6ix9ine has been released from prison

6ix9ine has been released from prison. Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered his release today, four months before the end of his two-year sentence. The rapper, born Daniel Hernandez, suffers from asthma, which, his lawyer argued, puts him at greater risk from serious health concerns related to the novel coronavirus. Hernandez will serve out the remainder of his sentence at home.

In a guidance to the Bureau of Prisons last week, Engelmayer wrote that he would not have initially sentenced Hernandez to time in prison had he known that it would post an inordinate risk to his health. “Had the Court known that sentencing Mr. Hernandez to serve the final four months of his term in a federal prison would have exposed him to a heightened health risk," he wrote, "the Court would have directed that these four months be served instead in home confinement.”

Hernandez was being held in protective custody at a private facility in Queens to guard him against retribution from the Nine Trey Bloods Gang. He was therefore not under Bureau custody, and Engelmayer's order did not require their sign-off. Engelmayer's order was only made public 90 minutes after the rapper was released, when it was confirmed that he had been removed from the premises and taken to a safe and undisclosed location.