Joe Exotic's campaign team has hit out at the solitary confinement conditions he is facing.
Tiger King star Joe Exotic is said to have been in solitary confinement in prison for a month as his team hit out at the alleged conditions he is facing
By Jamie Roberts, Assistant US Showbiz and TV Editor
16:08, 25 Jul 2023
Joe Exotic is struggling in prison after spending a month in solitary confinement, with sources saying he's "not doing well" and has lost a concerning amount of weight.
Sources claim the infamous Netflix star, who shot to fame in Tiger King, has been separated from fellow inmates at Fort Worth, where he is currently serving a 22-year sentence after being convicted on two counts of attempted murder for hire regarding his big cats enemy Carole Baskin. He was also found guilty on eight counts of violating the Lacey Act by falsifying wildlife records, and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act by killing five tigers and selling tigers across state lines.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, is still campaigning to become the next president of the United States despite his incarceration. However, his time in solitary is affecting him in many ways according to those close to him.
A source told The Mirror: "Joe is not doing well. He’s thirsty and locked in a cage smaller than what the guidelines are for captive monkeys, even smaller than a parking spot.
"Joe is not able to make any phone calls and he has lost 18 pounds so far with no access to nutritious fresh foods or cold clean water."
The insider sensationally went on to claim his placement came as a bid by president Joe Biden to "shut him up" revealing he had been there since June 23.
However, a member of his campaign team said "Team Exotic 2024 cannot be silenced" and defiantly claimed the campaign for presidency "continues to make great strides and is demanding to know why the motion for Joe's new trial has been ignored for 14 months".
It's not the first time Joe has been kept in solitary confinement since his imprisonment in 2019. A year later, his husband at the time Dillon Passage admitted he was concerned for the reality TV star and former big cat breeder after he had been kept in solitary confinement for four months.
Discussing his presidential campaign last month prior to his confinement, Joe claimed he would pardon Donald Trump if he landed the role in the White House - but confessed he would make him squirm first.
His words came as he responded to fellow 2024 US Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Twitter, who had challenged everyone in the race to commit to pardoning Trump if they’re elected.
Joe tweeted: "I would pardon him but after he spent at least 30 days in the same solitary confignment [sic] as any of the rest of us so he knows just how bad it sucks to be innocent and stuck in this f***ed up system."
In 2022, the former zookeeper was resentenced to 21 years after a judge rejected his plea to be freed.
Baskin said her foe received "fair punishment" for his terrifying murder-for-hire plot. She said last year: "I do think that the punishment fits the crime because he’s someone who caused hundreds upon hundreds of tigers and lions and ligers to be bred into a life of deprivation, captivity, and pacing back and forth in tiny jail cells the same size as the one that he’s in now."
The Mirror has contacted the federal prison in Fort Worth where Joe is incarcerated for comment on his claims.