R Kelly's lawyers allege overdose on medication provided by prison staff

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R. Kelly lawyers allege the disgraced star suffered an overdose from medication provided to him by prison staff in a new filing.

The singer is currently being housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina—a medium security federal prison. Earlier this month, Kelly’s lawyers argued that he should be released from prison due to an ongoing threat to his life presented by notorious white supremacist prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood. His lawyers are also seeking a potential pardon from President Trump.

The latest filing says R. Kelly was put into solitary confinement on June 10, along with his medication for anxiety. On the same day, prison staff entered his room and directed him to take further medications—to which the singer complied. His lawyers state that the interaction was caught on camera. On June 13, R. Kelly reported feeling faint and dizzy, with black spots appearing in his vision. He lost consciousness and was transported to the Duke University Hospital. Kelly says he heard a prison staffer say, “this is going to open a new can of worms” during his transfer.

The filing states that R. Kelly spent two days being treated in the hospital and alleges, “[Prison staff] gave him an amount of medicine that could have killed him.” During his hospital visit due to overdose, doctors at Duke observed his legs and found clots that require surgery to remove. His lawyers allege that Kelly was removed from the hospital after the surgical consultation, with officers denying him the surgery recommended by doctors.

The original filing for R. Kelly’s release includes a sworn declaration from terminally ill inmate Mikeal Glenn Stine, who alleges Bureau of Prisons officials approached him to carry out the murder of R. Kelly while Stine himself was in custody in Tucson, Arizona. Stine claims those officials offered him the opportunity to escape custody and live out his final months as a ‘free man’ if he committed the murder. Stine was transferred to Kelly’s unit in March, with one BOP official approaching him and stating: “you need to do what you came here for.”