'I am a political prisoner': Rapper Meek Mill speaks from his Pennsylvania jail cell, says he's been unfairly imprisoned by 'corrupt cops' and is a victim of a system that persecutes black men

  • Meek Mill, 30, has been in jail in Pennsylvania for five months after violating his probation from a 2008 gun and drug arrest
  • He denies ever pointing a gun at police or selling crack cocaine to an informant
  • The arresting officer and main witness against Mill is accused of being corrupt
  • Judge  Genece Brinkley sentenced him to two-to-four- years in jail after he was arrested for allegedly doing wheelies on a dirk bike in New York without a helmet
  • Meek claims Judge Brinkley is biased and has shown unusual interest in his case
  • The rapper claims Judge Brinkley invited him and former girlfriend rapper Nicki Minaj into her chambers and even asked him to write a song about her as a judge 
  • He is fighting to be released on bail while he appeals the sentence - a motion the Pennsylvania governor and district attorney have supported  

Meek Mill, 30, has been in jail for five months

Meek Mill, 30, has been in jail for five months

Meek Mill is speaking out from his Pennsylvania jail cell, and he says that, just like countless black men in the country, he was put in there because of a biased system.

In an interview with Page Six, the 30-year-old rapper, currently held at the State Correctional Institution in Chester, opens up about the events that led to his situation and what life in prison has been like.

'I am a political prisoner. Yes, I'm frustrated there's no way in a million years I could get a fair trial in front of this judge. Yeah, I am angry, but I am a prisoner of politics – me being in this situation, has brought light to the people who are serving time because of other corrupt cops.' 

Mill, whose real name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, has been in jail for five months and is currently fighting to be released on bail while he appeals a two-to-four-year jail sentence. 

He received that sentence for violating his 10-year-probation from when he was arrested for 'reckless endangerment' in 2017 after allegedly doing wheelies on a dirk bike in New York without a helmet.

The original offense was a 2008 arrest in which he was accused of selling crack cocaine to an informant and threatening police with a gun. 

But the rapper says claims he pointed a gun at police are bogus - and the fact he is alive in a country where black men get killed for holding phones that police mistake for weapons serves as proof.

'Do you believe in America that I could point a gun at two officers and not be killed or at least shot at? They are trained…to shoot into the target and neutralize, that's why you are seeing young black men who are shot 20 times, 15 times, for reaching for their cellphone in their pocket or running from police.  

Mill says he's been unfairly imprisoned by 'corrupt cops' and is a victim of a system that persecutes black men

Mill says he's been unfairly imprisoned by 'corrupt cops' and is a victim of a system that persecutes black men

The rapper, real name Robert Rihmeek Williams, is currently at the State Correctional Institution in Chester, Pennsylvania 

The rapper, real name Robert Rihmeek Williams, is currently at the State Correctional Institution in Chester, Pennsylvania 

'Anybody in the world – you don't even have to be a judge – knows I didn't point a gun at these cops. I don't have a reason to point a gun at a police officer, I am not a suicidal person, I never thought about suicide, I don't want to kill myself. Pointing a gun at a cop is suicide.' 

Moreover, Mill has claimed his original arrest on drug and gun charges was a setup organized by corrupt cops, as the arresting officer and chief witness against him, Reggie Graham, was recently revealed to be on the state's district attorney's secret list of 'tainted' cops and is said to have 'a history of lying, racial bias, or brutality.'

A different officer present at Mill's original arrest seemed to confirm this view of Graham in a sworn affidavit from February, where he claimed he never saw Mill 'lift his gun and point it'. The officer said Mill threw the gun on the ground and Graham later made up the story. 

According to Mil's version of events, he also never sold crack to an informant, and he says the lack of evidence such as the crack itself and the money, which is usually marked when coming from informants, serves as proof.

He said: 'I did not point a gun at police…and they arrested me outside, they handcuffed me, they took me into the house and they beat me up…and when I came out my face was bloody, I had abrasions to my face…my hair pulled out of my head. The way the cops treated me, they were the thugs, they beat me, they lied about it, and they sent me to jail.' 

Mill's legal team alleges Judge Genece Brinkley has taken an unusual interest in the case 

Mill's legal team alleges Judge Genece Brinkley has taken an unusual interest in the case 

The rapper claims Judge Brinkley invited him and former girlfriend rapper Nicki Minaj into her chambers and even asked him to write a song about her as a judge

The rapper claims Judge Brinkley invited him and former girlfriend rapper Nicki Minaj into her chambers and even asked him to write a song about her as a judge

Another officer who worked with Graham said in a sworn affidavit that the now-retired cop was involved in fabricating search warrants, stealing property while on searches and beating people up. He claims Graham once bragged that he 'arrested that rapper boy Meek Mill and whooped his ass'.

On April 2, Judge Genece Brinkley turned down Mill's bid for release on bail while he appeals the sentence she issued for what she said was his fifth probation violation.

Mill claims the judge is biased and has shown unusual interest in his case, showing up up to personal check on him at community service, suggesting a new manager for him, inviting him and former girlfriend rapper Nicki Minaj into her chambers and even asking him to write a song about her as a judge.

'It is clearly an obsession with me because…anybody should be able to handle my case…the judge hand-picked my probation officer and then I am in trouble every time,' Mill said. 

The judge has defended herself against attacks by Mill's legal and public relations team, which continued after her latest decision to deny bail.

'This court has impartially and without prejudice presided over numerous proceedings in this matter since 2008, long before his current counsel became involved one week before the violation of probation hearing,' Brinkley wrote. 'None of the allegations by [the] defendant constitute evidence that this court is unable to act impartially and without personal bias or prejudice with respect to this matter.'

Supporters of the rapper have taken to the street to support his cause, and celebrities such as Jay Z and Patriots owner Robert Kraft have spoken out in support of his release.

Pennsylvania's governor and district attorney have also stated they believe Mill should be released on bail.

The Meek mill case has awakened activists who are asking for his release 

The Meek mill case has awakened activists who are asking for his release 

Celebrities such as Jay Z and Patriots owner Robert Kraft (pictured with Mill) have spoken out in support of his release.

Celebrities such as Jay Z and Patriots owner Robert Kraft (pictured with Mill) have spoken out in support of his release.

The Philadelphia-born rapper said: 'This has been my life so long it was normal….I come from the ghetto where we don't value life, and going to jail was normal, it was normal to me.

'Every day that goes by I am losing [time with] my family, I am losing millions of dollars, I am wasting time in prison on a case they know they might overturn, but [I'm told] it's a process, it takes time, they know I can't be treated special,' Mill said.

'This is inhumane…with my hands and my feet I can touch both sides of my cell. I am living on a thin mat on a metal slab, I'm eating food that is not healthy, it's dirty, this is not a place for a human being.'

Mill also told the New York paper he is worried for his six-year-old son Papi, who currently lives with his mother in New Jersey, will be irreversibly affected by seeing his father in jail.

He said: [My son] has never been suspended from school and in the five months I've spent in jail, my son has been suspended from school. My son uses YouTube and he sees his dad is in prison, so he thinks that's the right thing to do – be bad. 

'He can visit me, but you only get visits once a week here, and I don't even want to make my son get used to this type of way of living, statistically when a black man goes to jail, his son has an 80 percent chance of going to jail after him – statistically.'

 

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