An alleged Bloods gang member is back behind bars after being released because of COVID-19 fears.
Kotarra Jackson has been serving time in federal prison following a 2018 drug bust that involved the Bloods.
She also had 15 prior convictions on drug and assault charges, but her attorney got her released last week, saying she's at "high risk" for COVID-19. Her attorney said she has a heart condition, suffers from asthma and is overweight.
Federal prosecutors say Jackson couldn't play by the rules of her temporary release, which included home confinement. Within a day, members of Suffolk's East End Drug Task Force say they snapped photos of Jackson outside her home, allegedly smoking cigarettes, not wearing a mask and not social distancing in a liquor store parking lot.
In a letter to the federal judge, federal prosecutors demanded her newfound freedom be cut short saying, "At no point in time was Jackson granted permission of the Pretrial Services Agency to leave the residence in order to go to a liquor store or a deli. However, that did not deter Jackson from doing what she wanted to do."
Her attorney says she was at the location to buy food, and there was an ATM transaction to support that claim.
The federal judge didn't accept Jackson's explanation, and she was ordered right back to where she had been for a year -- the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in Downtown Brooklyn.
Federal and state courts have been flooded with requests from inmates seeking release due to concerns of being in a jail during the coronavirus outbreak.