Morrison's release delayed because of discipline problems

Morrison, who pleaded guilty last year to drug charges, has been moved from a minimum-security facility in Texarkana to the Central Arkansas Community Punishment Center in Little Rock because of discipline problems.

Rhonda Sharp, a spokeswoman for the Community Punishment Division of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, said Morrison's problems began in late November.

"We don't discuss the specific issues each resident faces,"

she said Friday. "Sometimes a change in location helps an offender realize the seriousness of their situation."

"His assignment is clerical, so he is inside working," she said. Sharp said the duties are "somewhat random and somewhat determined by the therapy group.

"All of our residents do work during the day and there are a number of jobs they can do," she said. "They have very little idle time."

Morrison's life has been spiraling downward for almost five years.

He overcame abuse and abandonment to reach the top of the boxing world, compiling a 46-3-1 professional record and beating George Foreman in 1993 for the World Boxing Organization's heavyweight title.

In February 1996, Morrison tested HIV positive just before a scheduled fight against Arthur Weathers. At the time, Morrison said he likely contracted the disease through a promiscuous sex life.

Last May, he denied that he got it sexually. "HIV is just a dead piece of skin, that's all it is," he said in an interview.

"Every time you pierce yourself with a needle, you are putting the microbes in your body, these little pieces of dry skin ... That's exactly how I got it."

Doctors say Morrison's dead-skin theory is impossible.

Morrison was sentenced Jan. 14, 2000, in Washington County Circuit Court and received a 10-year prison term with eight years suspended for possession of cocaine, possession of a firearm, possession of drug paraphernalia and simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms. He was transferred to the Texarkana facility in February.

Morrison, who grew up in Jay, Okla. also was charged with two counts of possession of marijuana and driving while impaired. He received two one-year suspended sentences and was ordered to pay $700 in fines.

Morrison was scheduled for early release in February but his new release was changed to April 13, Sharp said. Even then, authorities in Tulsa have put a hold on Morrison for allegedly violating the terms of his probation in a drunken-driving conviction there.

An Oklahoma judge gave Morrison a two-year suspended sentence, then revoked it in December 1999. A $25,000 warrant was issued for Morrison's arrest.

When Morrison was arrested in Oklahoma, he was on probation for a felony charge in New Jersey, where he received two years'

probation in July 1998 for possession of a firearm. He was caught with a pistol in his bags at the Newark, N.J., airport checkpoint.

Sharp said the projected April 13 release date could change if Morrison displays good behavior.