 Bremer said he initially planned to target President Richard Nixon |
Arthur H Bremer, 57, was sentenced to 53 years for injuring Mr Wallace and three others in Laurel, Maryland.
He has served 35 years of his term and is being released for good behaviour.
Mr Wallace gained national prominence in the 1960s vowing "segregation forever" but later disavowed his racial views. He died in 1998.
Bremer left the medium-security Maryland Correctional Institution before sunrise on Friday, a prison system spokesman told Associated Press news agency.
Bremer earned his mandatory early release under a programme that reduces the term of inmates who have a prison job and maintain good behaviour.
Prison officials did not disclose his destination or plans.
"The department of public safety and correctional services believes the public's interest, safety and security is best served by allowing Arthur Bremer to become acclimated to today's world at his own pace and with as much anonymity as possible," an official statement read.
Bid for fame
Bremer was 21 when he shot Mr Wallace at close range as the politician greeted supporters at a rally in Laurel during campaigning for the Democratic nomination.
A bullet lodged in Mr Wallace's spine, leaving him confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
For many Americans, George Wallace was the personification of southern bigotry but he later underwent a complete political transformation.
He disavowed his views on racial segregation and won overwhelming support from Alabama's black population.
When Mr Wallace died of a heart attack in September 1998, aged 79, black civil rights leader Jesse Jackson was among the many black Americans who paid tribute to him.
Bremer said he had hoped to become famous by assassinating President Richard Nixon but he settled for trying to kill Mr Wallace. He has never publicly expressed remorse for the shooting.
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