Source: E. JASON WAMBSGANS / Getty
Updated June 17, 2025, 11:00 a.m.
R. Kelly’s legal team claims the R&B singer suffered a medication overdose last week while in federal custody, allegedly due to actions taken by prison staff. In a court filing submitted on June 17 and obtained by USA TODAY, attorneys for Kelly argue that he was given an “overdose quantity” of medication on June 12 while being held in solitary confinement at the Federal Correctional Institute in Butner, North Carolina.
The 58-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Kelly, reportedly collapsed in his cell the following day and was hospitalized at Duke University Hospital in Durham. His legal team claims he was forcibly discharged from the hospital against medical advice before undergoing a necessary surgery for blood clots in his lungs. According to the filing, armed officers removed him from the facility and returned him to solitary confinement.
The Bureau of Prisons has declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.
Kelly’s lawyers say he had been placed in isolation on June 10, two days before the alleged overdose, after they filed an emergency motion warning of a supposed plot by prison officials to have him harmed by another inmate. They describe his June 13 episode as severe: Kelly felt faint, collapsed, crawled to his cell door, and lost consciousness before being taken to the hospital.
The filing states that doctors at Duke recommended a two-week stay for surgery, but officers intervened. “His life is in jeopardy,” his lawyers wrote, claiming the Bureau of Prisons is “letting it happen.”
Federal prosecutors strongly refuted the accusations, calling them “fanciful,” “theatrical,” and procedurally flawed. They argue the motion disrespects Kelly’s victims and portrays him as a “master manipulator.”
Kelly is currently serving a 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking, with an additional 20-year sentence imposed for related charges.
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