This week, former R&B star R. Kelly—currently serving a 30‑year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking—filed alarming legal claims that prison officials conspired to kill him. According to his attorney Beau Brindley, Kelly was deliberately given a near-fatal overdose of prescribed medication while in solitary confinement at FC I Butner, North Carolina. He collapsed and was rushed to Duke University Hospital, where doctors discovered life‑threatening blood clots in his lungs and legs  .

Kelly alleges prison staff enlisted a member of the Aryan Brotherhood to murder him, promising leniency in exchange. After filing an emergency motion for temporary home confinement—citing the suspected murder plot—Kelly says he was returned to solitary, denied surgery, and prematurely removed from the hospital  .

Federal prosecutors dismissed these grave accusations as a “fanciful conspiracy,” emphasizing Kelly’s refusal to take responsibility for his crimes. They label the filing manipulative and politically charged  . The Bureau of Prisons has declined to comment on the specifics or conditions of his incarceration  .

A critical court hearing is scheduled for June 20 in the Northern District of Illinois, where Kelly is seeking a move to home confinement. His legal team, citing “deliberate indifference to human life,” argues his prolonged solitary confinement and denial of treatment amount to cruel and unusual punishment  .

Whatever the outcome, this drama adds another shocking chapter to R. Kelly’s turbulent legacy—and raises serious questions about the safety and medical treatment of high-profile inmates.