Meek Mill Hit With Prison Sentence Over Parole Violations

PHILADELPHIA (CelebrityAccess) — Rapper Meek Mill is facing up to four years in prison over a probation violation connected to a 2008 drug and gun conviction.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley cited failed drug tests and failure to comply with court orders restricting his travel when she sentenced Mill to a return to prison on Monday.

“I gave you break after break, and you basically just thumbed your nose at this court,” Brinkley told Mill, per the Inquirer.

Following the sentence, Mill was immediately remanded into custody, the Inquirer reported.

The prison sentence is his third in connection with the 2008 charges which Mill originally faced when he was just 19 and before he had started his career as a professional performer.

He served eight months following his 2008 conviction and began serving five years of parole starting in 2009, the Inquirer said.

However, since then, he's run afoul of the law several times. He was arrested in March after he was involved in an altercation at an airport in St. Louis Airport after a worker at the airport became upset that Mill would not pose in a photo. The charges were dropped after Mill agreed to perform community service for the Veterans Association in Philadelphia.

In October, Mill pleaded guilty to charges of reckless driving after a video surfaced of the rapper performing stunts on a dirt bike on the streets of Manhattan. The charges were downgraded and Mill was allowed to enter a pretrial diversion program with community service in the case.

Mill has also run afoul on multiple occasions of travel restrictions that require him to obtain prior authorization from a parole officer before traveling out of state. In 2013, he was sentenced to five months in prison and an extension of his parole, the Inquirer said.

Following Mill's conviction, a number of entertainers have taken to social media to decry the sentence.

"The sentence handed down by the Judge — against the recommendation of the Assistant District Attorney and Probation Officer — is unjust and heavy handed. We will always stand by and support Meek Mill, both as he attempts to right this wrongful sentence and then in returning to his musical career," Jay Z said in a Facebook post late Monday.

Eagles wide receiver Torrey Smith also posted to social media, writing that Mill’s sentence was “more proof that our criminal justice system is a joke” and noting that he believed the sentence was counterproductive.

"Throwing folks in jail for 2-4 years for misdemeanor violations is just a waste of money….too long," he said.

Others expressed their support for the rapper as he faced his legal challenges.

"#StayStrong #meekmill !! We will continue to rep the movement until the day you return because we know your return will be MONSTROUS #MMG" Mill's label Maybach Music Group said via social media.

"Tests are not for the faint at heart! Every time an obstacle crosses his path, he fights his way through and comes out triumphant. I've watched him 1st hand fight this unjust system for close to a decade. But my dawg is a warrior! You know the family is already holding you down during this time of test. Here’s to the future! It will be BRIGHT!" added label head Rick Ross.