Roger Stone Ordered To Prison On June 30 Despite COVID-19 Pandemic

Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally convicted of lying to Congress, will circumvent a mandatory quarantine period when he reports to the Bureau of Prisons by June 30.

Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Sue Allison told reporters that Stone is not required to go to a quarantine facility because he is voluntarily surrendering. That exception was not detailed in the agency’s policy processing “all newly-sentenced Bureau inmates through one of three quarantine sites” or at a federal detention facility in order to combat the spread of coronavirus within the prison system.

Stone was convicted on seven counts of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation that arose from Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia in 2016.

He was sentenced to serve at least three years in prison, two years of probation and pay a $20,000 fine.

Stone will still have to quarantine for two weeks once he arrives at the prison, Alison said.

Coronavirus has spread rapidly through prisons, with 4,979 inmates having contracted COVID-19 since late March, according to the Bureau of Prisons. At least 60 have died, and 3,232 have recovered, but it is likely that there are several unreported cases.

The exception made for Stone may reignite questions about exceptions made by the Bureau of Prisons for Trump’s allies and affluent criminals.

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was released for home confinement, despite not meeting the criteria to be considered a priority for home confinement, and Trump’s former lawyer was released from federal prison last week and expected to transition to home confinement for the rest of his sentence.