President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen is scheduled to be released from prison early amid the growing concern over the spread of the coronavirus, according to reports.
Cohen is serving his time at the Otisville Federal Correctional Institution in New York state for violating campaign finance laws, as IJR previously reported.
Fourteen inmates and seven staff members have reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus at the facility.
New York has become the state with the most coronavirus cases across the nation. As of Friday morning, New York is reporting more than 222,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and at least 12,000 deaths.
Cohen was originally scheduled for release in November of 2021. After he is quarantined for 14 days at the facility, he will be allowed to serve the rest of his sentence from home.
The decision to release Cohen comes shortly after a federal judge rejected his plea to reduce his sentence amid the coronavirus outbreak.
U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley penned a two-page order explaining his decision in late March.
“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,” Pauley wrote.
Cohen may not be the only one serving the remainder of his sentence from home.
Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, has requested an early release from prison over concerns he may contract the coronavirus, as IJR previously reported.
Manafort’s lawyer wrote a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) requesting Manafort be confined to his home for the remainder of his sentence or for the duration of the coronavirus outbreak.
As of April 16, at least 473 federal inmates and 279 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the BOP. At least 18 federal inmates have died from the virus.
