R. Kelly has filed suit against Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center after being placed on suicide watch. The disgraced singer and his legal team claim Kelly is not suicidal. Instead, he was placed under the “harsh conditions” of suicide watch as a punishment.
Two days ago (June 29), Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for various charges stemming from his decades-long racketeering and sex trafficking scheme. An attorney for the convicted criminal filed the suit after learning his client was not returned to his cell as planned. In court documents, the attorney laments there was no expressed concern over Kelly’s wellbeing before he was relocated.
“Mr. Kelly impressed upon me repeatedly that he was not suicidal and the conditions of suicide watch at the MDC were extraordinarily stressful and harmful,” the attorney claimed in an affidavit reviewed by CBS News. “He expressed on multiple occasions that he did not want to be put on suicide watch and that he was not suicidal and had no thoughts of harming himself or anyone else.”
The attorney further claimed, “Mr. Kelly is currently being confined illegally, in violation of his Eighth Amendment guarantees, under the harsh conditions of suicide watch for no reason other than his status as a high-profile inmate. The conditions under which he is currently being confined are causing real and lasting harm to Mr. Kelly.”
The songwriter’s legal team said his celebrity status, and age were among the reasons MDC opted to move him. “This explanation suggests that the reasons for placing Mr. Kelly on suicide watch have nothing to do with him as an individual or even whether he actually is a suicide risk.
REVOLT previously reported that Kelly was found guilty in September a six-week trial. Upon being released from prison several years from now, he is required to undergo sexual disorder treatment.