Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has become the latest high-profile convict to request early release from prison due to coronavirus-related health fears. The 71-year-old political consultant has asked to serve the remainder of his seven-and-a-half year sentence for tax evasion, witness tampering, and unregistered lobbying from home. Manafort was jailed following Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. He has suffered with health issues for several years. So far, 388 federal prisoners have been confirmed infected with the novel coronavirus and 13 have died, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Advocates for inmates and prison-guard union officials say the true infection rate is substantially higher because testing of prisoners has been minimal. Trump repeatedly described Manafort’s legal ordeal as unfair, but so far a presidential pardon has not been forthcoming.
