R Kelly hopes to be RELEASED from jail due to coronavirus as lawyers say keeping him locked up is like ‘drinking poison’ – The Sun

5
SINGER R Kelly has asked to be released for jail over fears surrounding the coronavirus as his lawyers argued that keeping him locked up is like "drinking poison."

Kelly's attorneys filed a motion Thursday to ask Judge Harry Leinenweber to move the star's bail hearing "and order granting release," according to reports.


A letter to the judge explained how Kelly "is within the group of people the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has categorized as most-at-risk for contracting COVID-19."

Kelly, 53, is currently housed at Chicago MCC and is awaiting both federal and state trials surrounding numerous charges of sexually abusing minors.

The motion read: "Those now detained cannot be protected from the coming jail epidemic, and if infected will without question suffer from inferior health care."

It was added: "No matter what steps they take the sanitation will be substandard, the risk of an internal pandemic at the MCC is great."

According to reports, Kelly claims social distancing is not possible within the jail and the only bottle of hand sanitizer is labeled "STAFF ONLY!"

HEALTH CONCERNS

The Grammy-award winner would live in Chicago apartment complex with one of his girlfriends, Jocelyn Savage, were he to be released.

Across the country, hundreds of low-level inmates have also sought freedom to combat the risks of the deadly virus.

President Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen and rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine also applied for get-out-of-jail cards because of COVID-19, according to reports.

Kelly is currently housed at a Chicago federal jail, which he was sent to in July 2019.

 

Federal prosecutors have hinted that they may file more charges against the singer, who was the subject of the documentary series, "Surviving R Kelly."

The Ignition singer has denied all allegations against him.

The coronavirus outbreak has already hit other prisons across the country, including New York's Riker's Island Prison.



Source: Read Full Article