R. Kelly’s lawyer has submitted a court filing to have the disgraced singer released from jail due to coronavirus concerns.
The disgraced singer, who is awaiting trial for a number of charges including child pornography, is currently housed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. His lawyer claims that the limited precautions at the facility are putting the singer’s life at risk.
The court filing states that sanitizer and soap are hard to come by and most of the 700 inmates are housed in small two-man cells that make social distancing impossible. Visitors have been barred from the facility, but there are few screening protocols in place for new detainees, lawyers and guards. The filing adds that while the visiting floor has hand sanitizer, a sign next to it reads “Staff Only.” And a bathroom on the same floor rarely has soap.
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The 18-page filing did not describe Kelly’s health issues but stated that he could be considered high risk.
“The courts have long recognized that there is no greater necessity than keeping a defendant alive, no matter the charge,” the filing states. “The health risk to Mr. Kelly, because of his age and existing health issues, especially considering the conditions at the MCC, necessitates his release on bail.”
The filing says that Kelly would live with girlfriend Joycelyn Savage in a Chicago loft apartment and could remain on home confinement with an electronic monitor. Kelly’s lawyer still needs to persuade the judge in his federal case in New York to grant him bail before he can be released in Chicago.
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