Buju Banton has been transferred from the Texas prison where he was held. He is back at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Miami, Florida, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
It is something of a game of musical chairs for the deejay, moved successively from Florida to Oklahoma, then Texas, Oklahoma once again and finally Florida again.
After his trial, he was supposed to be incarcerated in Mississippi, but the authorities realised that one of the co-defendants was already serving his sentence there. Buju Banton was therefore held provisionally in Oklahoma before being transferred to Texas, at Groesbeck. A prison described by his lawyer David Markus as a haunt of Mexican gangs awaiting deportation to Mexico, "the worst place imaginable". Under inmate number 86700-004, Buju Banton is now back in Florida.
While the appeal against the sentence is due to be filed in December in Atlanta, a benefit concert is being held this Saturday 3 December in Tampa, Florida. The proceeds will go towards funding the appeal. Among those announced are Gramps Morgan, Glen Washington, Delly Ranx, Nadine Sutherland, Tony Curtis and Norris Man.
Sentenced to 10 years in prison last June for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, Buju Banton cannot be released before 2019.