Greg Bluestein of the Associated Press is reporting that Grammy-winning artist T.I. is back at a halfway house in Atlanta on Thursday after weeks of fighting with federal prison officials who were upset that he traveled with a TV producer and a manager when he was released from an Arkansas prison, his attorney said.
T.I. was initially released from the Arkansas prison and sent to the halfway house on Aug. 31, a month before his sentence for probation violation was up. But a day later, he was back in federal custody after corrections authorities accused him of violating prison rules by discussing business deals with the two during his 375-mile journey to Atlanta.
Attorney Steve Sadow argued that the rapper didn't break any rules because a VH1 reality show and book deal that was announced within hours of his release had actually been finalized months earlier. Sadow said Thursday that his client didn't intend to violate any guidelines and that he was pleased with the outcome. The Bureau of Prisons did not comment on the move.
Clifford "T.I." Harris' wife, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, showed pictures of prison officials taking pictures with the rap star before he boarded the tour bus and said none of them communicated that he was in violation of his parole.
Whatever the case, T.I. is out of prison again. Hopefully he will stay out again so that he can participate in raising his children, who need a present father more than an absent rap star. Perhaps we would believe the rapper — who begged the court for help with an addiction to alcohol and marijuana before he was sentenced for a parole violation in September 2010 and famously said that he was tired of prison — if he headed to rehab instead of a reality show. Only time will tell if the King of the South has really changed his ways.
Read more at the Associated Press.
In other news: Sean Penn's Group Receives Grant to Help Haitians.