Sources tell YWN that NY Assemblyman Sheldon Silver has been released from prison and is on his way home. He was released five years earlier than his six year sentence.
His original release date was March 10, 2026. He began his sentence on August 26, 2020.
He will serve the remainder of his term in home confinement.
He was released on the “CARES Act” bill, which much credit can be given to Rabbi Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek Association.
Silver, 77, began serving his more than six-year sentence at a federal prison in Otisville, New York, in August. He has been released to his home while awaiting the final decision on whether he can serve the rest of his sentence there in home confinement.
In a statement, the federal Bureau of Prisons said the agency can transfer inmates to their home on furlough for periods of time while they are considered for home confinement or to be sent to a halfway house. The agency has been moving some inmates to furlough in an effort to get those expected to transition to home confinement out of correctional facilities sooner.
Congress gave the Justice Department expanded powers during the coronavirus pandemic to release inmates on furlough and home confinement. In January, the Justice Department issued a memo that said the Bureau of Prisons may have to return some inmates serving extended terms of home confinement to prison once the coronavirus emergency period that was established by Congress expires.
Silver, a Democrat, was ousted as speaker in 2015 and convicted later that year, but appeals had kept him out of prison. His conviction in federal court in Manhattan was overturned on appeal before he was convicted again in 2018. He has a projected release date from federal custody in 2026.
Part of that conviction was then tossed out on another appeal, leading to yet another sentencing in July when he asked a judge not to let him die in prison. His lawyers had sought a term of home confinement, arguing that sending him to prison would worsen existing health issues or risk having him die from the coronavirus.
(YWN World headquarters – NYC / AP)
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16 Responses
what a paradox…….
So why hasn’t Rav Mendel Epstein shlita also been a beneficiary of this “cares act” bill?
Baruch Hashem. Less than a year on a six year sentence is sweet.
Other news outlets are saying that this story is bogus and that he is still in Otisville as of this morning. So I guess we’ll wait and see how this plays out. (as if anyone cares)
Bureau of Prisons inmate locator still has him in Otisville with a 2026 release date.
147: Who is this “Mendel Epstien”, why is he in prison and why does he deserve some form of early release under the criteria of the Cares Act?? When you post something like this, it would helpful to have some context.
Gadolhadorah,
Firstly, just Google the dudes name. And you will find a wealth of info on him.
Secondly, 147’s comment is strategically placed propaganda. 147 must be a family member. To refer to Mendy as Rav, is an insult to all those who deserve the title Rav (not many).
Thirdly, Mendy is a מנוול of the highest order. He does not deserve early release.
As of 8:47 AM May 5th the Bureau of Prisons still lists him as an inmate at Otisville.
Gadoladorah (what a misnomer) by your own admission you don’t know who “this Mendel Epstein” is.
So why leave out the ‘Rav’ that the poster included?
I know why. Do you?
Years ago, Rabbi Epstein had a column in the Jewish Press where, among other things, he advised women with abusive husbands. He was also the Rav of a small shul on the outskirts of Boro Park. He became heavily involved in helping agunos get out of difficult marital situations. He was caught up, along with others, in a sting operation by the FBI for kidnapping and threatening recalcitrant husbands with violence in order to obtain Gets.
@Gadolhadorah he’s a rabbi who beat up get refusers
Mendel Epstein did not “become heavily involved in helping agunos”; the women he “helped” in this way were not agunos in the first place. Quite simply he was a goon for hire. He accepted money to kidnap and beat random men up, without ANY REASON TO BELIEVE that they were “get refusers”.
A “get refuser” is a man who has been lawfully ordered by a valid beis din to give a get, after a proper investigation and a finding that the halacha required it in their case, and who refuse to obey the beis din. Epstein was not a beis din, did no investigation whatsoever, had no grounds to believe the men he was paid to beat were even married to the women who hired him in the first place, let alone that the circumstances existed that would justify an order to give a get. No beis din had ever made such a finding or ordered them to give a get.
The gittin he procured in this way are possul, the women who hired him are adulterers, and the children they bear from their invalid second marriages are mamzerim, and that is all Epstein’s fault.
Who ever talk About rav Epstein With the bed Words is a loser He is a great man
It’s always easy to something like that when you sitting And nobody can see you close your mouth
Mendel Epstein deserve to be Released Is a good Jewish man.
I love you my Kosher Friend. I always remember you Mendel.
David