DETROIT (WXYZ) — There’s another major push to release Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from federal prison, where he’s serving a lengthy sentence for public corruption.
“He was a tremendously popular Mayor with young people. He’s had tough experiences and would be able to minister,” said Bishop J. Drew Sheard, pastor at Greater Emanuel Institution Church of God in Christ in Detroit.
A virtual press conference hosted by Ebony on Friday aims to help release Detroit’s former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. One of the religious leaders behind the effort, Sheard, sees a true injustice in how the former Mayor has been kept locked up amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He has an asthma problem, and of course at this time they have him in quarantine from May 21,” Sheard said.
There are 20 of the nations most prominent pastors now teaming with Ebony, and calling for commutation of his 28 year prison sentence that began in 2013 in a virtual press conference tomorrow. He is currently tied for the longest prison sentence in America for an elected official, for racketeering and public corruption convictions.
“They’ve let other people out with a compassionate release," Sheard said. "Mr. Kilpatrick has been excessively sentenced and I’m going to talk about the fact he has received a spiritual regeneration."
Watch the full Zoom press conference below:
