R Kelly moved from solitary confinement to general prison population ahead of today's court appearance

R.Kelly’s plea to be moved out of solitary confinement has been granted as he has now joined the general population in prison.

R. Kelly’s lawyer, Steven Greenberg, said Tuesday that the move was the result of “ongoing” discussions about easing the restrictions of Kelly’s confinement.

“We filed a motion with the court, and the jail took the appropriate action and moved him,” Greenberg says. According to multiple US news outlets, R.Kelly was moved to the general population with other prisoners on Tuesday, 3 September 2019.

Also, his lawyers think he was only kept in solitary confinement as part of the plans to punish him.

But official documents obtained by TMZ seems to contradict that claim. Prosecutors say the superstar was recorded on a jailhouse telephone call in July saying he’d refused to go into general population when it was offered.

“If I go to the population … I’m just up on everybody and everybody’s upon me, and I’m trying to figure out how to trust that or whatever,” Kelly was quoted as saying in the  19 July, eight days after his arrest.

Later in the same call, Kelly said he’d decided to stay put because he wasn’t sure he’d be safe among the jail’s regular detainees, according to the filing.

“You know, and that’s why, I was like, hmmm, too many people upon you and I done seen too many movies, you know, and it’s just, and then I’m so popular here, it’s like yeah man,” Kelly allegedly said.

TMZ also reports that R. Kelly will now be allowed 10 non-attorney visits instead of the previously allowed one. He’ll also have a longer leash for phone calls and emails.

Kelly, 52, has been held without bond at the MCC since July 11, when federal agents arrested him on sexual misconduct charges while he was walking his dog outside his home in the Trump Tower. His lawyers alleged that the draconian conditions in the Loop high-rise jail’s Special Housing Unit have unfairly punished Kelly even though he has not been convicted of any of the allegations against him.

It has also seriously hampered his ability to prepare for trial, with his legal team forced to meet with Kelly — who is kept in handcuffs — in a cramped room with no table, just a small shelf with “not enough space to put a piece of paper and have it lie flat,” Kelly’s attorneys said in a recent motion.

Meanwhile, the singer is expected to appear at a status hearing Wednesday morning. Kelly’s attorney said they will ask the judge to release him on bond.