Joe Exotic Sends Letter to OK! From Solitary Confinement, Claims He's Been Isolated After Prison Guard Asked Donald Trump 'to Grant Me a Pardon'

Cancer-stricken Joe Exotic is itching to get out of prison, eight years after he was convicted for his role in a murder-for-hire plot to kill Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin.

The Tiger King star, 63, exclusively sent a letter to OK! he penned from solitary confinement at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

In the memo dated June 8, 2026, Exotic, whose real name is Joe Maldonado, claims he was put in isolation after an attempt to get Donald Trump's attention.

"Hey," the Netflix star's note begins. "Not only have I been trying to get Trump's attention for the last eight years, but now I have lost the ability to get the White House's eyes on my social media."

"Since I've been in the SHU [Special Housing Unit] now for 58 days — all because a prison guard of 26 years wrote President Trump a letter asking him to sign my clemency or grant me a pardon," he writes. "The prison fired him and put me in SHU, trying to send me to another prison."

"Now the girl who was in charge of my social media has teamed up with the former chair of the Libertarian Party — 'Angela' — and is holding my accounts hostage, giving me the option to quit giving my Mexican husband my monetization, money, and leave him and get my accounts to resume active or they will no longer post and keep the passwords," Exotic alleges.

"I will not leave my husband, and that money was keeping him safe in Mexico until President Trump gets me out of here," he scribes.

Exotic married fellow inmate Jorge Marquez in April 2025. Marquez was released from prison in May 2025 and was deported to Mexico.

Exotic was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2019 after his conviction.

His letter concludes: "I've been exploited for eight years for everyone to make money using my face and name. And I get nothing but more bulls--- drama. Please President Trump, let me go home."

A source close to Exotic also exclusively gives insight into his well-being while being held in solitary confinement.

"Joe has currently lost his phone usage at the moment due to an unresolved dorm situation," the insider tells OK!.

“He’s still in solitary confinement and has lost 18 pounds they are not feeding him well at all it’s disgusting they think giving a 63-year-old cancer [patient] a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is acceptable," the pal continues.

Exotic was previously diagnosed with both prostate and lung cancer. While his prostate illness was in remission, he announced it returned and spread to his lungs last year.