R. Kelly Transferred To NYC's Metropolitan Detention Center — Where Ghislaine Maxwell Is Held
Disgraced musician R. Kelly has reportedly been moved from a detention center in Chicago to New York's Metropolitan Detention Center — the very same prison Ghislaine Maxwell is in — where he is expected to stay ahead of his trial in August.
Two sources told CNN that the 54-year-old moved to the Brooklyn facility on Tuesday, June 22. The "I Believe I Can Fly" crooner was indicted in Illinois and New York.
However, Kelly might not find himself too comfortable at his new digs, as the prison has reportedly been looked down upon by detainees and attorneys, due to alleged poor conditions.
Earlier this month, Maxwell's attorney Bobbi Sternheim wrote to the court complaining that a smell of raw sewage "permeated" her cell and that "vermin droppings fell from the air vents."
Sternheim also made note of Judge Colleen McMahon's comments on the MDC, who said the facility is "run by morons."
"[T]here is no excuse for the conditions in those two institutions. … [Detainees] shouldn't suffer for the incompetence of the United States Department of Justice and its subsidiary agency, the Bureau of Prisons," McMahon reportedly said at another sentencing about the MDC and another Manhattan prison.
On Wednesday, June 23, the family of inmate Jamel Floyd — who reportedly died in the MDC after he was pepper-sprayed — filed a lawsuit against the government and guards, alleging that they did not intervene as he "slowly died" in June 2020. According to the suit, guards sprayed so much pepper spray that a cloud of the substance formed, which caused him to collapse and his heart to fail, Page Six reported.
Maxwell has also complained of being woken up by flashlights throughout the night as guards check on her. According to Page Six, the former socialite also alleged that she had been abused by a guard during a pat-down.
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Maxwell has been in the MDC since summer 2020 as she awaits her trial in July. She previously pleaded not guilty to allegations of grooming, procuring, and trafficking underage victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
District Judge Ann Donnelly asked that Kelly be moved to New York for an in-person conflict hearing after two of his attorneys departed his legal team ahead of the trial, CNN reported.
Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard asked to exit the case, but Kelly's other attorneys, Tom Farinella and Nicole Blank Becker, claimed that Kelly had actually sacked them.
Greenberg later said that he and Leonard had decided to exit before Kelly axed them. "They are just trying to make us look bad rather than take any accountability for their own inexperience," Greenberg told ABC News.
Kelly said in court that he was fine to continue to work with Farinella and Becker.
Attorney Deveraux Cannick filed a notice on Tuesday that he would be joining the singer's legal team, CNN reported. According to Farinella, the court also appointed attorney Ilana Haramati so that Kelly could temporarily have independent legal counsel during the conflict hearing between the attorneys.
Kelly had been behind bars in Chicago since his 2019 arrest on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and obstruction. He is slated to stand trial on August 9.
