SALT LAKE CITY — Rapper Meek Mill recently told CBS News in a new interview that probation kept him from picking up his son from school.
Meek Mill appeared on CBS as he plans to return to court Tuesday to argue that his 2008 conviction — on gun and drug charges — be overturned. In 2017, Meek Mill was sentenced to jail for two to four years for minor probation violations (he popped a wheelie during a music video shoot in New York City and a separate altercation in St. Louis), according to The Associated Press. He wasn’t released until April 2018.
He told CBS News that probation made his life a lot harder.
Meek Mill said he has to get permission to travel, "even if it’s to the next county over. If it’s out of the city, if you don’t ask for permission, you could get the rest of your probation time given to you as jail time legally.”
On picking up his son from school: “My son lived in New Jersey, but I lived in Philadelphia, and the bridge is a 15-minute ride. It’s just a bridge. I couldn’t go get my son from school when I wanted to, ‘cause you know, some days I would get off work early. I would just have a free day, and I would just want to pop up at my son’s school and get him from school. I’d been out of town for two weeks in a row workin’. Can’t really do it.”
Read more: Meek Mill talks life on probation: “I couldn’t go get my son from school” (CBS News)
Context: Meek Mill will appeal the judge’s decision to sentence him for probation violations on Tuesday, according to Reuters (via Yahoo). Meek Mill’s case is one “that criminal justice reform advocates say illustrates racial bias in the system,” per Reuters.