Mutulu Shakur, legendary rapper Tupac Shakur’s stepfather has been released on parole after spending nearly 37 years in prison.
Though his earlier request for parole in 2016 and in April were denied, it was granted in October.
72-year-old Shakur who was diagnosed with stage-3 multiple myeloma, a blood cancer which can damage the immune system, bones and kidneys, will now spend his remaining days with family.
Prior to being released, he was held at a federal medical center in Lexington, Kentucky, due to his health issues.
New York Daily News reported that the U.S Bureau of Prisons determined that Shakur’s health had “significantly deteriorated,” and has rendered him “infirm of mind and body” and “no longer physically capable of committing any federal, state or local crime.”
A statement his family sent out after he was released from prison read;
“Mutulu is now with his family. This victory was secured by the steadfast support of his legal team, his family and his community comprised of all of you. … We ask that everyone respect Dr. Shakur’s privacy while he spends the holidays with his family and concentrates on his health and healing.”
Shakur was arrested in 1986 and convicted in 1988 for leading a rogue group of self-proclaimed revolutionaries through a series of robberies in New York and Connecticut, which resulted in the deaths of an armed guard and two officers. He was also previously listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
After his parole request was granted, he was ordered not to have contact with any of the family members of those who died from the robberies or his sister Assata Shakur, who is a fugitive from the law, according to the New York Daily News.