Tupac Shakur’s Stepfather To Be Freed From Prison After More Than 35 Years

After more than three decades behind bars, Mutulu Shakur, Tupac Shakur’s stepfather, will be released on parole next month, according to NBC News.

A former activist and Black Liberation Army member, Shakur, 72, was convicted of planning a Brinks truck heist, in Nyack, New York, that killed two cops and a security guard in 1988.

Originally sentenced to 60 years in prison, the U.S. Parole Commission accepted Shakur’s request for a compassionate release, according to Yahoo News. He’s appealed for release throughout the years but was denied each time. Yahoo reports the courts decided “his crimes were too serious” and his health wasn’t a good enough reason to be released early.

According to NBC News, Shakur has been living with several health issues, including stage-3 multiple myeloma, a cancer that affects the bones and kidneys. Brad Thomas, Shakur’s attorney, told NBC that in May, doctors gave the 72-year-old less than six months to live.

In October, officials told Shakur “We now find your medical condition renders you so infirm of mind and body that you are no longer physically capable of committing any federal, State, or local crime,” Complex reported.

According to The Root, Shakur is currently being held at a federal medical center in Lexington, Kentucky. He has caught Covid twice and is using IV feeding tubes.

As part of his parole, Shakur will have GPS monitoring and undergo travel restrictions, as reported by the New York Post. He is not allowed to make contact with anyone associated with “The Family”, a militant group made up of veterans of the BLA and Weather Underground, and fellow revolutionary Joanne Chesimard, previously known as Assata Shakur.

Shakur will be released on Dec. 16, 2022.