Beleaguered singer R. Kelly finally received a favorable ruling, albeit a small one.
A judge agreed to move the “Your Body’s Callin” singer out of solitary confinement that he’d been sequestered in since he was jailed by a federal judge. Rolling out previously reported that prosecutors convinced a judge to deny Kelly bail on a host of federal charges including the Mann Act, racketeering and child pornography, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Prosecutors pointed out that R. Kelly was recorded on a jailhouse phone initially turning down an opportunity to go into general population out of fear for his own life.
“You know, and that’s why, I was like, hmmm, too many people up on you and I done seen too many movies, you know, and it’s just, and then I’m so popular here, it’s like yeah man,” Kelly allegedly said in the recorded call, the Tribune stated.
Furthermore, federal prosecutors also notified the judge that said Kelly was not completely truthful about not having any human contact while in solitary confinement. He’s had three cellmates at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center since being remanded until his trial.
If the prosecutors account of the circumstances is accurate, then Robert Sylvester Kelly, 52, has had a radical change of heart. Having little to no human contact combined with one 15-minute call per month, no outside privileges and being unable to read or write, left Kelly with nothing to do to pass the long, lonely days away.
According to his attorney Steven Greenberg, TMZ reports, Kelly felt he was being punished already without being convicted and that the feds were painting him as an incorrigible reprobate.
Now that Kelly is in general population, TMZ reports, Kelly will now be accorded the following privileges that most in solitary confinement probably crave: Kelly will be allotted 10 visits instead of one per month; he will be able to have more frequent phone calls; he will have access to emails on a regular basis and he will be able to taste the fresh air while getting in some recreation time.
Greenberg also told TMZ that special security measures will be instituted to protect Kelly, though he said officials did not divulge what that will entail, of course.
