T.I.'s Attorney in the Dark About Rapper's Return to Prison: I Wasn't Allowed to Represent!

"I made a request to allow me to participate and they said no," rapper's lawyer tells E! News of his client's disciplinary hearing with the Board of Prisons

After leaving prison with an entourage, T.I. found himself riding solo upon his return.

The rapper's attorney tells E! News that his client was not allowed to fight the Bureau of Prisons' decision to haul him back behind bars last month after initially releasing him to a halfway house.

But why wasn't his lawyer around to help him?

MORE: Was T.I.'s return trip to prison all VH1's fault?

"The BOP does not allow attorneys to appear and participate and represent their clients at BOP disciplinary hearings," attorney Steve Sadow tells E! News. "I made a request to allow me to participate and they said no. They went ahead and held, what appears to be, at least one if not two hearings."

T.I. appeared before the BOP, along with various BOP officials, Sadow confirms, but he does not know what recommendations were made as far as the "Live Your Life" artist's remaining time behind bars.

These were not "formalized hearings," Sadow says, adding, "The Bureau of Prisons will not discuss or relay to us why they do anything."

One thing the lawyer does know, however, is that there is an end date in sight.

"I know for a fact he will be released on Sept. 29 because that is the day that his sentence of imprisonment runs out," Sadow says. "The only issue is does he spend the remaining time behind wall at BOP Atlanta, or does he return to the halfway house, which is where he should be at this point."

In the meantime, T.I.—whose real name is Clifford Harris—is being held in a prison unit away from the general population, and his regular inmate privileges (phone calls, visits, etc.) are intact.

He was locked back up after spending only one day at an Atlanta-area halfway house because, according to prison officials, he broke a discretionary rule by hitching a ride in a luxury bus with a reality-TV producer and other unnecessary (for normal folk) escorts, rather than in "some sort of van," as T.I. had initially described his mode of transport.

T.I. surrendered last November to begin an 11-month federal prison term for violating probation on a weapons charge.

After he's released from custody, Sadow says, T.I. will be on supervised release for one year—a program not run by the Board of Prisons.