Report: ‘Love & Hip-Hop’s’ Mendeecees Harris To Be Out of Prison in Late 2020

Yandy Smith is probably already planning a welcome home party for her husband Mendeecees Harris, because he’ll be released in November 2020, according to Bossip.

In 2015 Harris was sentenced to 8 to 10 years in prison after he admitted in a plea deal that he shipped cocaine and heroin from New York City to Rochester, N.Y. between the years of 2006 and 2008. He began serving his prison term in January of 2016 and was already credited with serving 15 months.

During the sentencing, the “Love & Hip-Hop” star said he apologized “for any trouble” he’s “caused the city of Rochester” and told a U.S. district judge that growing up without a father, plus, being raised in a cutthroat kind of neighborhood led him astray.

His four kids, however, including the two he has with Smith, made him reevaluate things and he plans to do better. “Ever since [becoming a father], I’ve been trying to right my wrongs,” he stated.

Harris tried to get his sentence shortened in 2017, because he said it was given to him under old sentencing guidelines and his lawyer failed to appeal.

Before that in 2016, Harris asked the courts to lower his sentence by three years, because the Harlem native said he’d be more useful on the outside talking to kids about avoiding street life and drug dealing.

If the 40-year-old is freed in November of next year, it would mean he would’ve served a little more than half of his sentence. Harris was first locked up in Pennsylvania but was later moved to a medium-security prison in New Jersey.

Court papers state that he’s already completed a parenting class behind bars, took a health and nutrition course, public speaking, money management and a substance abuse prevention class.

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top