ATLANTA (Reuters) – A ride in a luxury bus from Arkansas to a halfway house in Atlanta has landed Grammy Award-winning rapper T.I. back behind bars just two days after his release from federal prison.
The Atlanta entertainer, whose real name is Clifford Harris, was scheduled to spend the last month of his sentence in a residential transition facility, prison officials said earlier in the week.
Prisons spokesman Chris Burke confirmed on Friday that T.I. had instead been incarcerated in a federal prison in Atlanta but said he did not know the reason why.
The rapper's release date from prison is September 29, Burke said.
According to Steve Sadow, T.I.'s attorney, prison officials had an "issue" with the bus the entertainer used to travel from Arkansas to Atlanta.
"We are awaiting the opportunity to quickly resolve whatever the issue may be that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has with T.I.'s method of transportation -- bus -- from Arkansas to Atlanta, so that T.I. can return to the halfway house to complete the remaining days of his sentence," Sadow said in an email to Reuters.
The entertainer was sentenced in October 2010 to 11 months in prison for violating the terms of his probation on federal gun charges after he was arrested on suspicion of possessing the drug ecstasy.
It was his second stint behind bars in three years.
T.I.'s career began as a rapper in 2001 but he then branched out into other areas of the music and film industry, finding success both as a producer and actor.
On Wednesday, cable channel VH1 said it had teamed up with the 30-year-old "Got Your Back" singer for a 10-episode series that will follow his readjustment to life outside prison and the making of a new album. The series is due to premiere on December 5.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jerry Norton)
