Melbourne, Australia, Jan 13, 2020 / 10:30 am
Cardinal George Pell has reportedly been transferred out of the Melbourne prison in which he has been incarcerated for more than a year after a drone illegally flew over the prison grounds.
According to the Herald Sun newspaper, Pell was moved out of Melbourne Assessment Prison after a drone flew over the prison garden in an apparent attempt to capture footage of him working in the prison garden. A spokesperson for the Australian Justice Department confirmed the drone flight in a statement released to media on Monday.
The cardinal has now been transferred to a maximum-security prison southwest of the city.
Pell had been in the Melbourne prison, located within the downtown area of the city, since his sentencing in December of 2018 on five counts of sexual abuse. For his own safety, Pell has been kept in solitary confinement, although one of his tasks was to tend to a prison garden. On Christmas Eve, a group of about two dozen local Catholics had gathered outside the Melbourne prison to pray and sing Christmas carols for him.