In the next few weeks, federal inmate and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort will reportedly be transferred to Rikers Island, New York City’s largest and most controversial jail complex, where he is expected to be held in isolation while facing state fraud charges.
Since his sentencing on federal bank-fraud, tax, and conspiracy charges in March, Manafort has been serving his seven-and-a-half-year bid in a small, low-security prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania. By prosecuting the lobbyist, a trailblazer in the practice of exchanging D.C. influence for fat sums from authoritarian leaders, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. ensured that Manafort cannot receive a full pardon from the president, as executive power does not apply to state crimes. Minutes after his federal sentencing, New York unsealed 13 charges against Manafort, including residential-mortgage fraud and allegedly falsifying business records to obtain millions in loans — a scheme the president has reportedly tried out on Deutsche Bank.
According to a law-enforcement official who spoke with the New York Times, Manafort “would most likely be housed in a former prison hospital on the island. That is where most high-profile detainees are held, including police officers, those accused of killing police officers, politicians, and celebrities.” His lawyers may also seek to have him transferred to a federal jail in New York. Rikers Island, a former landfill and pig farm site, has housed a prison since 1935, though due to years of violence and dysfunction, the correctional facility is set to close by 2026.
Manafort could also reportedly be transferred to the Bellevue hospital prison ward if he is dealing with medical issues: In the winter, his attorneys revealed that he had been suffering from gout for several months.
