Despite being convicted of sexual assault last year, and sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison, it seems that former TV star Bill Cosby has not learned much from his time behind bars.
In a bizarre public statement, the first Cosby has issued since his sentence was handed down, he called himself "a political prisoner," and compared himself to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
"My political beliefs, my actions of trying to humanize all races, genders and religions landed me in this place surrounded by barb wire fencing, a room made of steel and iron," Cosby said in a statement released by his spokesman Andrew Wyatt.
Cosby, 81, also compared his cell in Philadelphia's SCI Phoenix penitentiary to "the quarters of some of the Greatest Political Prisoners -- Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Randal Robinson, and Dr. Benjamin Chavis."
The striking comments came after Wyatt spoke to Philadelphia's WCAU about Cosby's time in jail.
After recently joining SCI Phoenix's general population, Cosby has reportedly been adjusting well to life in the maximum security prison.
"When I visit him it's nothing sad about it," Wyatt told the news station. "He's not sad, he's not remorseful because he did nothing wrong."
He went on to say that Cosby had described his time in prison as an "amazing experience."
The former comedian has supposedly been losing weight by waking up at 3:30 a.m. to exercise in his cell (Cosby does not have a cellmate) and cutting bread, coffee, and dessert out of his diet.
While Cosby is living in the prison's general population, he eats in a separate area from other inmates and relies on helpers to move around the building because of his poor eyesight.
Wyatt also revealed that Cosby's longtime wife, Camille Hanks, has not visited him in prison. Instead, the couple have been speaking by phone several times a day.
"Right now I'm his only visitor outside of his attorneys, and that's the way he wants it," Wyatt explained. "She has not visited him. He does not want her to visit him."
Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting former professional basketball player Andrea Constand at his home in 2004. While dozens of other women made similar accusations against Cosby, Constand's were the only still within the statute of limitations.
Cosby was also labeled a "sexually violent predator" as part of his conviction, and ordered to undergo mandatory monthly counseling.
[H/T: CNN]
