CNN has reported that R. Kelly was put on suicide watch at Federal Detention Center in New York, after being sentenced to 30 years in prison on 9 charges of sex trafficking and racketeering in Brooklyn. His sentence came roughly nine months after he was found guilty on all charges in September of last year.
While the artist was put on suicide watch, his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, has maintained that he was never suicidal, and pointed out the potential harms in putting a non-suicidal person on suicide watch, explaining that “The irony of putting someone on suicide watch when they’re not suicidal is it actually causes more harm.”
Bonjean went on to suggest that Kelly’s status and fame related to him being placed on suicide watch, saying that it was “punishment for being high-profile. And it’s horrifying frankly… To put someone under suicide watch under those conditions is cruel and unusual when they don’t need it.”
The situation lead to Kelly’s attorneys filing a lawsuit and temporary restraining order against the Metropolitan Detention Center of Brooklyn and the United States Government. The team’s lawsuit alleges that “MDC-Brooklyn has a policy of punishing high profile inmates by placing them under the harsh conditions of suicide watch even though they are not suicidal,” while the temporary restraining order requests that Kelly be released from detention.
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