Marion Jones released from prison

Sprinter Marion Jones was released from a federal detention facility after completing a six-month sentence for lying to federal agents investigating the BALCO doping conspiracy.

New York, Sep 6 : Sprinter Marion Jones was released from a federal detention facility after completing a six-month sentence for lying to federal agents investigating the BALCO doping conspiracy.

Jones was released at 8 a.m. on Friday, said LaTanya Robinson, an officer at the San Antonio community corrections office, which oversees halfway houses such as the one Jones was in.

Jones, 32, must now complete 800 hours of community service and will be on probation for two years.

She was one of the most dominant Olympic sprinters in history at the time the BALCO ring was uncovered in the fall of 2004.

Even as evidence of her drug use piled up over the years, she repeatedly and angrily denied doping, right up until she abruptly confessed in the fall of 2007, pleading guilty and making a tearful apology outside a courthouse.

Jones also admitted to lying about a check-fraud scheme involving her fellow sprinter Tim Montgomery, the father of her older son Monty.

Montgomery received a 46-month sentence earlier this year.

In early May, Jones reported to a correctional facility in Fort Worth, Tex., and was assigned the inmate number 8486-8/054. Since Aug. 19, she has been at a halfway house in San Antonio.

ANI