Controversial R&B singer R. Kelly was reportedly rushed to a hospital after collapsing in his prison cell at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina.
According to The Independent, his attorney has raised alarm over a possible attempt on the singer’s life.
The 58-year-old artist, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, allegedly fainted on the morning of Friday, June 13, after what his legal team described as a potentially lethal overdose of prescribed medication.
“Within two days of filing our motion warning of threats to Mr. Kelly’s life, he was administered a dangerously high dose of medication, leading to a collapse,” his lawyer, Beau Brindley, said in a statement. “This overdose placed him in a life-threatening condition.”
Kelly was transferred to Duke University Hospital for emergency medical care. According to Brindley, doctors discovered blood clots in both his legs and lungs and recommended immediate surgery. However, the attorney claims the surgery never took place.
“Armed officers entered his hospital room, removed him against medical advice, and denied him the surgery he urgently needed,” Brindley added. “This is all documented in hospital records. It is indisputable.”
This incident followed Kelly’s placement in solitary confinement on June 10, shortly after his legal team filed a motion in Illinois federal court. That motion included a sworn statement from another inmate, Mikeal Glenn Stine, who claimed that both prison staff and white supremacist groups were working together to assassinate Kelly to conceal alleged misconduct linked to his conviction and imprisonment.
During his time in isolation, Kelly was reportedly cut off from communication, denied commissary food, and exposed to inhumane conditions. Fearing poisoning, he allegedly refused food for days.
“He was kept in a cell crawling with spiders, with no access to phone calls or basic necessities,” said Brindley.
The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence after being convicted of multiple counts of sex trafficking and racketeering.