R. Kelly was attacked in his Illinois jail cell by an inmate on Tuesday, his attorney said while requesting his immediate release. The R&B singer was on his bed in his cell at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center when his fellow inmate came in and started to punch him, according to reports.
The inmate was apparently angry about prison officials stopping visits at the center on several occasions due to the number of fans of Kelly protesting outside the facility.
“My understanding is, every time there is a pro-R Kelly protest outside of the jail, they lock down the entire facility,” Kelly’s attorney Steven Greenberg said.
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“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.”
The attack did not last long as guards at the facility stopped it immediately, Doug Anton, an attorney for Kelly, told CNN. He said Kelly did not sustain any injuries and that X-rays did not reveal any fractures.
Kelly is in prison facing several state and federal charges of sexual abuse in the U.S., all of which he has denied.
He has on more than one occasion asked to be released from prison. “This incident coupled with the coronavirus restrictions at the MCC reinforces the need for Mr. Kelly to be released so he can assist in his defense with counsel and prepare for trial without the fear that his personal safety is at risk,” one of Kelly’s attorneys, Tom Farinella, told CNN.
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau Of Prisons declined to comment on Kelly’s alleged attack. “For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not comment on an individual inmate’s conditions of confinement or medical status,” Emery Nelson said.
