T.I. Requests Prison Delay, Seeks Minimum Security Facility Near Home

Grammy-winning rapper Clifford "T.I." Harris has reportedly requested additional time before reporting to jail next week and placement in a safer facility near his Georgia home.

The Atlanta-based emcee reportedly made his request Thursday (May 21) afternoon.

Harris asked a court today to let him remain free while he seeks placement in a minimum-security prison closer to his Atlanta home. He claims prison officials miscalculated his criminal history. His lawyer called a 2003 incident a "scuffle" with a mall cop. A pre-sentencing report says T.I. has a "serious history of violence." The rapper is scheduled to report by noon Tuesday to the Federal Correction Institution at Forrest City, Arkansas. He was fined $100,000 and sentenced to 366 days for trying to buy machine guns and silencers he said he needed for protection. (Fort Mill Times)

Tip will reportedly serve roughly ten months behind bars.

According to U.S. Attorney's Office Spokesperson Charysee Alexander, the rapper was indeed given credit for the 305 days of home confinement he served while awaiting trial in the case, but that has nothing to do with his prison sentence. The confusion may have stemmed from mixing the credit for home confinement with the prison sentence, which are separate terms, Alexander said. Once T.I. completes the prison term, he will still have to serve out the remainder of his home confinement, she said, which will amount to about two months. Alexander explained that, at best, according to federal sentencing guidelines, anyone who serves more than one year in prison is eligible for a 15 percent "good time" credit, which in Tip's case could shave almost 55 days off his sentence. (MTV)

Early reports said the rapper would possibly face only 60 days in prison.

The rapper had faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge in his three-count indictment but Harris will be credited for 305 days of home detention he already has served after being charged, so his stay at the Forrest City prison likely will be only two months. R.D. Weeks, a spokesman for the Forest City, Arkansas prison, said Harris likely would be treated like any other prisoner coming into the facility and that each cell at the prison is double-bunked. He also will have the opportunity to use the recreation yard, as well as take part in counseling or participate in the one of the facility's 14 religious groups, Weeks said. (Associated Press)

The rapper is currently required to turn himself in at the end of the month.

The 28 year-old rapper, whose real name is Clifford J. Harris Jr., will be serving his year-and-one-day sentence at the Forrest City low-security federal prison. Paperwork filed in his federal court case shows he has until noon on May 26 to report for his sentence. Prison officials did not immediately return a call for comment. (USA Today)

As of today, Tip will still be required to report to prison on Tuesday (May 26).