On Monday, Nov. 6, Robert Williams, otherwise known as rap artist Meek Mill, was arrested and sent to prison for two to four years for violating his 2008 probation.  He was convicted in 2008 for drug and gun charges, but was released under a five year parole agreement in 2009.  In 2016, Mill failed a drug test and did not obey a court order restricting his travel, which led to him serving 90 days under house arrest.  Prosecutors explained that Mill even turned in cold water instead of urine for a drug test.

The 30-year-old headed to a Philadelphia court on Monday to deal with arrests from earlier this year.  He was involved in a fight in the St. Louis airport in March 2017 and was also arrested for recklessly driving his motorcycle in New York City in August 2017.  The charges for both of these arrests were dropped, however Philadelphia judge Genece Brinkley would not let his most recent arrests slide, since they violated his parole.

 Judge Brinkley said, “I gave you break after break, and you basically just thumbed your nose at this court,” after she originally gave Mill five years in prison for his past charges.  Mill’s attorney reported to CNN that he plans to appeal the sentence and accused judge Brinkley of taking “a personal interest in the case.”

Meek Mill’s fans are hoping that they can make a difference and get him out of the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution Camp Hill by making a petition on Change.org. They plan to send the petition (which already has 396,000 signatures) to Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf, asking him to reevaluate Mill’s sentence.

Other celebrities and rappers such as, Rick Ross, T.I. and Jay Z, have also drawn attention to Mill’s arrest, calling it unfair and unjust.  Jay Z showed his support for Meek Mill by saying, “The sentence handed down by the judge — against the recommendation of the assistant district attorney and probation officer — is unjust and heavy handed.  We will always stand by and support Meek Mill, both as he attempts to right this wrongful sentence and then in returning to his musical career,” at his Dallas show on Tuesday, Nov. 7.