Lawyers for R Kelly say in new court documents that the convicted sex trafficker and singer was recently rushed to hospital after medically overdosing in prison.
The 58-year-old reportedly collapsed Friday at the federal correctional institute in Butner, North Carolina, which specializes in housing sex offenders, and was transported to Duke University hospital.
In a new court filing Monday reviewed by the Guardian, Kelly’s lawyers allege that he had been placed in solitary confinement on 10 June and was given medication by prison staff – along with “instructions to take it”.
According to the filing, Kelly awoke in the early morning hours of 13 June, feeling “faint”, “dizzy” and “he started to see black spots in his vision”.
“Kelly tried to get up, but fell to the ground,” the filing alleges. “He crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness.”
The document alleges that Kelly was then placed on a gurney and taken by ambulance to Duke University hospital. During the ambulance ride, Kelly reportedly overheard a prison officer say: “This is going to open a whole new can of worms.”
At the hospital, Kelly’s lawyers say he “learned that he had been administered an overdose quantity of his medications that threatened his life”. They also say that he “required hospitalization for two days”.
The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment to USA Today, which first reported the filing, citing “pending litigation”.
Monday filing came after an emergency motion by Kelly’s lawyers in which they alleged that three Bureau of Prisons officials had orchestrated a plot to have him killed by another inmate. That motion requested that Kelly be released to home detention.
Federal prosecutors have opposed that request.
“Kelly is a prolific child molester,” the prosecutors wrote. “He is unapologetic about it. Kelly has never taken responsibility for his years of sexually abusing children, and he probably never will.
“Kelly now asks this court to release him from incarceration indefinitely under the guise of a fanciful conspiracy,” the prosecutors added. “Kelly’s motion makes a mockery of the harm suffered by Kelly’s victims.”
In Monday’s filing, Kelly’s lawyers requested again that the court order a temporary furlough to home detention.
Kelly was convicted in 2021 on racketeering and sex trafficking charges and sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2022, he was also found guilty on three counts of producing child sexual abuse imagery and three counts of child enticement. He received a 20-year sentence to be served concurrently with his existing term.
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