Earlier this week, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in his federal sex trafficking and racketeering case. The sentence was handed down after he was found guilty of the charges in September of last year. Federal prosecutors sought a sentence “in excess of 25 years” as they deemed Kelly a danger to the public. While it appears that Kelly will not appeal his sentence, he is suing a Brooklyn jail for wrongfully placing him on suicide watch according to Consequence. Kelly claims that he has been subjected to “harmful and punitive” suicide watch conditions since his sentence was handed down on June 29.
The lawsuit says Kelly was put on suicide watch despite having no thoughts of suicide or harming himself in any way. Kelly believes he was put on suicide watch as a way to further punish him. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that Kelly was forced to wear a paper-like smock and denied the use of utensils to eat. He even compared his imprisonment to that of convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell. As a result, Kelly is seeking an “award of compensatory damages for all emotional distress, humiliation, pain and suffering, and other harm in an amount to be determined at trial.”
