Michael Cohen, former lawyer and confidant to Donald Trump, has been placed in solitary confinement at a federal prison in New York state following an argument with another inmate.
The 53-year-old is currently serving a three-year sentence for violating campaign finance laws. On Wednesday, he was transferred to a Special Housing Unit at Otisville Federal Correctional Institution, a disciplinary section of the prison, sources close to the matter revealed. Cohen had previously been housed in a minimum-security camp at Otisville, which is about 70 miles northwest of New York City.
According to sources, the incident unfolded when an inmate voiced his opinions about Cohen’s internet use. However, the Federal Bureau of Prisons declined to comment further. Lanny Davis, a former representative for Cohen, also declined to comment.
In an email to Reuters, Cohen’s lawyer, Roger Adler, explained, “It is my understanding that a verbal dispute over phone use prompted a temporary placement to SHU pending an investigation. I do not, however, know who prompted the altercation, or if the action taken was factually/ regulatory appropriate.”
Adler called the solitary confinement a “hiccup” in the process but remains hopeful that Cohen would be returned to the prison’s general population when “all the facts are known.”
Cohen was once quoted as saying he would “take a bullet” for Trump. The abashed lawyer was sentenced in 2018 for orchestrating hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Trump has continuously denied the affairs.
Cohen will be eligible for release in November 2021.
Like most nonviolent offenders during the current pandemic, Cohen argued in March that he should be released from prison early due to the risk of contracting COVID-19. However, the U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan refused the request, saying that Cohen needed to take responsibility for his actions.
“Ten months into his prison term, it’s time that Cohen accept the consequences of his criminal convictions for serious crimes that had far-reaching institutional harms,” the judge wrote on March 23rd.
