'Jersey Shore' 's Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi Celebrates Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino's Release

The reality star completed an eight-month prison sentence on Thursday

Published on September 12, 2019 11:39 AM

The Jersey Shore family is back together.

On Thursday, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino was released from the Otisville Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York, after completing an eight-month sentence for tax evasion.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi was the first to celebrate the special day, posting a screenshot of the cast’s group chat.

“Turn up we free #freesitch,” Sorrentino texted. “Excited to see you guys soon.”

“IM SCREAMINGGGGGGGGGG,” Polizzi replied. “WE F—ING LOVE YOU.”

“@mikethesituation IS BACK IN THE GROUP CHAT!!!” she captioned the post, which she later deleted.

Sorrentino, 37, pled guilty to one count of tax evasion in January 2018. In October 2018, he was sentenced to eight months in prison and two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to complete 500 hours of community service and was given $123,913 in restitution, which he had already paid, plus a fine of $10,000.

In April, Polizzi, 31, gave an update on Sorrentino, revealing he was making the most of his time in prison and “having the time of his life.”

“It’s like he’s in a senior home,” she told E! News. “He’s playing Bingo, he’s helping people recover in jail.”

“We all talk to him through an email, so I talk to him like once a week,” she continued. “He’s in the gym a lot, so he’s probably going to come out ripped. You know, he’s not going to be BDS anymore — Big Daddy Sitch — he’s [probably] going to have his six-pack again. But he’s doing good in there.”

Speaking to PEOPLE Now in July, the Jersey Shore: Family Vacation cast said despite the circumstances, their friend was doing great and staying “so positive.”

“You know, you have to look up to him,” said Jenni “JWoww” Farley. “He’ll email me back and he’s like, ‘What’s up, little sis?’ And I’m just like, ‘How are you this positive in the situation that you’re in?’ But he is.”

In a statement to PEOPLE on Thursday, Sorrentino and his wife Lauren said, “We are elated to finally close this chapter of our life. Thank you to our family, friends and fans for the continuous love and support during this time, it brought us so much peace and comfort. We look forward to continuing our life as husband and wife and working on baby situations!”

“We truly believe that the comeback is ALWAYS greater than the setback and we can’t wait to show the world ours,” they added.

Jersey Shore: Family Vacation airs Thursdays (8 p.m. ET) on MTV.