Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was denied an early release from prison, according to a statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons released Tuesday evening.
"On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reviewed and denied inmate Kwame Kilpatrick for home confinement. Mr. Kilpatrick remains incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution-I in Oakdale, Louisiana," an email to 7 Action News read.
This comes days after the Ebony Foundation claimed Kilpatrick would be released in a post on the website, which prompted several reports questioning the claim.
In a press statement widely circulated May 22, the Ebony Foundation claimed that Kilpatrick "has been granted early release after spending 7 years of a 28-year sentence."
The foundation, along with Kilpatrick friends and family members, has been working to secure his release from prison for years. Since his conviction, Kilpatrick himself has filed a number of unsuccessful appeals.
"...We were able to confirm that Mr. Kilpatrick is going to be released on compassionate release, with respect to the COVID-19 crisis," said Rev. Keyon Payton, the National Director for Community Outreach and Engagement for the Ebony Foundation.
Sandra Neylane, a spokeswoman for the Ebony Foundation, said that the organization received a phone call from Kilpatrick Friday claiming he was going to be released from prison in Louisiana following a 14-day quarantine.
However, when reached Friday morning, Kilpatrick's attorney Harold Gurewitz said he'd heard nothing of the sort. Nor had John Shea, attorney for Bernard Kilpatrick, the ex-mayor's father, who was convicted of a tax crime and served 15 months in prison.
The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, which prosecuted Kilpatrick, says they were not told of any plans to release Kilpatrick either.
