The judge who ordered the transfer of Paul Manafort to another prison dismissed concerns about the safety of the former campaign chairman to Donald Trump, saying the facility knows how to handle "terrorists, spies and traitors," according to the legal news outlet Law & Crime.
Attorneys for Manafort had resisted transferring him from the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, to a facility in Alexandra, Virginia, ahead of his upcoming trial.
Manafort has been charged with financial and foreign lobbying-related crimes as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
While in prison, Manafort has had his own "self-contained living unit," prosecutors said. The unit had its own bathroom, shower and a bed," The Washington Post reported, attributing the information to a court filing.
He also has had a telephone and computer.
Eastern District of Virginia Judge T.S. Ellis denied Manafort's bid to stay at the prison and instead ordered him moved to the Alexandria Detention Center. After Manafort's attorney expressed fears for his safety, Ellis responded no threats had been identified and prison officials were capable of handling any problems that might occur, Law & Crime reported.
"However, defense counsel has not identified any general or specific threat to defendant's safety," the judge said. "They have not done so, because the professionals at Alexandria Detention Center are very familiar with housing high-profile defendants, including foreign and domestic terrorists, spies and traitors."
He said they have safely housed these kinds of defendants as they awaited their trials, Law & Crime reported.