NEW YORK — R. Kelly was taken off of suicide watch Tuesday after the convicted R&B singer complained that officials at Brooklyn’s federal jail placed him in isolation for no reason.
The 55-year-old was put under around-the-clock surveillance at the Metropolitan Detention Center after his sentencing last Wednesday to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking.
“(Following) a clinical assessment, plaintiff Robert Sylvester Kelly, also known as ‘R. Kelly,’ was removed from suicide watch as of this morning,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie Speight wrote in a filing in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Kelly’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean had advocated for Kelly to return to general population, arguing he never expressed a desire to self-harm and had adjusted to life with other inmates.
The filing from federal prosecutors came hours before Kelly’s lawyer was to argue to a judge that the Bureau of Prisons had no basis for putting him on suicide watch. Kelly had sued over the move.
“I just spoke to my client. He has been removed from suicide watch just as we were headed to court,” Bonjean told the Daily News. “Not surprising that as soon as the (Bureau of Prisons) was going to have to account for their decisions, they removed him to moot out the motion. Our lawsuit will proceed nonetheless.”
A jury convicted Kelly in September of a 25-year racketeering scheme that saw him sexually, physically and mentally abuse his fans. Before imposing the decadeslong sentence, Judge Ann Donnelly told the one-time chart-topping artist she would never forget the horrific nature of his abuse.
Jurors heard how Kelly isolated teen girls at his suburban Chicago mansion governed by “Rob’s Rules.” One victim was held underneath a boxing ring, where she stayed, naked, with Kelly summoning her for abuse by clicking his fingers. He forced another victim to cover herself in feces, and knowingly infected several of his victims with herpes, trial testimony revealed.
The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer will soon be extradited to his home state of Illinois to stand trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges. He faces additional charges in Chicago state court.
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