Tekashi 6ix9ine Released To Home Confinement Due To Coronavirus Spread

A federal judge has ordered rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine to home confinement Wednesday over concerns of the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. 6ix9ine, who pleaded guilty to racketeering, drug trafficking and firearms charges, will serve the first four months of his two-year prison sentence in "home incarceration."

Judge Paul Englemayer ordered 6ix9ine, born Daniel Hernandez, be transferred a location approved by his probation officer from the private prison in Queens, New York, where he had been under custody. 6ix9ine's lawyers had petitioned for their client's release numerous times due to the rapper's asthma, which could lead to fatal complications if he contracted the coronavirus.

According to the letter by the rapper's lawyer Lance Lazzaro, 6ix9ine "has regularly been hospitalized due to serious asthma attacks."

"Mr. Hernandez has been complaining to prison officials this week of shortness of breath," wrote Lazzaro, "but apparently the warden of his facility will not allow Mr. Hernandez to go to the hospital despite the recommendation of the facility’s medical director that Mr. Hernandez be treated by a doctor at a hospital."

On Wednesday, despite previously denying such requests, Judge Englemayer acquiesced.

"The defendant must remain at his residence except to seek any necessary medical treatment or to visit his attorney, in each instance with prior notice and approval by the Probation Department," wrote Judge Englemayer.

Judge Englemayer had previously rejected the rapper's release, stating that the Federal Bureau of Prisons "typically handles changes to an inmate’s incarceration once they are sentenced," according to the New York Post.

In December 2019, a court sentenced the rapper to two years in prison. Many expected his release this summer.

Facing a decades-long sentence, he testified against the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods last year. His decision to cooperate with the government made the rapper a meme as jokes about him being a "snitch" flooded the internet en masse.