Jailhouse Interview With Former Gubernatorial Candidate Joe "Exotic" Maldonado

Former Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Joe Exotic is in jail awaiting trial on federal murder-for-hire charges.

Joe “Exotic” Maldonado is in the Grady County jail after being extradited from Florida, where U.S. Marshals arrested him last month.

Maldonado was the owner of the Greater Wynnewood Animal Park and was indicted for allegedly trying to hire a hitman to kill the owner of a Florida big cat sanctuary.

Since his arrest, he’s been moved through two jails and two prisons, and he says none of the conditions were fit for an animal, much less a human.

Maldonado says he wants gubernatorial candidates Kevin Stitt and Drew Edmondson to come talk about prison reform with him.

Despite being charged with murder for hire, he says he should be let out and that he doesn’t deserve to be on suicide watch.

“I am supposed to be in this country – born, raised, innocent until proven guilty – and I have been stripped of my clothes, my rights, my identity, my dignity,” said Maldonado.  “Let me explain to you what suicide watch is.  It’s called naked and afraid.  They strip you butt naked and put you in a six by eight concrete room with no windows, no blankets, no nothing.  And I spent five days in there.”

Maldonado says he’s counting the days until his trial and claims there’s a “mountain of evidence” that will prove he was framed by a former business partner.