R Kelly attacked by another inmate behind bars, his lawyer says

R Kelly’s attorney demanded he be released from prison after the disgraced R&B singer was allegedly attacked behind bars by another prisoner (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times/AP)

R Kelly’s attorney has demanded the singer be released from jail after he was allegedly attacked behind bars by another inmate.

Steve Greenberg said his client was attacked at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Chicago, Illinois, where Kelly is awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to dozens of state and federal sex crime charges.

The extent of the injuries are not known, Mr Greenberg said on Twitter.

He wrote: “Yesterday we were told that an inmate had attacked R Kelly at the MCC in Chicago. We received conflicting reports as to the extent of his injuries. We have not been provided any information from the jail, nor has Mr Kelly called. We are hopeful that he was not seriously injured.”

Mr Greenberg called for Kelly, 53, to be released ahead of his trial, scheduled to begin in Brooklyn next month.

He said: “The government cannot ensure his safety, and they cannot give him his day in court. We should not incarcerate people indefinitely because we cannot provide them with due process!”

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons would not confirm or deny Kelly had been attacked.

Grammy-winner Kelly, one of the biggest music stars of the 1990s, faces charges in Illinois, Minnesota and New York, including sexual assault and heading a racketeering scheme aimed at supplying him with girls.