Tiger King star Joe Exotic has chillingly predicted his own death in prison before the summer is out.

The 57-year-old - real name Joe Maldonado-Passage - is currently one year into a 22-year jail term for a number of charges, including an alleged plot to murder his long-term rival Carole Baskin.

In a letter published on gossip website TMZ, Exotic called on President Donald Trump to "keep his word" and look at the issue of giving him a presidential pardon to secure his release, while also criticising his husband Dillon Passage for not communicating with him.

"My soul is dead," he writes. "I struggle every day to hold on to what little hope I can find. They keep me locked down 24/7... you will never understand the mental abuse this does to a person.

"I don't even know if I'm married anymore, seems everyone is so busy making money and being famous I don't even get a letter from Dillon."

On his health, he adds: "I'm losing weight, sores won't heal, I'll be dead in 2-3 months. It's like I have been sent to Death Row. They stopped all of my medication except one.

"I wish I could just have ended things when Travis [Maldonado] died."

The release of Exotic's letter comes a week after a judge ruled that control of his zoo was to be handed over to Baskin.