R. Kelly allegedly overdosed in prison last week and was rushed to Duke University Hospital in Durham, according to court documents filed by his lawyer.
The court filing states the 58-year-old singer, whose legal name is Robert Kelly, remained in the hospital for two days. It claims prison staff gave Kelly "an amount of medicine that could have killed him."
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“At the hospital, Mr. Kelly learned that he had been administered an overdose quantity of his medications that threatened his life,” the document states.
Kelly takes medication for anxiety and to help him sleep, according to the document.
The document also requests that Kelly be released to home detention. A judge on Thursday denied this request as "Kelly has not demonstrated a legal basis for this court's jurisdiction."
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Chicago-based attorney Beau Brindley made the court filing on Monday on behalf of Kelly in the U.S. District Court's Northern District of Illinois in the Eastern Division.
According to the filing, Kelly was forced to take medication in solitary confinement on the night of June 12. The document says Kelly was feeling "faint" and "dizzy" while he saw "black spots in his vision" early the next morning.
"Mr. Kelly tried to get up, but fell to the ground," the document states. "He crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness.
"He was placed on a gurney. Prison officials wanted him to be taken to the on-site medical facility, but staff there could not assist him."
Kelly is serving a 30-year sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking at the Federal Correctional Institute [FCI] facility in Butner. He was convicted in 2022.
The document claims that while in the ambulance, Kelly, heard one of the prison officers with him state, "This is going to open a whole new can of worms."
On Tuesday, WRAL News reached out to Brindley, Duke University Hospital and the Federal Correctional Institute facility in Butner.
A spokesperson for Duke University Hospital said to send questions to the FCI facility in Butner.
"For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including medical and health-related issues," a spokesperson wrote on behalf of the FCI in Butner. "Additionally, the Bureau of Prisons does not comment on pending litigation or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings."
WRAL News is waiting to hear back from Brindley.
Court filing details alleged plot to kill R. Kelly
The Monday filing also alleges the Bureau of Prisons [BOP] plotted to kill Kelly. It claims Kelly has sought medical attention for “an obviously swollen leg” due to a history of blood clots.
“Earlier this year, Mr. Kelly received what was supposed to be a scan for blood clots,” the filing states. “He was then told by prison medical staff that they were only authorized to advise him that he would no longer be receiving blood thinners.”
The court document states the singer was taken off blood thinners within the last three months.
According to the document, Kelly showed the doctors his leg at Duke University Hospital. He shared concerns that more clots were forming.
“The hospital did a scan for blood clots,” the document states. “That scan revealed blood clots in his right leg, blood clots in his left leg and blood clots in his lungs.
“The hospital indicated he would need to be kept for seven days and scheduled for a surgery to clear the clots. He was immediately placed back blood thinners that Butner medical staff discontinued.”
The doctors told Kelly he would need surgery and should be hospitalized for two weeks, according to the document.
The filing states officers at Duke University Hospital contacted prison personnel in Butner.
"Within an hour, officers with guns came into his hospital room and removed Mr. Kelly," the document states. "He was taken from the hospital against his will and against the directives of the doctors.
"He was denied the surgery he needs to clear blood clots in his lungs that threaten his life."
The court document says hospital records can confirm that officers removed Kelly against his will.
The document states authorities "took him out of the hospital and returned him to solitary confinement, not even to the Butner medical facility."
"Mr. Kelly's life is in jeopardy right now because the Bureau of Prisons denied him necessary surgery to clear clots from his lungs," the document states. "He could die from this condition, and they are letting it happen."
The document also requests that Kelly be released to home detention.
"Mr. Kelly’s life is in danger, and that danger is coming from Bureau of Prisons officials and their actions," the document states. "Mr. Kelly needs this court’s intervention.
"His life actually depends on it."
Lawyers claim R. Kelly is target of murder plot
On June 11, Brindley filed a motion to allow Kelly to serve home detention. The motion alleges Kelly is the target of a murder plot.
“The very officials charged with protecting incarcerated inmates have solicited Mr. Kelly’s murder," the motion reads.
The motion also states, “In the wake of this troubling dialogue with a prison official, on April 11, 2025, an inmate incarcerated with Mr. Kelly approached him and disclosed that he was sent to FCI Butner by BOP officials who directed him to murder Mr. Kelly. The inmate’s name is Mikeal Glenn Stine.”
Stine was moved to Kelly’s unit in March 2025, the motion states. It stated Stine was previously in custody at a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona.
“He [Stine] has signed a declaration setting forth a long history of assaults and murders that he has ordered and participated in at the direction of Bureau of Prisons officials,” the motion states.
Stine is a member of the Aryan Brotherhood gang and has been in BOP custody since 1982, according to the motion. It also states Stine has a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Kelly's attorneys allege BOP officials offered Stein the opportunity "to live out the last of those months as a free man" in exchange for killing Kelly.
According to the motion, Stine considered how to carry out the murder of Kelly, but “he made a different choice.”
“As a dying man with a long history of murder and violence in his past, Stine decided not to carry out his order,” the motion states.
The motion states a second member of the Aryan Brotherhood, who is housed at FCI Butner, was approached by a prison worker and directed to kill Kelly and Stein.
On June 12, Brindley filed another motion on behalf of Kelly.
“Glenn Stine set forth his long history of committing acts of violence at the behest of prison officials in exchange for valuable favors,” the June 12 motion states.
The June 11 motion states the "special privileges" that Stein and other incarcerated Aryan Brother members received included, "no cell searches and the ability to traffic narcotics within the prison without interference."
"The possibility of poison being mixed into the food at the chow hall and in the commissary as a means of achieving these executions was discussed," the June 11 motion states.
The June 12 filing alleges the BOP retaliated against Kelly, placing him in solitary confinement due to the initial filing the day before.
Kelly had no access to call his family, friends or lawyer, according to the June 12 filing.
"He is not eating, fearing the food will be poisoned," the June 12 filing states.
Brindley provided a statement to the media.
"Robert Kelly sits in solitary confinement with blood clots in his lungs. He could die at any moment. The Bureau of Prisons knows this and its officials are letting it happen on purpose. After Mr. Kelly exposed a plot by the Bureau of Prisons to kill him, many responded with skepticism. But Bureau of Prisons officials have now removed all doubt."
"Within three days of the exposure of the murder plot, prison officials administered him a lethal overdose of his anxiety and sleeping medication. They tried to keep him from an outside hospital, but his condition was too dire to allow it. At Duke University Hospital, while treated for overdose, Mr. Kelly advised doctors that he had been taken off his blood thinners by the prison and feared blood clots. Doctors found blood clots in both legs and in his lungs. They ordered a 7-day hospital stay and surgery to remove life threatening clots. The prison responded by sending officers armed with AR15's to remove him from the hospital against doctors' recommendations. With blood clots that can kill him in his lungs, they took him to solitary confinement. There is now no doubt that Bureau of Prisons do not want Mr. Kelly to survive long enough to expose the crimes committed against him."
"They hope that the slow pace of litigation will allow them to let Mr. Kelly die before we can expose the truth. We will not let that happen. It is for this reason that we continue to seek the aid of President Trump. He remains the one source of true power to control prosecutorial corruption in this country. And we need him now. He may be the only person who can save R. Kelly's life."
A previously scheduled news conference organized by a civil rights group was canceled.