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Singer R. Kelly placed on suicide look at, law firm claims

Singer R. Kelly placed on suicide look at, law firm claims

R. Kelly has been positioned on suicide check out just after currently being sentenced to 30 many years in prison earlier this 7 days. But his attorney suggests the disgraced R&B artist is not suicidal.

The “I Feel I Can Fly” singer is being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, N.Y., where by he has been because his September conviction on federal intercourse-trafficking and racketeering prices for employing his fame to entice young females and young children for intercourse.

“Mr. Kelly was positioned on suicide check out for purely punitive reasons in violation of his Eighth Modification rights,” his defense attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, claimed Friday in a statement to The Moments, citing the amendment’s prohibition of the federal government’s means to impose too much bail, fines or cruel and unconventional punishments.

Bonjean, who represented the Grammy Award winner in the course of his six-week trial, said that the facility has a coverage “of putting large profile people today underneath the severe problems of suicide watch no matter if they are suicidal or not.”

She famous that the detention middle just lately followed the similar policy with socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 decades in jail earlier this 7 days for aiding the financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.

“MDC Brooklyn is being run like a gulag,” Bonjean said in her assertion.

She mentioned that she and her spouse spoke with Kelly soon after he was sentenced Wednesday and that “he expressed that he was mentally fantastic and ONLY expressed problem that even nevertheless he was NOT suicidal, MDC would location him on suicide enjoy (as they did following the responsible verdict).”

“We are in the method of engaging in the court docket in this make a difference as his placement on suicide watch is unlawful,” she stated.

Scott Taylor, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons’ offfice of community affairs, mentioned Friday that the bureau, which operates MDC, “does not deliver data about ailments of confinement or interior protection practices for any particular inmate” for protection and stability explanations.

“The BOP is fully commited to ensuring the security and safety of all inmates in our population, our workers, and the general public. Humane procedure of the males and gals in our custody is a top rated precedence,” Taylor mentioned in an electronic mail to The Moments.

Bonjean, who also not long ago represented Bill Cosby in a civil trial that he shed, explained to CNN on Friday that prosecutors and jail officials instructed her Kelly was positioned underneath all those problems because he is nicely acknowledged. She stated that she had questioned the singer to electronic mail her following he was taken back into the facility next his sentencing on Wednesday, but under no circumstances gained a concept from him.

“The irony of putting a person on suicide enjoy when they’re not suicidal is it essentially results in a lot more damage,” she advised CNN. “It’s punishment for staying large-profile. And it is horrifying frankly. … To set anyone underneath suicide watch less than those disorders is cruel and strange when they do not want it.”

The “Ignition” and “Bump ‘N Grind” singer has been dogged by allegations of inappropriate conduct for years, but the outcry arrived to a fever pitch in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the Emmy-nominated documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” in which a quantity women of all ages shared their tales about the singer’s alleged misconduct.

Kelly’s defense workforce argued for him to be sentenced to 10 several years or fewer for his crimes, though the prosecution pushed for 25 many years or far more. Just after obtaining the 30-year sentence, he was also purchased to pay out a $100,000 good.

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