Thomas Hagan, the only man who admitted his role in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, was freed on Tuesday, a day earlier than planned.
The New York State Department of Correctional Services said that his early release was because the paperwork was processed more quickly than anticipated.
Hagan, 69, had been partially free on work release for the last 22 years, although he was still required to spend two nights a week at a low-security Manhattan prison, that was located at the intersection of West 110th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard.
He was a member of the Nation of Islam movement on February 21, 1965, when he shot Malcolm X at the Audubon Ballroom in New York.
"I have deep regrets about my participation in that," Hagan said last month.
"I don't think it should ever have happened."
Hagan, assisted by two accomplices who created a distraction in the audience, shot Malcolm X in front of a crowd of hundreds, including his young children, as the civil rights leader began a speech.
