In jail for the crime of "CRITICIZING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION"

Citing Coronavirus, Conservative Leaders Urge Trump to Free Imprisoned Congressman Stockman        
By  Michael Brigham   April 13, 2020

Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons

Citing the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in the federal prison system, 52 national conservative leaders are urging President Donald Trump to either release imprisoned former Congressman Steve Stockman on humanitarian grounds or allow him to serve his sentence in home confinement.

Citing Stockman as an example of a “sitting duck,” the April 6 letter urged Trump to release non-violent, non-sex offenders who are at risk from coronavirus, which is running rampant in the federal prison system.

Stockman, 63, is serving a 10-year sentence at FCI Beaumont in Texas. Stockman’s diabetes, high blood pressure, and history of asthma place him at extreme risk from exposure to COVID-19. The deadly virus has already been found in the Beaumont prison complex.

“Prisoners with pre-existing bad health conditions are particularly vulnerable to being infected in over-crowded cells, dorms, and feeding facilities. These prisoners were sentenced for crimes, but the present circumstances literally make them at risk for a death sentence, a punishment that does not fit their crimes,” the letter reads.

“A perfect example of a prisoner who fits criteria of who should be removed from prison is former Texas Congressman Steve Stockman, who at age 63, with diabetes and a lung condition, and who was being denied medication in prison even before the coronavirus outbreak, is serving under what many have reason to believe was a political prosecution — using three failed grand juries before a fourth indicted him — for criticizing the Obama administration, the lawlessness at the IRS under Lois Lerner, and corruption in the Ukraine,” the letter reads. “A successful man of intense Christian faith, Steve poses no danger to society, but remaining in prison may be a death sentence for him.”

Among the 52 nationally-prominent signers are attorney Sidney Powell, who is currently representing former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, musician Ted Nugent, Dr. James Dobson, and philanthropist Foster Friess.

Attorney General William Barr issued a March 26 memo urging the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to make arrangements for the home confinement of “at-risk inmates who are non-violent and pose minimal likelihood of recidivism and who might be safer serving their sentences in home confinement rather than in BOP facilities.”

Stockman meets all those criteria.

Under Barr’s guidelines, federal authorities have already temporarily freed rapper “Tekashi69” and anti-Trump attorney Michael Avenatti.

Supporters are also taking to Twitter to urge Trump and Members of Congress to take action to free Stockman, using the hashtag #FreeSteveStockman.