R. Kelly hospitalized last week after drugging by prison staff, his attorneys claim

By Dianne Gallagher, CNN

(CNN) — R. Kelly was recently taken to the hospital after allegedly being given too much medication by prison staff while in solitary confinement, according to a filing from the disgraced R&B singer’s legal team.

The 58-year-old, born Robert Kelly, is currently serving two federal sentences, one for sex trafficking and racketeering and another for child pornography, at Butner Correctional Facility in North Carolina. His current release date is listed as December 21, 2045, according to the Bureau of Prison’s website.

In court documents obtained by CNN, Kelly’s legal team is again seeking an emergency release from prison, claiming that the “Federal Bureau of Prisons is taking active steps to kill” him – an accusation the government calls “fanciful.”

The filing from Kelly’s team alleges that he was placed in solitary confinement on June 10, hours after submitting a different emergency release request filing that separately alleged Bureau of Prisons officials had plotted to have another inmate kill Kelly.

It goes on to state that Kelly took his regular dose of medication on June 12 but they claim was later instructed by prison staff to take additional medication. The filing then claims that Kelly awoke on July 13 feeling “faint” and “dizzy,” seeing “black spots in his vision” before falling to the ground and losing consciousness. Kelly was taken by ambulance to Duke University Hospital, where the filing says he “learned that he had been administered an overdose quantity of his medications that threatened his life.” Kelly was hospitalized for two days.

The filing then claims that prison officials forced the singer to leave the hospital and return to prison “against his will and against the directives of the doctors” before completing additional medical treatment for ongoing blood clot issues.

In a response, federal prosecutors accused Kelly of asking for release “under the guise of a fanciful conspiracy.” They added that the “the deeply unserious and theatrical” motion, which they say was improperly filed, “makes a mockery of the harm suffered by Kelly’s victims.”

“This Court should not allow Kelly to turn its docket into a grocery store checkout aisle tabloid,” the government’s response said.

When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told CNN that due to “privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including medical and health-related issues.” They added that the BOP does not comment on pending litigation or matters subject to legal proceedings.

Kelly’s attorney, Beau Brindley, told CNN he was still hoping to pursue some form of intervention from President Donald Trump, who he believes could be sympathetic to his client due to the president’s own public legal battles.

“Whether a pardon or commutation we are looking for freedom for R. Kelly,” Brinkley said.

“It’s my continued work to seek the intervention of the President of the United States on Robert’s behalf,” Brindley added. “I believe President Trump is the one person who has the power and the will to stand up to people like this.”

In 2023, Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a Chicago federal courtroom following his conviction last year on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor.

At the time, Kelly was already serving a 30-year prison term for his 2021 conviction on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a New York federal court.

Most of his sentences are being served concurrently.

Kelly was one of the most successful R&B artists of the 1990s and 2000s, known for hit songs “Bump N’ Grind,” “Ignition (Remix)” and “I Believe I Can Fly,” which won him three Grammy Awards. He has been nominated for 26 Grammys, including as recently as 2015.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Eric Levenson and Bill Kirkos contributed to this report.