Lil Kim Released from Prison

Lil Kim was released from the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia early Monday morning (July 3), bringing an end to a legal ordeal that has lasted five years. Kim began serving a one-year-and-one-day sentence for perjury in September of 2005, but was granted an early release due to good behavior. The diminutive Brooklyn MC was convicted of lying in federal court about details surrounding a 2001 shootout in front of New York radio station Hot 97. According to the Associated Press, Kim issued the following statement upon her release: “Today is a joyous day for me and my family. I am extremely grateful and happy to be home.” Her first stop was a visit with her parole officer in Newark, New Jersey, and then she was off to her home in Alpine, N.J, where she will spend the next 30 days under house arrest. The New York Daily News reported that Kim celebrated her first full day of freedom at home with friends and family with a 4th of July barbeque.