A former state senator, Guy Velella, surrendered to city Department of Correction authorities yesterday and returned to jail after enjoying three months of freedom while various courts and commissions debated his fate.

Velella, 60, said nothing as he exited a black SUV near the Manhattan criminal courts building at about 3:20 p.m. – about an hour-and-a-half before the court-imposed 5 p.m. deadline to turn himself in. He wore a gray sweat shirt and a jacket.

Velella’s attorney, Charles Stillman, had no immediate comment.

Velella arrived at Rikers Island by bus at 5 p.m., said a Department of Correction spokesman, Thomas Antenen.

A state appeals court ruled last week that the former Republican state senator and four others granted early release by the Local Conditional Release Commission should be returned to jail because they had been freed illegally.

Velella, a powerful figure in state and local politics for nearly 30 years, had served just more than three months of a yearlong sentence for accepting bribes from public works contractors.

Because the commission gives early releases to so few inmates, the decision to let Velella out early prompted charges of special treatment.

Since his September 28 release, Velella’s case has been heard by several courts and a reconstituted Local Conditional Release Commission, whose members had been forced to resign by Mayor Bloomberg after they quietly let Velella out of jail early.

On November 29, a judge ruled that the original commission lacked the authority to grant Velella and his co-defendants early release and ordered him back to jail. The appeals court upheld that decision December 20.

Velella has another appeal pending before the state Court of Appeals, which is likely to rule in early January.

Because Velella has been on probation, the three months he has remained free will count toward his sentence. He is scheduled to be released in May, though he could be released earlier for good behavior.