Boston Marathon bomber asks Biden AG pick Merrick Garland for leniency, might receive stimulus check
The 26-year-old said he was suffering 'psychological injury, emotional distress' at Colorado max-security prison
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Convicted Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev recently revised his $250,000 lawsuit against the federal government, appealing to incoming U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to grant him additional privileges while incarcerated at a maximum-security prison in Colorado.
In an amended, handwritten complaint, the 26-year-old said he was suffering "psychological injury, emotional distress, and destruction of my familial relationships," the Boston Herald reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He appealed to Garland to intervene, claiming the Federal Correctional Complex Florence is preventing him from sending photos to his family and hobby crafts to his lawyers, WHDH also reported.
Tsarnaev reportedly lamented that he is forbidden to communicate with his younger nieces and nephews, has his phone calls strictly monitored and his mail "censored." He wants to be moved to a Level 2 security level and requested that the $2,300 currently on hold in his prison canteen account be released to him, according to reports.
FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2014, courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sits in federal court in Boston. (Jane Flavell Collins via AP, File)
Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., claimed that Tsarnaev would receive the second $1,400 stimulus check under President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package approved by the Senate Saturday without any Republican support.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}COVID RELIEF BILL OFFERS CONVICTED MURDERERS STIMULUS CHECK, COTTON SLAMS
"Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Bomber, murdered three people and terrorized a city," Cotton tweeted Saturday. "He'll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats' "COVID relief" bill."
Cotton's office did not immediately return Fox News' request for comment Tuesday .
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}House Democrats plan to offer their final approval of the bill Wednesday before sending it to Biden’s desk. The bill includes $1,400 stimulus checks for individuals who make less than $75,000.
FILE 2015: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is pictured in this handout photo presented as evidence by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston. (REUTERS/U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston/Handout)
Inmates are included among those who will receive stimulus checks, just as they were in both of the previous COVID relief bills that offered $1,200 and $600 checks, respectively. Cotton voted for both of those bills.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cotton, as well as Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, offered an amendment on the Senate floor Saturday to block checks from prisoners. It failed on a party-line vote, 49-50. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., argued that prisoners' children could be affected by withholding the money from them.
"Dylann Roof murdered nine people. He's on federal death row," Cotton also tweeted. "He'll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats' ‘COVID relief’ bill.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.