After spending three years behind bars for criminal possession of a weapon, Prodigy was released from Mid State correctional facility just minutes ago.

50 Cent confirmed the news, tweeting an image of P outside the jail with a cigar in his mouth. "[M]y man Prodigy is free," he wrote. "[C]heck out his first pic."

Havoc, the Queens-bred rapper’s longtime partner in Mobb Deep, told XXLMag.com last week that the duo plan on returning to the studio once V.I.P. touches down. “[Prodigy] is ready is touch the town, go home, get to work [and] catch up on a lot of shit that he missed,” he said.

As previously reported, Prodigy was arrested in October 2006. During a traffic stop, following an illegal U-turn, the rapper’s bulletproof Chevy Suburban was searched and a.22 caliber firearm was found. The rapper pleaded guilty to the charges and began a mandatory three and a half year sentence on March 18, 2008.

A month after his release this Monday, his memoir, My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy, will be released through Touchstone/Simon and Shuster books on April 19. Soon afterwards he will embark on a book tour, visiting stores and colleges throughout the East Coast.—Elan Mancini

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