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R. Kelly Is Appealing to Prison for 'Purely Punitive Reasons' After Being Placed on Suicide Watch! - New Jersey Local News
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
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R. Kelly Is Appealing to Prison for ‘Purely Punitive Reasons’ After Being Placed on Suicide Watch!

After being sentenced to 30 years in jail for federal racketeering and sex trafficking offenses earlier this week, R. Kelly was placed under suicide watch.

For “purely punitive reasons,” Kelly’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean told PEOPLE in a statement on Friday, that the decision to place her client on suicide watch violates his Eighth Amendment rights because he is a “high-profile inmate.”

The Detention Center.

R. Kelly Is Appealing to Prison for 'Purely Punitive Reasons

He is now suing MDC Brooklyn, the detention center where he is now being kept, saying that it is a “cruel and unusual punishment,” according to court records acquired by PEOPLE. The disgraced R&B singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is currently being imprisoned at the facility. In Bonjean’s words to PEOPLE, “MDC has a strategy of placing high-profile persons under the rigorous conditions of suicide watch whether they are suicidal or not.

“As a gulag, MDC Brooklyn is administered by a tyrant. After his sentencing, my partner and I visited with Mr. Kelly, who said he was well psychologically and was only worried that MDC would put him on suicide watch despite the fact that he wasn’t suicidal (as they did following the guilty verdict), “She went on. I just filed a lawsuit against MDC Brooklyn.” Non-suicidal inmates may suffer “severe mental trauma” as a result of being placed on suicide watch, Bonjean claims in court documents.

Bureau of Prisons Representative.

R. Kelly Is Appealing to Prison for 'Purely Punitive Reasons

As part of the suit, the complaint alleges that “inmates are stripped of their clothing and underwear and dressed in smocks made of materials akin to those used by moving companies when wrapping furniture,” and that they are “typically placed in a single cell without bed rails and provided with no items of comfort.” “They are unable to bathe, shave, or even use toilet paper. Inmates are forced to eat with their hands because no utensils are provided with their meals. It is impossible for them to communicate with loved ones or other people who can provide support “The complaint alleges. “Of course, prison officials keep an eye on them around the clock.

Individuals on suicide watch,’ however, are not even given access to mental health services.” PEOPLE spoke to a Bureau of Prisons representative who said they couldn’t comment on Kelly’s incarceration. “The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) does not share information about the circumstances of confinement or internal security practices for any particular detainee,” a statement from the BOP to PEOPLE stated.

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R. Kelly Is Appealing to Prison for 'Purely Punitive Reasons

“BOP is devoted to maintaining the well-being of all of its inmates, employees, and visitors. Taking care of the men and women who are in our care is of the utmost importance to us. If a case is currently being litigated, the BOP does not comment on it or any other legal procedures.” In the wake of decades of sexual abuse allegations against Kelly, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Wednesday.

A Brooklyn jury last year found him guilty of racketeering and violating the Mann Act, anti-sex trafficking legislation, after a six-week trial that included testimony from 45 witnesses. Geddes claimed that Kelly orchestrated a plan to “target, groom and exploit girls, boys and women” at the time.

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