Bill Cosby's rep begging Pennsylvania governor to release him early due to coronavirus concerns
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Bill Cosby’s representative is pleading with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to get the disgraced comedian released from prison due to concerns about his health if he contracts the coronavirus.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, several inmates across the country are being granted early release or home confinement in an effort to empty out prisons to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. However, a Philadelphia Department of Corrections officer told Fox News that Cosby, who is doing time in SCI Phoenix facility in Montgomery County, is not eligible for early release due to his status as a sex offender.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a statement provided to Fox News, Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, asks Wolf to change his mind about the celebrity's status due to Cosby’s many physical ailments.
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Bill Cosby's physical ailments have reportedly increased while in prison, prompting concerns over his health should he contract the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
"Around the Fall of 2019, Actor & Comedian Bill Cosby was forced to have two major surgeries in-order to sustain his life (prevent him from having a stroke and/or heart attack)," the statement reads. "During a visit to the infirmary at SCI-Phoenix for high blood pressure issues, Mr. Cosby was informed that the carotid arteries on the right and left side of his neck had 90% blockage due to plaque build-up (the carotid arteries are the major blood vessels in the neck that supply blood to the brain, neck and face). Those surgeries were done separately and they were successful. Mr. Cosby now takes medication for high blood pressure and he is 100% blind from glaucoma."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}His statement concludes: "Mr. Cosby was not given a life sentence nor a death sentence, so we are requesting that Gov. Wolf use his gubernatorial powers to show compassion to another human being, Bill Cosby. It has been well documented in the media and by the Secretary of Prisons, John Wetzel, that SCI-Phoenix has been badly infected with the Covid-19 virus."
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Bill Cosby's representative is begging the Philadelphia governor to release him form prison due to concerns over his health amid the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Cosby is serving up to 10 years for his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, in 2004. Because of the nature of his crime, he doesn’t fall under the temporary reprieve conditions for vulnerable and nonviolent prisoners authorized by Gov. Wolf.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wyatt previously told Fox News that chances of infection are increased for Cosby given that he requires the assistance of fellow prisoners who work as support service inmates, known as Certified Peer Specialists (CPI). They’re tasked with cleaning Cosby's cell and wheeling him around the grounds in a wheelchair to various doctor visits.
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Wyatt argued that extra exposure to other inmates heightens the risk that Cosby could contract the potentially deadly virus.