Tiger King's Joe Exotic is "struggling" in prison having spent a month in solitary confinement, with his cell described as "too small for monkeys" by his close sources.
The Netflix star, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado shot to fame after appearing in Netflix's Tiger King and was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 years in prison after being convicted on two counts of attempted murder for hire to kill Carole Baskin.
He was also found guilty on eight counts of violating the Lacey Act by falsifying wildlife records, and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act by killing five tigers and selling tigers across state lines.
Sources claim Joe has been separated from fellow inmates at Fort Worth where he is serving his sentence and is "not doing well" with his solitary affecting him in a number of ways, according to those close to him.
A source claimed to The Mirror: "Joe is not doing well. He’s thirsty and locked in a cage smaller than what the guidelines are for captive monkeys, even smaller than a parking spot.
"Joe is not able to make any phone calls and he has lost 18 pounds so far with no access to nutritious fresh foods or cold clean water."
The insider went on to claim that his placement came as a bid by President Joe Biden to "shut him up" and that he had been there since 23 June.
Despite his incarceration, Joe is still campaigning to become the next President of the United States.
A member of Joe's campaign team said "Team Exotic 2024 cannot be silenced" and claimed the campaign for presidency "continues to make great strides and is demanding to know why the motion for Joe's new trial has been ignored for 14 months".
This isn't the first time the former big cat breeder has been kept in solitary confinement since his imprisonment in 2019.
A year later and his husband at the time, Dillon Passage admitted he was concerned for Joe after he had been kept in solitary confinement for four months.
Talking about his presidential campaign prior to his confinement, the TV star said he would "pardon" Donald Trump if landed the role in the White House.
This came as he responded to fellow 2024 US Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Twitter, who had challenged everyone in the race to commit to pardoning Trump if they’re elected.
Joe tweeted: "I would pardon him but after he spent at least 30 days in the same solitary confignment [sic] as any of the rest of us so he knows just how bad it sucks to be innocent and stuck in this f***ed up system."
The former zookeeper and Tiger King TV star was resentenced to 21 years in 2022 after a judge rejected his plea.
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