Sunday, the Associated Press reported that T.I. was being transferred to Arkansas to serve his jail sentence and that the 305 days he spent at home would be counted towards it – meaning that he may only spend two months in jail. Well, it seems like they misread the official statement. T.I. will be credited for 305 days, but that will go towards the home confinement which will occur after his prison term is over. In other words, the two terms are separate.

When The Associated Press reported on Sunday that T.I. — due to report to the Forrest City low-security federal prison in Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 26 — had been given credit for 305 days of home detention, “so his stay at Forrest City prison will likely be only two months,” the news agency may have misread the sentencing report. The story has since spread on the Internet, but according to Charysse Alexander, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, it is not accurate.

According to 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.

After pleading guilty to two charges of illegally possessing firearms and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in March in connection with his attempt in October 2007 to buy unlicensed machine guns and silencers, T.I. (real name: Clifford Harris Jr.) was ordered to serve one year and one day in federal prison. 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.

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.

[from MTV]

There was some bitterness over the fact that he plea-bargained his sentence down so low. In a normal case, he would have been in prison for five or more years, but he only has to serve a year and a day (possibly with a 15% decrease for good behavior) and do 1000 hours of community service. He spent his community service talking to youths about the danger of “drugs, crime, and gangs.” He documented some of his traveling for a documentary for MTV, but the show did not go towards his 1000 hours.

There’s always a double standard with celebrities and jail sentences, whether it benefits the celebrity (like in T.I.’s case) or hurts them (Paris Hilton’s DUI). However you feel about T.I.’s sentencing, he did do a good thing by spreading awareness about youth violence and drug use, and hopefully he’ll use his stardom for good after he gets out of jail.