Attorneys for R. Kelly have reported in recent court filings that the disgraced R&B singer collapsed in federal custody and was subsequently hospitalized, adding weight to his controversial claims of a targeted assassination attempt orchestrated by prison officials. Kelly is requesting temporary release to home detention, alleging that his life is in danger while incarcerated. Prosecutors have dismissed these assertions as a “fanciful conspiracy.”
Currently serving concurrent sentences in a North Carolina federal facility for convictions in both Illinois and New York, Kelly, 58, is imprisoned for crimes involving child sexual abuse and racketeering. His legal team began submitting documents last week, alleging that prison authorities sought help from leaders of a white supremacist gang—the Aryan Brotherhood—to orchestrate his murder. Following these claims, Kelly was reportedly transferred to solitary confinement.
His attorneys also contend that he was intentionally overdosed on medication and required hospitalization and surgery for blood clots in his lungs. Despite this, they say he was returned to solitary confinement prematurely.
“These people did overdose him. They did leave him with blood clots in his lungs and remove him from a hospital that sought to do surgery to remove them,”
Kelly’s attorney Beau B. Brindley wrote in a court filing Tuesday.
“And they did it within days of his exposure of a plan to kill him set forth by Bureau of Prisons officials.”
As part of their argument, Kelly’s legal team referenced a sworn statement from an Aryan Brotherhood leader, claiming it supports the theory of an internal conspiracy. Prosecutors have strongly pushed back against these allegations.
“Kelly has never taken responsibility for his years of sexually abusing children, and he probably never will,”
government attorneys stated.
“Undeterred, Kelly now asks this Court to release him from incarceration indefinitely under the guise of a fanciful conspiracy.”
They further argued that a Chicago judge lacks jurisdiction to modify Kelly’s federal sentence, given his convictions were issued in both Illinois and New York.
The Bureau of Prisons has declined to comment on the situation, citing its policy of not discussing confinement conditions or ongoing legal proceedings.
Kelly is scheduled for a court hearing this Friday in Chicago.
Robert Sylvester Kelly, widely known as R. Kelly, was convicted in Chicago in 2022 on charges of producing child sexual abuse materials and enticing minors for sex. A year prior, he had been found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York. His appeals have consistently failed, including a recent rejection by the U.S. Supreme Court.
At one point, Kelly also sought a pardon from former President Donald Trump.
He is currently serving a 20-year sentence from Chicago and a 30-year sentence from New York, with most of the terms running concurrently.
Despite his criminal record, Kelly was once a chart-topping artist known for songs like “I Believe I Can Fly” and the serialized R&B opera “Trapped in the Closet.” His career persisted through earlier allegations, including a 2008 acquittal in a Chicago child pornography case. However, renewed public outcry following the #MeToo movement and the 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly brought widespread condemnation and legal consequences.
