R. Kelly is 'devastated' by his jail conditions, his lawyer says
- R. Kelly has been "devastated" by the weeks he's spent incarcerated in a Chicago jail, his lawyer said.
- Before he was transferred to a New York City jail on Thursday, Kelly was being held in a Chicago jail's Special Housing Unit, where he was isolated from other inmates due to his high-profile status.
- He also received "almost no commissary," and was only allowed 15 minutes of phone time per week.
- "To go from being a major star to that, how could anyone handle that?" his lawyer, Steve Greenberg, said.
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R. Kelly is struggling to come to terms with his weeks-long incarceration and has been "devastated" by conditions in the Chicago jail he's been held in, the R&B star's lawyer says.
Kelly was brought to a New York City jail on Thursday, but he had been detained in Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center following his July 11 arrest.
Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, told INSIDER that Kelly had been held in the Special Housing Unit in Chicago, where he was isolated from other inmates due to his high-profile status.
"In custody is not a good place to be. And he's in a terrible situation," Greenberg said. "He hasn't misbehaved, but yet he's suffered from all the restrictions of people who misbehave: almost no commissary, phone only 15 minutes a week, restricted visitation, shackles. It's terrible."
He continued: "To go from being a major star to that, how could anyone handle that? He's devastated."
Greenberg added that the transfer from Chicago to New York City was particularly brutal for Kelly because the singer has an extreme fear of flying.
"I think he would have preferred to take Amtrak, or even that he be driven. But he didn't get a say in that," Greenberg said.
On Friday, Kelly pleaded not guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom to federal charges of racketeering and violating sexual trafficking laws. The indictment said there were five alleged victims, three of whom were underage girls.
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