R. Kelly wants out of prison because he fears contracting coronavirus.
Coronavirus seems to have become the latest excuse for rappers to try and earn a “get out of jail early” card. First, we had Tekashi 6ix9ine wanting out of prison, and now R. Kelly appears to have been faking tips. R. Kelly has called Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Centre home for the last few months as he awaits trial for multiple sexual assault charges. The “In the Closet” singer is due to appear in court in Chicago next month and in New York in July on charges of child sexual exploitation, child pornography production, kidnapping, forced labor, and obstruction of justice.
Less than two weeks ago, Kelly was also charged with passing on a sexually transmitted disease to two women whom he slept with but did not inform that he had herpes.
Now, as his day in court looms, the 53-year-old wants to be released from prison as he fears contracting Coronavirus, TMZ reported. Despite correctional services across the United States enforcing strict measures to ensure that inmates are protected from the pandemic, R. Kelly doesn’t believe that this is enough. Citing overcrowding as making it impossible to practice WHO-suggested social distancing, the artist also claimed that only prisoners with enough money can purchase soap at the commissary. “No matter what steps they take the sanitation will be substandard, the risk of an internal pandemic at the MCC is great,” wrote Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, in a letter to the judge.
6ix9ine, who is currently serving time at the Queens Detention Centre, is also concerned that the deadly virus will reach him, following a case of COVID-19 reported at Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn. The “Stoopid” rapper is afflicted with asthma and has also been hospitalized for pneumonia in the past, making him vulnerable to infection. Tekashi is hoping that his lawyer’s appeal will get him out earlier than his scheduled release date of August 2nd, 2020.
