Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will be released from prison this week, sister claims

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Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will be released from prison this week, his sister reportedly claimed Sunday.

"Due to suffering severe health challenges we expect Kwame Kilpatrick to receive a grant for COVID-19 compassionate release from the [Federal  Bureau of Prisons] this week,” Ayanna Kilpatrick tweeted Sunday, according to FOX 2 in Detroit. She attributed the statement to their family. “We are extremely grateful to God and we thank each and every one who has kept him and his family lifted in prayer.”

State Rep. Karen Whitsett also said Kilpatrick would be released this week after claiming in May he would be let out due to the coronavirus.

He was ultimately denied the May effort to get him on home confinement, the Detroit News reported.

Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is seen in a Detroit courtroom in an undated photo. (Associated Press)

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Federal officials, however, have not confirmed Kilpatrick’s release, according to The Detroit News.

Kilpatrick was sentenced in 2013 to 28 years for corruption and racketeering.

The former mayor was in office from 2002 to 2008. He was convicted in 2013 on charges of racketeering conspiracy, fraud, extortion and tax crimes related to shaking down contractors and rewarding his allies. The government called the scheme the “Kilpatrick enterprise."

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In a February letter to President Trump, the Ebony Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to combating mass incarceration, argued that Kilpatrick's lengthy sentence was not appropriate for his crimes.

Kilpatrick has been incarcerated at a low-security prison in Louisiana. He is officially scheduled to be released in January 2037.

“The thing that makes the whole thing difficult for Kwame is the length of time he has left to go on his sentence,” Harold Gurewitz, one of Kilpatrick’s lawyers, told The Detroit News. “I’m a little bit suspicious.”

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Kilpatrick has maintained his innocence and has filed several appeals. He also has supporters in the FreeKwameProject dedicated to getting him released from prison, FOX 2 reported.

Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.