Joe Exotic’s husband Dillon Passage reveals the Tiger King star is ‘in danger’ in prison

Joe Exotic’s husband Dillon Passage has revealed that the Tiger King is struggling and ‘in danger’ in prison. 

The 57-year-old former zoo owner is currently serving a 22-year sentence after being found guilty of a murder-for-hire plot against his exotic animal rival Carole Baskin. 

Speaking to Australia’s The Sunday Project this weekend, Dillon, 22, claimed Joe has been in solitary confinement for four months, and he has not been able to see his husband since he was imprisoned. 

Dillon told the program: ‘He’s still locked up in solitary confinement. He can’t have face-to-face visits. We only get to chat when he’s talking to his lawyers.

‘[He’s been in solitary confinement] four months, yeah. It’s cruel and unusual punishment to the max for sure.’ 

Dillon also addressed Joe’s recent claim that he ‘will be dead in two to three months’ if he isn’t able to leave prison.  

‘It tears me up, because you know, Joe needs to have his transfusions or he won’t make it. It’s an autoimmune disease. It started with the ulcers on his face. 

‘Once that starts, it’s down hill from there. His life is in danger. It’s very detrimental,’ Dillon said. 

Last week, Joe claimed in an impassioned letter he ‘will be dead in two to three months’ if he doesn’t get help from President Donald Trump, and compared his incarceration to ‘being on death row’. 

The Tiger King star also said his ‘soul is dead’ as he explained that he has been unable to remain hopeful while incarcerated ’24/7′ without access to a phone, email, or commissary, according to the letter obtained by TMZ.

Asking for a ‘miracle’ from the President by being released, he wrote that although he requires blood infusions ‘every four weeks’ for common variable immune deficiency (CVID) he has ‘not had one since end of January.’  

In his letter to ‘supporters, fans, loves ones’, he said: ‘I’m losing weight, sores wont heal, I’ll be dead in 2-3 months, it’s like I have been sent to death row, they stopped all of my medication expect one, this place is hell on earth [sic].’

Joe went on to ask those who have seen his husband Dillon enjoying himself to not send pictures of what he is doing, as he hadn’t received a letter or a phone call from him since being imprisoned.  

He wrote: ‘I don’t even know if I’m married anymore, seems everyone is so busy making money and being famous.

‘I don’t get even a letter from Dillon, everyone sends pictures of him having fun and all but as a person screaming for help I am asking you to stop.’

Dillon responded to the letter, insisting that he hadn’t abandoned Joe in an Instagram post last Monday.

The Tiger King fixture pushed back on a letter from Joe claiming he hadn’t heard from his husband and had only heard from others about his partying while he has been rotting in jail.

Dillon claimed that his Instagram gave a misleading portrait of his life, because his fans couldn’t see him ‘at home, missing my husband and my friend.’  

‘My heart is breaking after reading Joe’s letter,’ Dillon began his post. ‘He is living in hell right now and I’m outraged by the way he is being treated. I can’t even begin to imagine how that is breaking his spirit. I love Joe and I’m standing by him.  

‘The photos that I post on here are a highlight reel of my life…’ he continued. ‘What you don’t see are the hours that I’m alone at home, missing my husband and my friend.’

Dillon claimed he had been steadily writing to Joe and suggested the prison might have been holding back their correspondence – which the facility has denied.      

Dillon and Joe were married in December 2017, with the duo together when Joe was arrested in 2018.   

Last Thursday, Joe was removed from precautionary coronavirus isolation and transferred to a prison medical center.

The former zookeeper then received care at the Federal Bureau of Prisons-operated Federal Medical Center Forth Worth in Texas, according to inmate records obtained by the New York Post.  

According to Dillon, Joe was being held in isolation at the Grady County Jail in Chickasha, Oklahoma due to his previous jail having had COVID-19 cases. 

Joe, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is currently serving a 22 year jail sentence after being convicted of two counts of murder-for-hire.

He was found guilty of plotting to kill his rival, animal rights activist Carole Baskin, 58.

The ‘Tiger King’ was convinced she wanted to destroy his zoo, Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma.

Joe was also found guilty of 17 counts of animal abuse.