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'Real Housewives' husband Joe Giudice released from prison

The husband of Teresa Giudice may still be deported.
/ Source: TODAY

Joe Giudice, the husband of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice, is out of federal prison.

Giudice, 46, was released from a federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, on Thursday morning after completing a 41-month sentence. He had pleaded guilty to mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud charges in 2014.

Teresa And Joe Giudice at court in 2013
Joe Giudice, seen here with Teresa Giudice in 2013, is facing deportation to Italy.Mike Coppola / Getty Images FILE

But he's not exactly free. Giudice has been transferred to a facility in Pennsylvania that houses immigration detainees, his lawyer, James J. Leonard Jr., said.

"His lawyers and his family are hopeful that justice will prevail and Mr. Guidice will return home to his wife and four daughters who love him and miss him," Leonard said in a statement.

Giudice began serving time in Fort Dix, New Jersey, starting in 2016, three months after his wife was released from a prison in Danbury, Connecticut. He was transferred to Allenwood in 2017.

Teresa Giudice and Joe Giudice in 2016
The couple pleaded guilty to fraud charges in 2014.Getty Images

A judge ordered Giudice in 2018 to be deported back to his birth country of Italy when his sentence was complete, though his family is still awaiting a decision on an appeal.

Teresa Giudice recently commented to Andy Cohen on "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" season nine reunion about her husband's situation and the decisions she'd have to make if he had to leave the United States.

"I'm not doing a long-distance relationship. I'm not doing it," she said. "I want somebody with me every day."

The couple has been married for 20 years and have four children.

"I know exactly what happens — I'm sure he'll be with other women. It happens," she added. "We do the long-distance thing, it’s not going to work. I’d be like, 'Bye-bye.'"

Of course, with every day that decision becomes potentially more real.

"It's just a lot to deal with, my children, what's gonna happen with him, it's a lot," she said. "And listen, everyone makes mistakes, but to get deported, that's so sad. So I'm doing everything I can. I'm spending all this money, I'm appealing it, like, everything. Like, whatever has to be done, I'm doing it. I'll fight to the end. That's what I'm doing."