Paul Manafort, Trump's Former Campaign Chairman, To Be Sent To Rikers Island

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The 70-year-old will likely be held in solitary confinement.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is being sent to Rikers Island. He is expected to be held in solitary confinement while facing state fraud charges, according to the New York Times.

READ: New York City Considering Building A 40-Story Prison In Manhattan As Part Of Rikers Shutdown Plan

Manafort is currently serving a seven-and-a-half-year federal prison sentence in Pennsylvania. He was convicted last year on federal bank fraud, tax and conspiracy charges in two related cases. Now, it's likely that he'll face state mortgage fraud charges in New York City. A Manhattan district attorney obtained an indictment of Manafort in regards to the charges.

Manafort is expected to be arraigned on the new charges later this month in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. As the Times noted, Trump has broad power to issue pardons for federal crimes but can't do the same over state cases, meaning that Manafort would still face prison time even if Trump pardoned him for his federal crimes. Manafort could face up to 25 years in New York state prison if found guilty of the most serious charges in the new indictment.

Infamous for its corruption, violence and mismanagement, Rikers Island was where a 16-year-old Kalief Browder spent three years in prison, with two of those years spent in solitary confinement. He was charged with stealing a backpack he did not in fact steal. Following his release from Rikers, Browder died by suicide in 2015 at the age of 22 after hanging himself with bedsheets in his Bronx home.

Some have brought up Browder's tragic story and experience at Rikers following the news of Manafort's move to the prison, highlighting the unfairness between the two.

Two years ago, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city's plan to close Rikers in the next 10 years.

Source: New York Times