Meek Mill released from prison

PHILLY MUSICIAN Meek Mill can finally work on his newest rap album instead of his rap sheet.

Meek Mill, whose real name is Robert Williams, was released from prison yesterday after serving five months behind bars on a probation violation, according to Shawn Hawes, Philadelphia prisons spokeswoman.

Mill, 27, has been incarcerated since July 11, when Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley sentenced him to three-to-six months in prison for violating his probation on a drug-and-gun case from 2009.

Among the violations cited against Mill was that he had failed to get the court's permission before traveling out of town to perform and that he had posted defamatory remarks on social media about his probation officer and the prosecutor on his case.

Mill began his prison stint in protective custody at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility but was later moved to Hoffman Hall, a private North Philadelphia prison for low-level drug offenders that has a contract with the city, Hawes said.

Since then, Mill's lawyers have twice petitioned Brinkley for his early release - in August and October - without success. Hawes said Mill was released yesterday following a petition his lawyer filed for his early parole on Monday. The maximum time he could have been held was until Jan. 11.

Mill's lawyer, Tariq El-Shabazz, did not return requests for comment yesterday.

However, court records show that in Mill's request for early parole, his attorney also included a community-service proposal and a counseling component on behalf of his client, which Brinkley made a condition of Mill's release.

Another condition of Mill's release is that he is not permitted to travel outside of Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs.

According to the District Attorney's Office, Brinkley will not consider allowing Mill to travel outside the area until he completes his counseling and community service.

Mill's incarceration delayed the September release of his sophomore album, "Dreams Worth More Than Money." Following his release from prison yesterday, Mill's label, Maybach Music Group, tweeted that the album was now "on the way."

As word of Mill's release spread, fans took to Twitter to express their thoughts.

"If Meek Mill do get out today I'm expecting a fresh outta jail freestyle video," one fan wrote. Another said, "Meek Mill released from jail today after doing 5 months and he gon rap about it like he just did 20 years."

Mill's first Tweet after his release read: "My hood right nowwwww!"; and included a link to a video clip of what appears to be people partying around a Philadelphia cop car. Mill's tweet was retweeted more than 8,300 times within an hour.

Online: ph.ly/crime

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