Topline
R&B singer R. Kelly has been wrongly placed on suicide watch at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, his lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said Friday, and he is being “irreparably harmed” because of it, she claimed, after the 55-year-old was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for racketeering and sex trafficking.
Singer R. Kelly placed under suicide watch, his lawyer says, after being sentenced to 30 years for … [+]
Key Facts
According to Bonjean, the prison psychology department told her, “he is on psych alert for various reasons, such as age, crime, publicity and sentencing.”
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, its psychology services staff perform psychological intake “only on inmates who are suspected of being suicidal or appear psychologically unstable (e.g., mental illness or significant substance abuse withdrawal), or who request services via the Psychology Services Inmate Questionnaire.”
Bonjean said Kelly is not suicidal.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons told Forbes it does not share the “conditions of confinement or internal security practices for any particular inmate.”
Kelly was previously placed on suicide watch after he was convicted last September.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“He’s being irreparably harmed as we speak… .It’s not as if they’re doing this for his psychological benefit, and by placing him under these extremely harsh conditions…it is actually cruel and unusual punishment,” Bonjean said.
TANGENT
Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite who was sentenced to 20 years on June 28 for sex trafficking her ex-boyfriend, financier Jeffrey Epstein’s, victims, was also placed on suicide watch at MDC after she said she didn’t feel safe among the Brooklyn jail’s staff.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Bonjean told Forbes she is filing an order to show cause for placing him under suicide watch.
FURTHER READING
R. Kelly Sentenced To 30 Years For Sex Trafficking And Racketeering (Forbes)
R&B Singer R. Kelly Found Guilty Of Sex Trafficking, Racketeering (Forbes)
R. Kelly placed on suicide watch after being sentenced to 30 years in prison, his lawyer says (CNN)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/darreonnadavis/2022/07/01/r-kelly-placed-on-suicide-watch-days-after-30-year-sentencing-lawyer-says/