So celebs can choose their own prisons now?


T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., was to begin serving his time Tuesday at a low-security federal prison in Forrest City, Ark.
Email this
Print this
Most popular
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., was sentenced to serve a year and a day for illegal firearms possession and being a convicted felon with a firearm.

He was arrested Oct. 13, 2007, just hours before he was to receive two awards at the BET Hip-Hop Awards ceremony in Atlanta. He was taken into custody by federal agents at a Midtown parking lot for trying to buy machine guns and silencers.

In the filing, T.I.’s lawyers said he should be allowed to serve his time in a prison camp. T.I. was assigned to go to the Forrest City facility because he had a prior offense that was designated as a serious violent felony, his lawyers said.

But the prior offense did not involve a weapon and “amounted to little more than a ‘scuffle’ at a mall,” the motion said.

Once T.I. reports to prison, changing his location is an “extremely cumbersome process” that might last until his sentence is almost complete, the lawyers said. The motion is pending before U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell Jr., who presided over the case.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Web site, prison camps are minimum-security institutions with dormitory housing, relatively low staff-to-inmate ratios and limited or no perimeter fencing.

Low-security prisons, like the one in Forrest City, have double-fenced perimeters with higher staff-to-inmate ratios. Both types of facilities have inmate work programs.

T.I. can carve 15 percent off his sentence with good behavior and is expected to get credit for the two weeks he sat in jail after his arrest and before he posted a $3 million bond.

Graycap23 said:

Why would he wanna pro-long it just get it over with! He married his girl and he can get visits from his wife while he's on lock down. Man up it's alright!