R Kelly Put on Suicide Watch Following Sex Trafficking Sentence, Lawyer Reports

R Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, and he is currently being held at a federal detention facility in Brookly. As a result, he has been put on suicide watch.

However, according to his lawyer, the disgraced R&B singer is not suicidal but was concerned about being placed on suicide watch.

“The irony of putting someone on suicide watch when they’re not suicidal is it actually causes more harm,” Jennifer Bonjean told CNN that prosecutors who spoke with officials at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center told her that the move was made because Kelly is well-known.

While addressing Fox News, she 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. MDC Brooklyn is being run like a gulag.”

Ms Bonjean added that she spoke with Kelly after the sentencing and he said he was fine mentally but worried that authorities would put him on suicide watch, as they had done after the guilty verdict.

His lawyer’s comment was; “We are in the process of filing an emergency rule to show cause with the courts.”

“MDC Brooklyn’s confinement of Mr Kelly to suicide watch is illegal, and they will be held accountable for it.”

R Kelly was convicted in 2021. Prosecutors sought a 25-year sentence at first. Kelly’s defense team argued that he should be sentenced to no more than ten years in prison, claiming that anything more would be “tantamount to a death sentence” for the 55-year-old.

After seven of the disgraced singer’s victims gave impact statements recalling their abuse at his hands, US District Judge Ann Donnelly handed down the sentence.

Kelly was found guilty on nine counts, including racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which forbids interstate transportation of women and girls for “any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offence.”

Originally published at https://entertainmentbuzzup.com on July 1, 2022.