ANOTHER NOPE

R. Kelly Denied Release From Prison—Again—Despite Coronavirus Pandemic

A federal judge said that law enforcement, already stretched thin, couldn’t guarantee that the singer wouldn’t tamper with witnesses.

A federal judge in Illinois denied R. Kelly’s second request to be released from prison into house arrest due to the coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus has hit the facility where Kelly is being held, MCC Chicago, and a resident on Kelly’s floor has been hospitalized with the virus, which the singer’s lawyer argued was grounds for his release. But Judge Ann Donnelly wrote that, given the pandemic, law enforcement was stretched thin and “cannot ensure that a defendant with a history, incentive, and opportunity to interfere with potential witnesses will not do so.” The Ignition singer is being held pending multiple trials. A number of notable convicted criminals, including former Trump fixer Michael Cohen and rapper Tekashi69, have been allowed to serve their sentences on house arrest as U.S. prisons decrease population density to slow the spread of COVID-19.