Who knew that getting a pimped-out ride in a tour bus from jail to a halfway house was a big no-no?
We sure didn't, and apparently neither did T.I., but that seems to be the reason that the star hip-hopster is back in federal custody.
So what gives?
While the Federal Bureau of Prisons couldn't directly speak to the rapper's case citing department policy, a spokesman tells E! News that with every inmate there is a specific release plan that has to be followed or else the person could be subject to a violation.
And a luxury coach was not what authorities had in mind when they decided to let him out a month early.
TMZ reports that officials at the Forrest City minimum-security facility in Arkansas were told by T.I. that he would be picked up in a van—not the monster party bus that shuttled the musician to a halfway house in Atlanta, escorted by a caravan of black SUVs.
Ultimately, the warden decided that the exhibition flaunted the law and ordered U.S. marshals to grab him upon arrival.
T.I., real name Clifford Harris Jr. is now back behind bars in an undisclosed penitentiary in Atlanta, and his lawyer, Steve Sadow, tells E! News he's hoping to resolve the matter and get him out before his scheduled release on Sept. 29.
"What the Federal Bureau of Prisons was supposedly told regarding T.I.'s method of transportation is speculative at this point. Since I have no specifics about what was asked or said, I am not yet in a position to comment except to say that we are confident there was never any intent or reason to mislead or misstate the method of transportation," the legal eagle said.
He also noted that the hubbub over the bus was ironic considering prison employees on the scene didn't seem to have a problem with it.
"T.I. got on the bus in the prison's parking area in full view of BOP employees. Indeed, he was actually escorted to the bus by a prison guard. If there was some confusion or misunderstanding surrounding the method of transportation, we hope to clear it up quickly so T.I. can return to the halfway house."
Diane Pope, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle's mother and T.I.'s mother-in-law, tells E! News that T.I. would never have gotten on the tour bus if he had know it was a violation.
"They [the group picking T.I. up] wouldn't have got him either if they had known that. Tiny wouldn't have let him on the tour bus if she had known there would be trouble.
"There were a lot of SUVs following, at least that's what Tiny told me. One, I think, was Tiny's hairdresser and maybe the media following, too. There were lots of people taking pictures when he got out and following them. She didn't know who everyone was," she tells us. "Their kids didn't go, they went to school. They wanted to see their dad because they haven't seen him in a year."
Maybe this time he'll just take a cab.