R Kelly begs for house arrest
R. Kelly has renewed his fight for freedom
Image: Bang Showbiz
R Kelly has made a bid to be released from prison.
The I Believe I Can Fly singer - who is serving a 31-year sentence for child sexual abuse crimes - is seeking to be removed from federal custody and placed on house arrest after alleging his life is in danger behind bars.
An emergency motion for temporary furlough was filed in federal court on Tuesday (10.06.25) and alleges three officials with the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) devised a plot to have Kelly killed by another inmate.
The filing, which was obtained by People magazine, contains a declaration from the inmate, Mikeal Glenn Stine, who alleged he was asked to carry out the plot by three high-ranking individuals while serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Tucson in Arizona.
Stine claimed to be a member of the Aryan Brotherhood and was titled commissioner at one point, which gave him the "power to order beatings, stabbings, and executions that were carried out by other members of the A.B."
He alleged a BOP official who had previously "directed [Stine] to order assaults, beatings, and killings of inmates" approached him about killing the 58-year-old singer, and he was then transferred across the country to the Federal Correctional Institute Butner in North Carolina where Kelly is behind bars, and was eventually placed in the same unit as him.
If he completed the act, Stine alleged officials told him he'd be allowed to escape from custody and live out his final months as a "free man", which appealed because he said he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer at the time.
Shortly after being relocated, he alleged an official approached him and said: "You need to do what you came here for."
But after watching Kelly for weeks, he had a change of heart and told the singer about the supposed plot.
Stine - who has filed more than 100 civil suits and petitions in federal court over the last two decades - claimed he would undergo a polygraph test to establish he is telling the truth and said he'd also reveal the names of those inmates whose beatings and killings he has been involved with over the years.
Kelly's lawyer argued in the filing that "drastic relief is warranted" to protect his client.
The attorney added: "Mr. Kelly's continued incarceration while he knows his life is in jeopardy constitutes cruel and unusual punishment."
After being attacked in the past, Kelly is said to be even more fearful of a future incident because he believes prison staff may not adequately protect him.
His attorney Beau Brindley told People: "He is not safe in federal custody. And to keep him in prison while he is under threat like this is cruel and unusual punishment."
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