R. Kelly has been placed on suicide watch at the Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC) in Brooklyn after being sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Earlier this week, the R&B singer was sentenced after being found guilty on multiple counts of racketeering and sex trafficking in September 2021.
R. Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, had pleaded not guilty to racketeering and eight counts of violating a federal law making it illegal to transport people across state lines for prostitution.
In a statement to Entertainment Tonight his lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said, “Mr. Kelly was placed on suicide watch for purely punitive reasons in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.”
“MDC has a policy of placing high profile individuals under the harsh conditions of suicide watch whether they are suicidal or not (this was done recently with Ghislaine Maxwell),” she continued.
“MDC Brooklyn is being run like a gulag. My partner and I spoke with Mr. Kelly following his sentencing, he expressed that he was mentally fine and ONLY expressed concern that even though he was NOT suicidal, MDC would place him on suicide watch (as they did following the guilty verdict).”
“We are in the process of engaging in the court in this matter as his placement on suicide watch is illegal.”
In September 2021, R. Kelly was found guilty on all nine counts he faced following a six-week trial in Brooklyn, New York.
His conviction carried a minimum sentence of 10 years, but he has since been sentenced to 30 years, five years of supervised release and a $100,000 fine.
Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence “in excess of 25 years”, but the singer’s own lawyers had asked that he receive under 10.
The R&B singer also faces federal charges in Chicago on child pornography and obstruction, and state charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
