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Joe Exotic currently in COVID-19 isolation in prison, husband says

Joe Exotic currently in COVID-19 isolation in prison, husband says
Posted at 11:56 AM, Apr 02, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-02 11:56:09-04

The husband of Joe Exotic says the subject of Netflix's "Tiger King" docu-series has been moved to COVID-19 isolation in prison.

Dillon Passage, the husband of Joe "Exotic" Maldonado-Passage, made the comments on Andy Cohen's Sirius XM radio show, Radio Andy.

Passage said that Exotic had recently been transferred to a new prison, but needed to be put in isolation before being introduced to the general prison population.

"They're putting him on COVID-19 isolation because of the previous jail he was at, there were cases," Passage said.

Passage says he usually speaks to his husband "three to five times a day," but hasn't spoken to him since he's transferred prisons.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Exotic is now being held at FMC Fort Worth, a federal medical center in Texas.

Joe Exotic was convicted on two counts of murder for hire plot in which he sought to kill, Carole Baskin, a business rival and owner of a Florida animal rescue. He was also convicted of eight violations of the Lacey Act (a law that prohibits the trade of wildlife that has been illegally possessed or sold) and nine violations of the Endangered Species Act.

Passage is Joe Exotic's fourth husband. He was previously married to Travis Maldonado, who died by suicide in 2017, and Brian Rhyne, who died of HIV in 2001. He was also previously married to a man named John Finlay.

Since its debut on Netflix on March 20, "Tiger King: Murder Mayhem and Madness" has exploded in popularity. The documentary follows the story of Joe Exotic, his private Oklahoma zoo and the often horrific business of exotic animal trading.