Teresa Giudice released from prison: She’ll be home for Christmas

Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice has been released from prison just in time for Christmas.

Giudice has been at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut since she and her husband Joe Giudice, pleaded guilty last year to bankruptcy fraud. They admitted hiding assets and submitting fraudulent loan applications to secure millions of dollars worth of construction mortgages and loans.

Giudice is expected to return to her home in Montville, where she will serve out the rest of a 15-month prison sentence in home confinement.

Bravo's the Daily Dish reports Giudice officially left the Federal Correctional Institution at 5:01 a.m.

Under the terms of her sentencing, Giudice must continue to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet through Feb. 5

The Daily Dish quoted Giudice's lawyer, James Leonard Jr., saying she's excited to be reunited with her four daughters, Gia, Gabriella, Milania, and Audriana.

"It's been very, very difficult for her and her daughters, but they've communicated," Leonard Jr. said, according to the report. "They've seen one another with visits and emails and phone calls. They've been able to Skype one another. She's been a daily presence in their lives. But, obviously, there's no substitute for actually not being there. So for her to come home and be reunited with them is something that both she and the girls are very much looking forward to."

Joe Giudice is expected to be sent to prison in March.