R. Kelly was reportedly rushed to hospital after collapsing in his prison cell last week. His lawyers now say he was given the wrong dosage of medication while in solitary confinement.
The 58-year-old singer, serving a 30-year sentence for sex trafficking and abuse, is currently held at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina a facility known for housing sex offenders.
According to new court filings reviewed on Monday, Kelly fell unconscious in the early hours of 13 June after feeling dizzy and seeing “black spots”. The documents, filed by his legal team, state that he “crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness” before being placed on a gurney and taken to Duke University Hospital.
His lawyers allege that prison staff had given him medication on 10 June, along with instructions to take it, shortly after placing him in solitary confinement. “He later learned he had been administered an overdose quantity of his medications that threatened his life,” the filing says.
Kelly spent two days in hospital. On the way there, his legal team claims, he overheard a prison officer saying, “This is going to open a whole new can of worms.”
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has not commented on the incident, citing ongoing legal proceedings. The claims were first reported by USA Today.
This development follows an earlier emergency motion filed by Kelly’s team, alleging a plot by prison staff to have him killed by another inmate. They are now urging the court to grant him temporary home detention, arguing that his life is at risk behind bars.
Federal prosecutors are pushing back. In a sharp rebuttal, they called Kelly’s motion “fanciful” and accused him of trying to escape justice by inventing conspiracies.
“Kelly is a prolific child molester,” they wrote in their response. “He is unapologetic about it. Kelly has never taken responsibility for his years of sexually abusing children, and he probably never will.”
The prosecutors argued that his plea for home confinement “makes a mockery of the harm suffered by Kelly’s victims”.
Kelly was convicted in 2021 on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. A year later, he was sentenced again this time for creating child sexual abuse imagery and enticing minors and handed another 20-year term, to run alongside his existing sentence.
His lawyers maintain he is being mistreated and that his health and safety are in danger.
The court has not yet ruled on the latest request for his release.
