R. Kelly Is Glad to Be in Solitary Confinement

R. Kelly is being held without bail in Illinois, and apparently, he’s perfectly fine spending his time in solitary confinement.

Nicole Blank Becker, Kelly’s attorney, told TMZ that Kelly prefers being separated from the general population because he’s scared of what his fellow inmates would do to him.

That’s really saying something, since solitary is widely viewed as inhumane given how the effects of isolation impact a person’s psyche. TMZ reports that while prisoners held in the general population have constant access to the phone, Kelly will have only 15 minutes a month to talk to family and friends, in addition to no TV or internet access:

Although Kelly thinks he’s better off in solitary, his attorney says it creates a problem because he has no one to lean on. He can’t read or write, and that makes even the most mundane tasks super difficult, such as figuring out what’s on the commissary list.

In arguing why he should not be allowed out on bond, prosecutors called Kelly a “danger to the community, especially to minor girls,” adding that house arrest wasn’t viable since “The defendant can entice girls to his own doorstep, he doesn’t have to leave his home to do that.”

Kelly was arrested in Chicago last week on federal grand jury indictments in Illinois and New York. In Illinois, Kelly is charged with one count of conspiracy to receive child pornography, two counts of receiving child pornography, four counts of producing child pornography, five counts of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. In New York’s Eastern District, he’s accused of sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, forced labor and violations of the Mann Act involving the coercion and transportation of women and girls in interstate commerce to engage in illegal sexual activity from 1999 to the present.