--- title: James Brown Arrest in 1988: What Really Happened description: Dec. 15, 1988: James Brown begins serving a prison sentence for charges related to a high-speed police chase canonical: https://time.com/3629041/james-brown/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-15T15:30:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:45:26.593Z article:section: History og:title: James Brown Arrest in 1988: What Really Happened og:description: Dec. 15, 1988: James Brown begins serving a prison sentence for charges related to a high-speed police chase og:url: https://time.com/3629041/james-brown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d692b1c7a76547a/69876e26524fc07c74deb576/brown.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: James Brown og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: James Brown Arrest in 1988: What Really Happened twitter:description: Dec. 15, 1988: James Brown begins serving a prison sentence for charges related to a high-speed police chase twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d692b1c7a76547a/69876e26524fc07c74deb576/brown.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # James Brown: The Hardest-Working, Fastest-Driving Man in Show Business > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Dec 15, 2014 3:30 PM UTC  James Brown performing on Jul. 1, 1990, in the Netherlands James Brown performing on Jul. 1, 1990, in the NetherlandsPaul Bergen—Redferns / Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Dec 15, 2014 3:30 PM UTC After a tumultuous few years of [increasingly bizarre](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQmqcaS5LIM), sometimes violent public outbursts, the self-styled Soul Brother No. 1 became [Inmate No. 155413](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,957082,00.html) at South Carolina’s State Park Correctional Center. On this day, Dec. 15, in 1988, James Brown began serving a six-year sentence for carrying a deadly weapon at a public gathering, attempting to flee police, and driving under the influence of drugs, as reported in his 2006 New York _Times_ [obituary](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/arts/music/25cnd-brown.html?mabReward=relbias:r,{%221%22:%22RI:9%22}&adxnnl=1&module=Search&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1417980873-uGnyuAQDMtuACzZUy79g3g). Rumors of a PCP habit had already surfaced by the time his erratic behavior came to a head in September, when he reportedly stormed into the insurance company next to his office, waving a shotgun and complaining that “strangers were using his bathroom,” as TIME reported in its take on his crime and punishment. When the police arrived, Brown led them on a high-speed chase through Georgia and South Carolina. He tried to ram police cars with his pickup truck. They shot out two of his tires; [he drove on the rims for six miles](http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/25/us/james-brown-arrested-again.html). Years later, this episode would frame the 2014 Brown biopic _Get On Up._ It became the latest entry on a rap sheet that had begun during Brown’s impoverished childhood in rural South Carolina, where he went to prison for the first time at age 15 for [breaking into cars](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,957082,00.html). He sang in the prison choir and started a band when he got out. In many ways, his was a classic American bootstrapping success story, fueled by raw talent and unrelenting effort. He became a soul and R&B legend for his innovative songwriting and his impassioned showmanship, influencing performers from Michael Jackson to Mick Jagger. He earned the nicknames he gave himself: “[Godfather of Soul,” “Minister of Super Heavy Funk,” and the “Hardest-Working Man in Show Business,”](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/arts/music/25cnd-brown.html?mabReward=relbias:r,%7B%221%22:%22RI:9%22%7D&adxnnl=1&module=Search&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1417980873-uGnyuAQDMtuACzZUy79g3g) among others. But despite his staggering successes, he couldn’t stay out of legal trouble for long. The 1980s were a particularly rocky time, according to [TIME’s 1988 report](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,957082,00.html) on his prison stint, which noted: --- > “” --- He was freed in 1991 after serving half his six-year sentence for the blowup at the insurance company. But in 1998 he reprised his antics and was arrested again on nearly identical charges: [discharging a rifle, this time at his South Carolina home, and leading police on another car chase.](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/arts/music/25cnd-brown.html?mabReward=relbias:r,%7B%221%22:%22RI:9%22%7D&adxnnl=1&module=Search&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1417980873-uGnyuAQDMtuACzZUy79g3g) On this occasion he was sentenced to a drug rehabilitation program, although his recovery doesn’t seem to have lasted. In 2004, at age 70, he was arrested on [domestic violence charges against his fourth wife](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/arts/music/25cnd-brown.html?mabReward=relbias:r,%7B%221%22:%22RI:9%22%7D&adxnnl=1&module=Search&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1417980873-uGnyuAQDMtuACzZUy79g3g). When he died two years later, of congestive heart failure, obituaries listed his arrests alongside his achievements, including a [Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992, Kennedy Center Honors in 2003,](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/arts/music/25cnd-brown.html?mabReward=relbias:r,%7B%221%22:%22RI:9%22%7D&adxnnl=1&module=Search&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1417980873-uGnyuAQDMtuACzZUy79g3g) and [116 singles](http://time.com/3028046/james-brown-big-screen-sex-machine/) on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart from 1958 to 1986. [TIME noted](http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1572785-1,00.html) in remembering his life that Brown had thrown his full energy into all pursuits in music and in life, including his two police chases. “Unlike O.J.’s,” TIME’s Richard Corliss wrote, “J.B.’s were naturally high-speed.” **_Read TIME’s take on Brown’s 1988 incarceration, here in the archives_**: [Soul Brother No. 155413](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,957082,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3629041/james-brown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3629041/james-brown/"},"headline":"James Brown: The Hardest-Working, Fastest-Driving Man in Show Business","datePublished":"2014-12-15T15:30:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:45:26.593Z","description":"Dec. 15, 1988: James Brown begins serving a prison sentence for charges related to a high-speed police chase","url":"https://time.com/3629041/james-brown/","keywords":["Crime","Music","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d692b1c7a76547a/69876e26524fc07c74deb576/brown.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Latson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d692b1c7a76547a/69876e26524fc07c74deb576/brown.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"James Brown","caption":"James Brown","creditText":"Paul Bergen—Redferns / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3629041/james-brown/","name":"James Brown: The Hardest-Working, Fastest-Driving Man in Show Business"}}]}] ```