After serving 20 months in the Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate New York, former NY Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was paroled and has been released from prison. Burress will be on parole for the next two years reports the New York Post.
Burress pled guilty to criminal possession of a weapon in August 2009 and was sentenced to two years in prison reports the Post. The former Giants receiver's arrest stemmed from an incident at a New York City nightclub where he accidentally shot himself in the leg with an unregistered gun.
According to the Post, Burress was released early from prison for good behavior and will serve parole for two years, despite Burress reportedly violating prison rules three times — unauthorized use of a phone, giving another inmate contraband (sneakers), and having an extra pillow in his cell.
Generally, parole means the early supervised release of a prison inmate. After an inmate serves a certain amount of time in prison, a parole board may review several factors to determine if the inmate should be released early. Some of the factors the board may review include behavior in prison, danger to re-offend, severity of the crime, and the level of rehabilitation.
In granting parole, the parole board likely considered Plaxico Burress’ violations in jail to be relatively minor, and the board probably considered Burress a low-risk to reoffend given his multi-million dollar NFL career at stake.
As conditions of his parole, Burress will have to keep a job, undergo substance abuse testing, obey any curfews, undergo anger counseling, and obey other conditions set by his parole officer. Violations of any of these conditions may lead to jail time, possibly ending any shot Burress had at a NFL comeback.
Related Resources:
- Find a New York Criminal Defense Attorney (FindLaw)
- Plaxico Burress leaves prison after 20 months (Daily News)
- Parole (FindLaw)
- John Lennon’s Killer Up For Parole (FindLaw’s Criminal Law Blog)
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