Attorneys for R&B singer R Kelly have filed an urgent request for his release from federal prison, citing a serious threat to his life. The motion asks that the 58-year-old be placed under home detention due to what they describe as an orchestrated plan to have him killed behind bars.
In a filing submitted on Tuesday, Kelly’s legal team claims that his safety is at risk. The motion alleges that three officials from the Bureau of Prisons attempted to recruit another inmate to murder the singer.
The claim includes a sworn statement from Mikeal Glenn Stine, a terminally ill inmate who identifies as a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. Stine said that while incarcerated at USP Tucson in Arizona, three senior prison officials offered him a deal: assassinate Kelly in exchange for a chance to escape custody and live out his remaining days as a free man.
“The threat to Mr Kelly’s life continues each day that no action is taken,” the filing states. “More AB members are accumulating at his facility. More than one has already been approached about carrying out his murder. One of them will surely do what Mr Stine has not, thereby burying the truth about what happened in this case along with Robert Kelly.”
It goes on to say: “Mr Kelly’s continued incarceration while he knows his life is in jeopardy constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.”
Stine alleges that after being transferred to the same unit as Kelly in March, he was confronted with a reminder of the plot.
“You need to do what you came here for,” he was allegedly told by prison officials.
Stine says he reconsidered after months of observing Kelly, eventually confessing the alleged plot directly to him.
Currently serving concurrent 30- and 20-year prison terms at the Butner Medium I federal correctional institution in North Carolina, Kelly was convicted on charges including racketeering, child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. He has been incarcerated since 2020 following his conviction in a New York.
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Kelly’s attorneys say they were informed in June that another Aryan Brotherhood member had been instructed to kill both Kelly and Stine.
This isn’t the first time Kelly has tried to secure a release on the grounds of inadequate safety. In 2020, while awaiting trial in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, he was assaulted in his cell by another inmate. His lawyers at the time argued that the government could not adequately protect him and called for his release, but the motion was ultimately denied.
