‘Tiger King’: Joe Exotic Transferred to Prison Medical Center Following Reported Coronavirus Isolation

Joe Exotic (real name Joseph Maldanado-Passage), the subject of Netflix‘s surprise hit documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, has been transferred to a prison medical center from coronavirus isolation. According to inmate records obtained by the New York Post, Exotic has been at the Federal Bureau of Prisons-operated Federal Medical Center Forth Worth in Texas since at least Thursday of last week.

Currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for a murder-for-hire plot targeting Carole Baskin as well as violating the Endangered Species Act and falsifying wildlife records, Exotic was placed in coronavirus isolation following his transfer from the Grady County Jail in Chickasha, Oklahoma, to a center in Texas. Speaking with Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM series Andy Cohen Live, Exotic’s husband, Dillon Passage, confirmed that the breakout star had been put in isolation as a precaution.

“We speak like three to five times every day, but since he’s been moved to this new facility, they are putting him on a Covid-19 isolation because of the previous jail he was at, there were cases,” Passage explained. “I’ve yet to speak to him since he moved.””

When asked if his husband was in individual quarantine, Passage said, “From what I know, yes. He’s been there for me through my darkest times. I’m not just gonna dip out and abandon him when he needs me most.”

At this time, Exotic’s condition remains unclear, with the FMC Fort Worth telling the New York Post that “this information is not public.” In recent days, several news reports have surfaced suggesting that Exotic has contracted the virus, though they have not yet been confirmed. An Oklahoma City Fox News affiliate reported on April 2 that a post on Exotic’s Facebook page stated that he did not have the coronavirus.

“Joe DOES NOT have the COVID-19 virus, he’s in a 14-day quarantine because he was transferred from another facility,” the post read, adding the address fans can use to send him mail. “He won’t be able to read or answer you back unless any of you who wish to communicate via email puts money into his commissary.”

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), 195 federal inmates and 63 BOP staff have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Monday. There have been 8 federal inmate deaths. Nationwide, there have been more than 368,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, with fatalities surpassing 10,000.