R. Kelly has continued to be embroiled in legal battles since he was handed his first lengthy prison sentence in 2022. At the time, the singer was held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where his lawyers claimed he was unlawfully kept on suicide watch. In court documents filed by Kelly’s legal team, his lawyers argued that he was being kept on suicide watch as a form of punishment, and that he displayed no evidence of being at risk of dying by suicide. Kelly went on to sue to prison in question.
Kelly’s legal team have also filed multiple appeals against his sentences, which — alongside the 30-year sentence handed down to him in New York — now includes a separate 20-year sentence in Chicago. In April 2024, his appeal against the latter was rejected by the Chicago appeals court. Kelly currently remains behind bars, having been transferred to Butner, North Carolina.
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