T.I. To Be Released in March 2010

Earlier today (December 15) Atlanta gossip blog sandrarose.com reported that incarcerated rapper T.I. would be released from Arkansas’ Forrest City Prison much earlier than expected. XXLMag.com spoke with Steve Sadow, the rap star’s lead council in his federal firearms case, to shed light on the matter.

According to Sadow, T.I. has a projected release date in “approximately the fourth week of March 2010.” This takes into account Tip’s original 366-day sentence, which he began serving on May 26, 2009, minus 54 days for good behavior and 14 days “that he had in custody prior to sentencing.”

“Now it is up to the [Federal] Bureau of Prisons to decide whether someone should be placed in a halfway house prior to the projected release date,” Sadow explained. “The Bureau of Prisons can do that and typically does it either a month before, or two months before… as much as six months before the projected release date.”

The attorney is optimistic that the Grammy-award-winning artist may be out sooner than expected. “We are hopeful that T.I. will be placed in a halfway house within the next month or so, which would be about two or three months before his projected release date. We are hopeful for that, we do not have any control over it.

The Bureau of Prisons makes that decision entirely on its own, they don’t share that decision with the public and they don’t share that decision with the defense lawyers,” he said. “But we are hopeful because we know that T.I. has handled himself accordingly and conducted himself correctly while he has been incarcerated, we are hopeful that the Bureau of Prisons will give him two or three months of halfway house.”