Security video shows prison guards 'did not lift a finger to stop R.Kelly from being beaten by a fellow inmate', his attorneys claim - amid reports employees could even have 'encouraged' the brutal attack
R. Kelly's attorneys say security video shows prison guards failed to stop the singer from being beaten by a fellow inmate inside Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center.
According to a motion filed Friday, Kelly, 53, is suffering 'significant physical and psychological injuries' stemming from the August attack, which his lawyers claim could have been 'encouraged' by staffers at the facility.
Kelly is being held at the MCC as he awaits trial on several dozen counts of state and federal sexual misconduct charges in Illinois, Minnesota and New York.
An incident report from the US Bureau of Prisons claims Kelly was ambushed by gang member Jeremiah Shane Farmer as he slept on the bottom bunk of his prison cell on August 26.
On that day, Farmer managed to separate from prison guards and enter the Kelly's cell, where he repeatedly stomped on the singer's head. The star was only saved when security personnel deployed pepper-spray.
But in their new motion, Kelly's attorneys claim that jailhouse security video shows a more troubling version of events.
R. Kelly's attorneys claim security video shows prison guards failed to stop the star from being beaten by fellow inmate, Jeremiah Shane Farmer, on August 26
They write that the footage shows Farmer was able to 'roam a great distance' away from the guards and 'no one at the MCC raised a finger to stop Mr. Farmer from attacking Mr. Kelly until after Mr. Farmer was well into beating.'
'An unresolved issue remains as to whether MCC personnel encouraged, and then allowed, a beating of Mr. Kelly to take place,' the attorneys added.
'That alone merits an evidentiary hearing.'
The filing comes less than a month after Kelly was denied bail, with officials saying he poses a flight risk and that his release could endanger the community.
Last month, Kelly's attorneys also requested that they be able to question Farmer under oath in the hopes that he may corroborate details that could help with the singer's appeal.
Kelly was attacked inside his jail cell at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center in August
Farmer, 39, is a Latin Kings gang member currently serving a life sentence at MCC Chicago for a racketeering conspiracy connected to a 1999 double homicide.
He was convicted in 2019 for the deaths of Marion Lowry, 74, and Harvey Siegers, 67.
The two victims were beaten with a small sledgehammer inside their business, Calumet Auto Rebuilders, and found with severe blunt force trauma wounds to the head.
Farmer - who has a 'F**k the Feds' tattoo on his face - last month claimed he was 'forced' to attack Kelly 'in hopes of getting spotlight attention and world news notice to shed light on the government corruption,' according to court documents obtained by The Chicago Tribune.
Lawyers for R. Kelly have argued that Metropolitan Correctional Center staff may have played a role in thee attack
Attorneys indicated that Farmer's questioning would include but not be limited to 'the role that any MCC personnel played in that attack'.
'It appears that MCC personnel simply followed Mr. Farmer, allowed him to carry out the attack, and then only intervened after Mr. Kelly had already sustained serious injuries,' those court documents from last month stated.
'Mr. Kelly was the victim of an unprovoked attack while incarcerated at the MCC because of who he is,' Kelly's attorney Thomas Farinella said.
'It's clear the Bureau of Prisons cannot adequately accommodate the need to keep him safe.'
Attorneys have attempted to convince federal judges that Kelly was not a danger and should be released pending his trial date
Court records showed that Farmer has a history of mental illness.
Prosecutors in 2017 suggested he undergo a psychiatric exam after Farmer, who is representing himself in appeals court, revealed he was 'suffering from a variety of mental illnesses.' He was later found fit to stand trial.
An indictment against Farmer claimed that between 1999 and 2001, Farmer 'tattooed his own face with two teardrops, to commemorate having killed' Siegers and Lowry.
In 2019, Kelly was indicted on charges related to sexual abuse in New York and Chicago
In Chicago, he's accused of bribing victims and witnesses to change their stories.
Kelly and his co-defendants allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to retrieve child pornography tapes before they were seized by prosecutors.
In New York, prosecutors have charged him with racketeering conspiracy related to allegations he identified underage girls at concerts and groomed them for sexual abuse.
In Chicago's Cook County, he's been charged with sexual abuse and sexual assault. Minnesota prosecutors hit Kelly with soliciting charges.
He's remained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center without bond ever since.