17 October 2010 Last updated at 08:09 ET

TI sentenced to 11 months in jail for parole violation

US rapper TI has been sentenced to 11 months in jail for violating his probation after he was arrested on a drugs charge last month.

The 30-year-old, whose real name is Clifford Harris, had been on probation after serving 10 months behind bars for a weapons conviction.

He was stopped by police in Hollywood on 1 September who arrested him on suspicion of possessing ecstasy.

The judge also ordered the rapper to serve a year of supervised release.

During the hearing, Mr Harris begged US District Court Judge Charles Pannell not to send him back to prison, saying he needed to get help for drug addiction.

"I screwed up big time, and I'm sorry. I'm truly and sincerely sorry. I don't want and I don't need to use drugs anymore. I want them out of my life," he said.

His lawyers had argued that no-one had been jailed in the last 10 years in the northern court district of Georgia for a first drug violation of their probation.

However the judge said he thought the rapper "had about the limit of second chances".

Mr Harris is expected to surrender voluntarily to authorities on 1 November.

Earlier this week, Atlanta police said TI helped them talked a suicidal man down from a skyscraper after the rapper heard about the man on the radio and drove over to see if he could help.

He later rejected suggestions that his intervention was a stunt to gain advance favour with the court at Friday's hearing.