Advertisement

Bill Cosby’s wife hasn’t visited him in prison — and that’s how he wants it

A handcuffed Bill Cosby is escorted out of the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville, Pa., in September 2018 after being sentenced for sexual assault.
A handcuffed Bill Cosby is escorted out of the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville, Pa., in September 2018 after being sentenced for sexual assault.
(Jacqueline Larma / Associated Press)
Share

Bill Cosby’s wife, Camille, and their children haven’t yet visited him in prison, where he’s been since late September. But they’re not shunning him.

The disgraced comic simply doesn’t want his family to see him as a prisoner, his spokesman says.

“He feels that when he left home, he left home the day of the sentencing as Bill Cosby, not as NN7687, the number they have given him, and he wants his family to see him in that light not in the light of a prison uniform,” Andrew Wyatt told DailyMailTV (via DailyMail.com).

Advertisement

Wyatt said he’s been Cosby’s sole visitor at SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security state prison in Pennsylvania. He also said the comic has gotten private messages of support from longtime celebrity pals Quincy Jones and Spike Lee.

Bill Cosby: A 50-year chronicle of accusations and accomplishments »

“He views it like you’re going to war and you’re not going to see your friends and family,” the spokesman said. “You have to abide by the rules.”

The former “Cosby Show” star is serving a sentence of up to 10 years after being convicted in April 2018 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand. He has maintained his innocence and is appealing the court’s decision.

Cosby would be eligible for parole after three years if he were to attend rehabilitation classes for violent sexual predators, but, Wyatt said, that’s not going to happen.

“He feels that this is how they get inmates to confess to a crime they did not commit because they force them to go to these sorts of classes,” the spokesman said, adding, “[H]e’s willing to sit there the entire 10 years rather than attend that course.”

Advertisement

According to Wyatt, Cosby is filling his days with “speaking engagements,” addressing small groups of inmates.

“‘Mr. Cosby is educating these men on how to remove the ‘d-i-s’ from disadvantage and recognize that they have a second chance when they get parole, they get to be better fathers, great community activists,” Wyatt said.

Cosby has been married to Camille since January 1964. Together they had five children, three of whom — Erika, 53; Erinn, 52; and Evin, 42 — are still living. Son Ennis was killed during a botched robbery attempt in 1997, at age 27, while daughter Ensa died last year, at 44, after suffering kidney failure.

cdz@latimes.com

@theCDZ on Twitter and Instagram

Advertisement