ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Correction officials say platinum-selling rapper Ja Rule is set to leave an upstate New York prison after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession.
But officials say instead of heading home Thursday from Mid-State Correctional Facility the rapper will be going straight into federal custody because he has some time remaining on a 28-month sentence for tax evasion.
Defense attorney Stacey Richman says Ja Rule may have less than six months left and may be eligible for a halfway house. She says an order to pay $1.1 million in back taxes from when he lived in Saddle River, N.J., is one of the main reasons he wants to get back to work.
Ja Rule was in protective custody in the New York City gun case because of his celebrity.
