Ocasio-Cortez is now defending……Paul Manafort?

It’s been reported in the last day or so that Paul Manafort is being moved to Rikers Island jail in New York where he will be held in isolation:

NY TIMES – Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman who is serving a federal prison sentence, is expected to be transferred within the next few weeks to the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City, where he will most likely be held in isolation while facing state fraud charges, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Mr. Manafort, 70, will most likely be arraigned on the new charges in State Supreme Court in Manhattan later this month and held at Rikers, although his lawyers could seek to have him held at a federal jail in New York, the people with knowledge said.

High-profile inmates are generally held in protective custody on Rikers Island, a network of nine jails with a total of 7,500 inmates, including pretrial detainees and convicts serving sentences of a year or less. Inmates in protective custody are isolated from the general population under heavy guard.

Rikers Island has been plagued by violence and mismanagement over the years, prompting efforts to close the jail complex.

A law-enforcement official familiar with the correction department’s practices, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss security measures, said Mr. 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.

It is unclear precisely how long Mr. Manafort would be held at Rikers, although he is expected to await his trial in New York.

A law enforcement official familiar with the jail’s practices said he would probably be held in one of the oldest buildings in the island, known as the North Infirmary Command, which was built in the early 1930s, or in one of the complex’s newest structures, a set of fiberglass tent-like structures known as “Sprungs.”

Cell blocks in the infirmary command have eight cells and a day room with a television on each tier, the official said. The inmates are not locked in their cells during the day.

I’m not sure if ‘isolation’ is the same as ‘solitary confinement’, but that seems to be what the NY Times is suggesting.

And that’s even led Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to defend Manafort this morning, saying:

“Paul Manafort is being sent to solitary confinement in my district – Rikers Island. A prison sentence is not a license for gov torture and human rights violations. That‘s what solitary confinement is. Manafort should be released, along with all people being held in solitary.”

I have to admit that her tweet surprised me. As much as I don’t like her crazy socialist policy ideals, I think it’s notable that she hasn’t let her hatred of Trump cloud her judgment on Manafort.


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