According to Pitchfork, R. Kelly has been removed from suicide watch at the Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn today after suing the location over claims that he has not experienced suicidal thoughts or desire to harm himself. Following a clinical assessment of Kelly’s mental health, Heriberto Tellez, the facility’s warden, signed off on his release from suicide watch.
Tellez, the facility and the U.S. Department of Justice said that a psychologist on staff had recommended putting Kelly on suicide watch after assessing his mental health during an in-person consultation. Kelly’s lawsuit claims that putting him under suicide watch was an alleged punishment for his status as a celebrity. The suit also claims that the conditions under suicide watch were allegedly causing him mental distress. Kelly also said that he had been made to wear a “paper-like smock” and was allegedly denied eating utensils when having meals. He was seeking “compensatory damages for all emotional distress, humiliation, pain and suffering, and other harm in an amount to be determined at trial.”
The lawsuit comes after his 30-year sentence for sex trafficking and racketeering after being convicted in September 2021. Kelly will also stand trial for child pornography and obstruction charges in Illinois in August and felony charges for prostitution of minor in Minnesota. The case has continued to make headlines. Kelly’s associates have been accused of allegedly threatening to commit a mass shooting at a screening of the documentary Surviving R. Kelly, arson and bribery. In October 2021, YouTube responded by taking Kelly’s channels off their platform.
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