James Brown Prison Work Release Held Up by Snafu Between States

COLUMBIA, S.C. —  Imprisoned soul singer James Brown technically is eligible for a work release program today, but he won’t be released because South Carolina authorities have questions about his Georgia sentence.

“Back in January he was sentenced in Georgia to a total of six years and three months, which was to run concurrently with his South Carolina sentence of six years and six months,” Department of Corrections spokesman Francis X. Archibald said Thursday.

“When it comes to work release, our laws are different, and we have asked his attorney to get his Georgia status clear. We haven’t heard back,” he said.

Brown, 56, was jailed a year ago today for aggravated assault and failing to stop for police. He already was on probation for a guilty plea involving carrying an unlawful pistol and resisting arrest and a no-contest plea to possession of the hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine hydrochloride, or PCP.

“At this point, I really don’t have enough information to discuss what will happen,” said Brown’s lawyer, Buddy Dallas of Thomson, Ga. “It’s just bureaucracy. The only way to complicate this any more is to get a third state involved in it.”

Unofficially, prison officials say they understand that Brown will not be eligible for parole in Georgia until 1992. If that is the case, he would not be eligible for work release in South Carolina until March.