Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is being held in a Massachusetts prison unit with fewer than 10 other inmates and has no direct contact with them, the Today Show reported on Tuesday morning.
Hernandez, a 23-year-old native of Bristol, Connecticut, has been charged with murder in connection with the June shooting death of Odin Lloyd, a friend prosecutors said angered the NFL player at a nightclub a few days earlier by talking to the wrong people.
“He has quite a bit of a transition from his lifestyle on the outside to his lifestyle on the inside,” Bristol County Sherriff Thomas Hodgson told the Today Show.
Hernandez is being held without bail. He is not being held in general population and is only allowed to leave his 7-by-10-foot cell three hours a day to use the exercise yard, the phone and common area.
Hodgson told the Fall River Herald News (http://bit.ly/17DJA3A ) that jail officials have completed their initial assessment to determine whether Hernandez has any gang affiliations, based in part on his tattoos, and have found none.
He said Hernandez has been a model inmate, but he is being watched closely because other inmates might want to "make a name for themselves."
“Just have to pay close attention to the fact that he is a high-profile person and just keep a close ear to the ground,” Hodgson told the Today Show.
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