R. Kelly Attacked In Jail By Fellow Inmate

R&B singer R. Kelly has reportedly been moved to solitary confinement after he was attacked in his cell by a fellow inmate.

According to TMZ, Kelly was said to be on his bed when a fellow inmate from the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Chicago came in and started to punch him. 

R. Kelly | Image: AP

Guards at the federal facility stopped the assault almost immediately. The publication added that the attacker was angry that the jail was repeatedly placed on lockdown due to the singers’ fans protesting outside.

Doug Anton, an attorney for Kelly, told CNN that Kelly did not sustain any injuries and that X-rays did not reveal any fractures.

Another attorney for Kelly, Steve Greenberg, said on Twitter that his legal team has received “conflicting reports as to the extent of his injuries,” adding that the team has not been given information from the jail or Kelly himself.

“Yesterday we were told that an inmate had attacked R Kelly at the MCC in Chicago. We received conflicting reports as to the extent of his injuries. We have not been provided any information from the jail, nor has Mr. Kelly called. We are hopeful that he was not seriously injured,” Greenberg tweeted.

Greenberg also called for the release of R. Kelly: “Regardless, it is time to release Mr. Kelly. The government cannot ensure his safety, and they cannot give him his day in court. We should not incarcerate people indefinitely because we cannot provide them with due process!”

In a statement to Page Six, Greenberg said that the solitary confinement is “the only place they can protect him.”

“My understanding is, every time there is a pro-R. Kelly protest outside of the jail, they lock down the entire facility. When they do this, inmates don’t get their commissary, they don’t get their shower, stuff like that and since they’re fairly sporadic anyway, they get upset. So they’re penalizing everyone in the facility because people are protesting in support of Kelly.”

Kelly is awaiting trial on a series of child sex abuse charges. His petitions to be released amid the coronavirus pandemic have all been rejected.