arrow Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver leaves U.S. District Court in July after being sentenced to more than 6 years in prison. John Minchillo/AP/Shutterstock Former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was cut loose from federal prison Tuesday, and has returned to his Lower East Side apartment complex as he awaits a pending decision about his fate, according to multiple reports. Silver, 77, had served eight months of a 6.5 year sentence on bribery and money laundering charges at Otisville Prison in Orange County. He was furloughed from the facility on Tuesday, a source told the Associated Press, as the Bureau of Prisons considers his application to serve the remainder of his sentence from home confinement