Disgraced former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been sprung from federal prison early on furlough — while he awaits a decision from the agency on whether he can serve out the remainder of his term in home confinement, a report said Tuesday.
Silver — who has served less than a year of his 6 1/2-year sentence — was cut loose from Otisville Prison, in Orange County, New York, and released to his home while awaiting the decision, a source familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.
The 77-year-old crooked former pol was released under DOJ’s expanded powers to grant inmates release amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the report.
In a statement, the Bureau of Prisons said Silver is still “designated” to Otisville Prison, but added that it has the power to transfer inmates to their home on furlough.
“We can share that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has authority to transfer inmates to their home on furlough for periods of time while they may continue to be considered for home confinement designation,” a spokesperson said.
The BOP recently notified prosecutors in the Southern District of New York that it was considering cutting Silver loose on home confinement, a spokesperson for the district told The Post.
In an email response sent yesterday, the prosecutor’s office — which secured a guilty verdict against Silver for corruption-related crimes during his run as an Albany power broker — stressed that it ardently opposes the move, the spokesperson said.
In a memo last year, former Attorney General Bill Barr gave the director of BOP expanded discretion to release vulnerable inmates from federal lockups amid the pandemic.
BOP officials need to take into account a host of factors when determining if an inmate qualifies for home confinement, including “age and vulnerability of the inmate to COVID-19,” according to the memo.
In addition, a BOP medical official is supposed to sign off on home confinement releases based on risk factors for a specific inmate, according to the memo.
“The BOP Medical Director, or someone he designates, will, based on CDC guidance, make an assessment of the inmate’s risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness, risks of COVID-19 at the inmate’s prison facility, as well as the risks of COVID-19 at the location in which the inmate seeks home confinement,” the memo states.
The agency declined to comment on whether the pol had been vaccinated for COVID-19 while behind bars, but federal inmates are eligible for the shots.
Silver was finally sentenced to more than six years in prison last July — after dodging jail for more than five years after he was first convicted in Manhattan federal court via a series of appeals.
His first conviction was fully overturned in 2017 after an appeals court ruled the jury’s instructions did not meet a new definition of “corruption.”
The Democrat was then retried, convicted on all counts and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018 for accepting nearly $4 million in bribes in two separate schemes.
He remained free on bail while appealing the ruling — but an appeals upheld his conviction on four of the charges, agreeing he illegally steered two real estate developers, Glenwood Management and the Witkoff Group, to do tax business with a law firm that gave Silver hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In exchange, Silver backed legislation that benefited developers, including provisions in 2011 rent legislation that were designed to benefit Glenwood.
“This was corruption pure and simple,” Judge Caproni told the disgraced ex-speaker at his last sentencing.
“The time, however, has now come for Mr. Silver to pay the piper,” Caproni added.
At the sentencing, Silver apologized for his crimes — and his attorney urged the judge to give him a lenient sentence in light of his advanced age and because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“He doesn’t deserve a premature death or to die in prison,” his attorney, James Loonam, said at the time.
