Imprisoned ex-mayor moved from isolation

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DETROIT, July 22 (UPI) -- Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, in prison under federal indictment, will be moved from isolation into the general prison population, officials said Thursday.

Kilpatrick is incarcerated in Milan, Mich., serving a 1 1/2 –to-5-year sentence on a fraud and tax violation indictment for obstruction of justice in a text message scandal, the Detroit Free Press reported.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds issued the order for Kilpatrick's release into the general prison population, the Free Press said.

"I think this is much better for Mr. Kilpatrick rather than being in the hole," Kilpatrick's lawyer, James Thomas, said.

Segregation is "usually reserved for persons who are a danger to themselves or to others. And that's not the type of situation we have with him. He was convicted of a nonviolent crime and he's charged with a fraud," Thomas said.