and has been fighting his sentence ever since.
The original appeal of his conviction and sentencing was denied by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2017 he filed another motion to vacate his prison sentence, and that was denied by a district court judge.
In 2018, Kilpatrick wrote a letter to Donald Trump asking for his sentence to be commuted. Then in 2019, he was denied again by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Billionaire Peter Karmanos, a long-time friend of Kilpatrick said he was working to get the former mayor a presidential pardon. On Charlie LeDuff’s podcast, Karmanos implied that Kilpatrick was a victim of a political conspiracy and that he would use his influence with Donald Trump to get him released from prison.
In February 2020, during the National African American History Celebration at the White House, Detroit State Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo spoke with Donald Trump’s team about the Kilpatrick issue, she brought a letter signed by politicians and pastors across the state requesting commutation of sentence.
Kilpatrick served as mayor of Detroit from 2002 to 2008, he resigned in 2008 following the corruption scandal.
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