Lindsay Lohan's dad is now a free—and purportedly changed—man.
Michael Lohan, the actor's estranged father, has been released from an upstate New York prison. He had been locked up since June 30, 2005, following a string of headline-grabbing bad behavior ranging from assault to DUI.
At the time, the elder Lohan was sentenced to up to four years in state prison following a booze-fueled, near-fatal car wreck on Long Island. The wreck was a violation of his probation, and the judge said Lohan's destructive behavior warranted time behind bars.
Lohan managed to get out on the early side, according to a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Corrections, leaving Collins Correctional Facility, near Buffalo, Tuesday morning.
The Mean Girls gal hasn't commented on the news—she hasn't spoken to her pops for quite some time now, even though he tried to reach out to her from prison, penning a number of missives to Lindsay and the media.
Most recently, he gave props to his daughter for her January rehab stint. In Touch magazine printed excerpts from the letter in which Michael complimented Lindsay for "taking back control" of her life and praising her for her kind, loving heart, "which is more valuable than the world has to offer."
Michael Lohan is reportedly hoping to reconcile with his family and devote himself to God—he became a minister from behind bars. "The last time around, Michael would never admit he'd done anything wrong," friend Brett Hudson told the Gossip Girls Website. "Now, he not only admits his past mistakes, he wants to right the wrongs he's done. And most of all, he wants to get his family back on track.
"He's actually going straight into the ministry when he gets out—the Teen Challenge ministry to help runaways and kids on drugs—trying to straighten out their lives."
Which is a far cry from the Lohan patriarch's pre-prison behavior. The June 2005 accident capped a three-year stretch in which the Teenage Drama Queen's dad couldn't stay out of the police blotter, due in part to his own substance-abuse issues.
In 2003, he was sentenced to anger-management courses after punching a sanitation worker who was allegedly blocking his car in Manhattan. Before that, he was arrested for hitting his brother-in-law with a shoe at a family party and, in yet another case, for walking out on a $3,300 hotel bill. He was also picked up for violating a pre-divorce restraining order against him by ex-wife (and Lindsay's mom) Dina.
It remains to be seen if this kinder, gentler Michael Lohan will impress his daughter, but odds are she won't be extending the olive branch anytime soon.
"[My father] didn't do anything for my career except go out and not come home at night and make my mom and me stay up and wonder where he was and then show up three days later," she told W magazine in April 2005.
In the meantime, Lindsay has plenty to keep her busy. She's currently got three films—Chapter 27, Georgia Rule and I Know Who Killed Me—in the can for release this year and is due to begin work next month on The Best Time of Our Lives. The film focuses on poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys) and the two women he loves, played by Lohan and Keira Knightley.