ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta-based rapper T.I. was
released Wednesday one month early from a federal prison in Arkansas where he
was serving a weapons violation sentence.
The artist, whose real name is Clifford Harris, was
released Wednesday morning from the Forrest City low-security prison, said
Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke. His attorney Jonathan Leonard
confirmed T.I. was released but did not immediately say where his client was
going.
The rapper had been sentenced to 11 months in
prison in October for breaking his federal probation after he was arrested in
Los Angeles on drug charges. He had been set for release at the end of
September.
It was T.I.'s second stint in the Arkansas prison.
He served about seven months there in 2009 after he was arrested in 2007 for
trying to buy unregistered guns and silencers from undercover federal agents.
That came after Harris' best friend was killed following a post-performance
party in Cincinnati in 2006. The rapper has said the bullets that killed his
friend were meant for him.
But a federal judge said that
"experiment" failed when Los Angeles deputies found four ecstasy
pills on the rapper.
It's unclear where T.I. is going next, but it
appears a flock of cameras will follow. VH1 said Wednesday that the network
will film T.I.'s journey home from jail and debut the show in December. MTV
aired a similar reality show on the rapper in 2009 called "T.I.'s Road to Redemption:
45 Days to Go," which chronicled his attempts to help others avoid his
mistakes.
Associated Press Mesfin Fekadu in New York
contributed to this report.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/John Amis, File)
