Admitted serial rapist and former National Football League champion Darren Sharper has been transferred from federal prison to a halfway house program, with his projected 2028 release date nearing. The US Bureau of Prisons confirmed the transfer on Monday, stating that Sharper, 50, was moved on 27 May from a federal correctional institution in Ohio to community confinement overseen by the agency's residential re-entry management office in Baltimore.
Sharper pleaded guilty or no contest in 2015 and 2016 in local courts in Louisiana, California, Nevada and Arizona to charges of drugging and raping or attempting to rape numerous women. He also pleaded guilty in federal court in New Orleans to conspiracy to commit the crimes. In August 2016, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with credit for time served since his arrest in February 2014.
The case attracted significant media attention due to Sharper's NFL career. He won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints in 2010 and led the league in interceptions twice during his 14-year career, earning All-Pro selections. At his sentencing, Sharper apologised 'a thousand times,' but one victim told him to 'go to hell.'
Being transferred to a halfway house indicates Sharper's sentence is nearing completion. Inmates typically become eligible for release after serving about 85% of their sentence, which can be reduced through certain programmes. Sharper's projected release date is 27 December 2028. His attorneys had argued for an earlier release, citing his educational achievements in prison and a need for treatment for traumatic brain injuries linked to his football career, but a judge denied the request in August.
