A sickly looking Sheldon Silver was wheeled into his Manhattan apartment building in a wheelchair Tuesday afternoon after being released from prison on furlough earlier in the day.
The ex-speaker of the New York State Assembly and convicted swindler was accompanied by his wife, Rosa Mandelkern, as he made his way into his Grand Street building on the Lower East Side.
The disgraced politician didn’t speak as he returned home, wearing a gray baseball cap, gray sweatshirt and a blue surgical mask.
His friend and supporter Akiva Homnick met Silver and his wife in front of the building and later told reporters that the crooked lawmaker was “thrilled” to be home.
“He wasn’t super smily but I’m sure inside he’s thrilled and ecstatic to be out,” Homnick said.
“I’m sure he’s thrilled to be home. Any time you don’t have to be in solitary confinement or even in prison it’s always a step in the right direction,” he added.
Homnick said Silver spent a large chunk of his time behind bars in solitary confinement, as he was forced to quarantine every time he saw a doctor.
Silver was cut loose on furlough from Otisville Correctional Facility — after serving less than a year of his his 6 1/2-year sentence — while waiting for the Bureau of Prisons to decide if he’ll be eligible to serve the remainder of his term on home confinement.
The BOP was given broad authority to release inmates to home confinement last year amid the growing coronavirus pandemic.