Five years after he was improperly evicted, a 59-year-old recently released prison inmate apparently is about to be restored to the apartment where he lived for 50 years.

But to make room for Otto Thompson, Manhattan Housing Court Judge Phyllis Saxe has ruled that the current tenant, Tomoko Watabe, must be evicted.

“Weighing the equities in this case compels the court to find in Mr. Thompson's favor,” Saxe wrote in 46 Downing Street, LLC. v. Thompson, L&T Index No. 81450/09.