Bobby Shmurda was released from prison today, New York prison officials said. The Brooklyn rapper, legal name Ackquille Pollard, “was conditionally released from Clinton Correctional Facility. Mr. Pollard will be under community supervision in Kings County until he completes his sentence on February 23, 2026,†a spokesperson for the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision told Vulture in an email.
This morning’s development means that Pollard is leaving prison about ten months early. The path to Pollard’s early release was a bit winding, however. Prison officials denied him parole in September. Pollard was then “given a hold until the maximum expiration of his sentence on December 11, 2021,†authorities said at the time.
In January, however, prison officials confirmed reports that Pollard might get an early release. They explained that Pollard had previously become ineligible for conditional release because of disciplinary issues. As a result of these issues, Pollard lost time allowances referred to as “good time,†which can enable early release.
A committee reviewed Pollard’s situation, however, and ultimately decided to reinstate Pollard’s “good time,†meaning he was eligible for conditional release. Although Pollard left prison, he still has to serve the rest of his term under parole supervision.
Pollard was locked up for a little more than six years — about two in New York City jail and four in state prison — after his December 2014 arrest on conspiracy and weapons charges.
Pollard’s release came about two months after his associate Chad Marshall, known as Rowdy Rebel, was freed from state prison. The Brooklyn rapper pleaded guilty, alongside Pollard and Nicholas “Flea Montana†McCoy, in September 2016 to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and fourth-degree conspiracy.
Prosecutors had said that these men were part of GS9, an East Flatbush gang. Under the conspiracy, GS9 members “were engaged in a protracted turf battle with multiple rivals,†including Brooklyn’s Most Wanted (BMW), from January 2013 to October 2014. Twenty-one people were charged in this indictment.
Some of Pollard’s post-prison plans were revealed during a meeting with parole officials. In a transcript of this meeting first obtained by Vulture, Pollard said he wanted to get his high-school equivalency diploma. He also told them: “I’m still going to entertain†and help at-risk youth.
“I just got a lot of plans to just talk to like — I grew up in a lot of juvenile sentence, so I just want to talk to the juvenile kids, let them know that even when you come up in certain places, I feel that I was — I was raised, sometimes you feel deprived. You feel like you can’t be nothing and jail is it, that’s it,†he said. “I want to talk to those kids, you know, in those places and tell them they can be more and this is not it. Nobody want to spend their life in jail and I feel like they can do so much more.â€