Incarcerated father loses bid to attend Uvalde victim’s funeral despite help from Kardashian, others
Despite help from public figures, including a plea from Kim Kardashian, the father of a girl killed in the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting was denied a request to temporarily leave prison to attend her funeral.
Eliahna Cruz Torres, 10, was among the 19 children killed by a gunman on May 24 at Robb Elementary School in the southwestern Texas town. Two teachers were also killed.
Torres’ father, 46-year-old Eli Torres, is incarcerated at McCreary United States Penitentiary, a federal prison in Kentucky, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Online prison records show that Torres was convicted of drug trafficking and conspiracy in 2013 in Del Rio, Texas, and is due to be released in February 2023.
Eliahna Torres’ family scheduled her funeral for Thursday at 11 a.m. local time. Eli Torres sought to have a compassionate release to attend the funeral, which was denied, according to Univision San Antonio reporter Lidia Terrazas.
Kentucky state Rep. Attica Scott then sent a letter to both President Joe Biden and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear asking for their help.
“Her family is desperately seeking a way to ensure that her father gets an opportunity to attend his daughter’s memorial ceremonies,” Scott wrote in the letter. “They further said that Eliahna and her father were only one week away from having physical contact with each other before the shooting took place.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement to the Herald-Leader, it didn’t confirm any details from the reporting.
“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) does not provide information on any individual inmate’s conditions of confinement to include compassionate release requests or a request for temporary release,” Scott Taylor, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons, told the local newspaper.
In a last-minute effort on the morning of Eliahna Torres’ funeral, Kim Kardashian posted about the Torres family’s situation and similarly asked the Federal Bureau of Prisons to grant Eli Torres’ temporary release.
In recent years, Kim Kardashian has become a notable advocate for criminal justice reform.
