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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jeffrey Atkins, also known as the rapper Ja Rule, served 20 months of a two-year state sentence for gun possession at Mid-State Correctional in Marcy, N.Y. He was released directly into federal custody today to serve a 28-month sentence for tax evasion.
ALBANY, N.Y. » Platinum-selling rapper Ja Rule has left an upstate New York prison after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. But he is headed straight into federal custody in a tax case.
U.S. marshals escorted the 36-year-old musician out of Mid-State Correctional Facility at 9:30 a.m. He was being held at the Oneida County Jail in central New York as he awaited word from the Federal Bureau of Prisons about where he’ll serve time in the tax case.
The rapper, who had been in protective custody because of his celebrity, has some time remaining on a 28-month sentence for tax evasion.
His lawyer says Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, may have less than six months left and may be eligible for a halfway house.
