Tiger King‘s Joe Exotic is reportedly in isolation in a Texas prison after several of his fellow inmates tested positive for COVID-19. The update was given by his husband, Dillon Passage, BBC News reports. While it’s unclear whether or not Joe Exotic is symptomatic or if he’s been tested himself, he’s said to be away from other prisoners at the new facility.
- Joe Exotic was only recently moved. Joe Exotic, real name Joe Maldonado-Passage, is said to have been relocated from Grady County Jail in Oklahoma to the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. It hasn’t been reported how long he will be staying there and whether or not the move is permanent.
- Passage hasn’t been able to talk to his husband since the move. As Dillon told Andy Cohen, “We speak like three to five times every day, but since he’s been moved to this new facility, they are putting him on an … isolation because of the previous jail he was at, there were cases,” he explained. “I’ve yet to speak to him since he moved.”
- Prisons are hotbeds of infection. Given that prisons keep inmates in very close quarters 24/7, it’s no surprise that they pose a real danger to the health of people there. There’s simply no way to avoid infection if even one person gets the virus, which is why lawmakers have been evaluating ways to ensure the safety of those locked up. Moving them to isolation wards and other facilities could be a good way to cope with this.
- All federal prisoners will be put in quarantine for the next two weeks. According to the US Bureau of Prisons on Wednesday, the approximately 146,000 inmates in federal prisons are to be put in quarantine for the next 14 days in an effort to stem the spread of the illness. This is a start!
