For 906 days, Young Thug was beholden to the Fulton County court and prison system. On Halloween (Oct. 31), the rapper, born Jeffery Williams, was finally released.
Thug’s freedom isn’t without certain conditions, though. Firstly, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ team of prosecutors, which includes Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love, failed to get Williams to agree to their terms. Since negotiations broke down, Williams entered what’s called a “blind plea” or non-negotiated plea of guilty, which meant allowing the terms and conditions of the plea deal up for Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker to decide. After the prosecutors and Thug’s legal team, Brian Steel and Keith Adams, presented their sides of the case and desired terms, Judge Whitaker made her decision. She decided to allow for Young Thug’s immediate release, giving him 15 years of probation along with a lengthy list of very specific special conditions.
Below is a breakdown of Young Thug’s special conditions of probation as outlined by Superior Court Judge Whitaker.
1. Young Thug pled guilty to 6 out of 8 charges
The 88-page YSL RICO indictment had Thug pinned for eight charges, among them included the RICO charge and another for being a leader of a gang. He pled nolo contendere, or no contest, to both of those charges, which is essentially him not accepting or denying responsibility of the charges. He pled guilty to being associated with criminal street gang activity, violating Georgia’s Controlled Substance Act three times and two firearm charges.
His lawyer, Steel, made it clear following the trial that he wished for Thug to receive a not guilty verdict by jury but supports Thug’s decision to accept the plea deal since that would have required him to stay locked up longer.
2. Young Thug must do 15 years of probation
Young Thug was officially sentenced to 40 years with 5 years in prison, which was commuted to time served. Now, he must do 15 years of probation with 20 years backloaded in case he has a misstep on his special conditions.
Fifteen years of probation may seem excessive to many, but it appears to be the norm for the state of Georgia. Under the state’s Early Termination of Probation Law, however, if Thug were to fulfill his probation obligations successfully, he would be eligible to request a motion to end it early after three years. The early termination of his probation will also restore his right to vote.
If for some reason the judge were to decline the motion, the sentence will be commuted to time served after 15 years.
3. Young Thug must stay away from the metro Atlanta area for 10 years
Although Young Thug is an Atlanta native, the courts have ordered him to stay away from the metro Atlanta area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, for 10 years. Atlanta proper is already big, and the surrounding metro area is even bigger as it’s the sixth largest metropolitan area in the United States, according to the U.S. Office of Budget and Management. This means he would need to not only stay out of Fulton County but also DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton County, among others.
There is some flexibility to these terms depending on the situation, however. He is allowed to return to the city if an immediate family member is having a wedding or graduating from school. Another exception includes more dire situations such as a medical emergency. He’ll just have 48 hours to leave the city following the event.
4. Young Thug must do live anti-gang, anti-gun violence presentations for kids and 100 hours of community service
Each year of his probation, Young Thug is required to return to metro Atlanta four times a year to do a live show or presentation for kids in the city and 100 hours of community service. Steel had already offered to do something similar, so this was in line with that. Young Thug giving back to his city isn’t new to him. As he mentioned to the judge, he was already fond of raising money for causes he cares about.
These events can also be counted as part of his community service hours. He’ll just have 48 hours to leave the city afterwards.
5. Young Thug cannot associate with any YSL RICO co-defendants outside of his brother, Unfoonk, and labelmate Gunna
As Steel was presenting to Judge Whitaker the stipulations of his release that he was hoping for, one thing that was requested was that he’d be allowed to associate with his brother, Quantavious Grier, also known as Unfoonk, as well as be allowed to record music with Sergio Kitchens, professionally known as Gunna, who took an Alford Plea in 2022. Judge Whitaker granted this request for as long as he and Gunna are contractually obligated to each other with the agreement that he doesn’t associate with the other 26 co-defendants listed in the indictment.
6. Young Thug cannot promote the gang lifestyle in any way
As Young Thug shares newly recorded music with the world, fans will notice that all gang activity-bearing lyrics will be axed and missing from his social media presence. The stipulation specifically states that he cannot use “any language, hand signs or terminology that represents criminal street gang” nor can he participate in any kind of gang activity. Furthermore, Young Thug can’t contact any of the victims, nor their families, who are listed on the indictment without legal counsel.
7. Young Thug waived his Second and Fourth Amendment rights
Under these special conditions, Thug has also given up his Second Amendment right to have a firearm on his person. He is allowed to be around licensed individuals, such as security and law enforcement, however. It’s the norm for a superstar of his status to have licensed security around them for protection.
He also gave up his Fourth Amendment right, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches by the government. For the duration of his probation, he is subject to searches at any moment at the government’s discretion. This includes the search of his cars, homes, computers and phones for drugs, guns and anything else to be considered gang related.
8. Young Thug is free to travel around the world and may serve his probation wherever he’d like
Although Steel offered house arrest for three years as part of their stipulations, Judge Whitaker passed and is allowing Thug to travel around the world freely. He can also serve his probation wherever he likes. He has homes in Los Angeles as well as a studio, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Thug served out his probation there. He’ll just have to be careful not to not break any laws in Georgia or any other state in the United States, as part of his special conditions.