Once someone beats all the odds to become a star, it can be easy for average Joes to feel like they are untouchable. In reality, however, there are many examples of celebrities going through dramatic falls from grace.
As dramatic as it can be to see a star's career fall apart, that is nothing compared to what has happened to some celebrities. After all, some people have gone from being stars to finding themselves behind bars. In fact, there are far too many examples of former child stars who've gone to prison.
After music superstar R. Kelly spent years as one of the most successful singers of his generation, he'd won a slew of awards and amassed an impressive fortune. Then, everything fell apart for the singer as he lost his fortune and was sentenced to spend decades in prison.
As a result of Kelly's superstar status, there has been a lot of talk about him going to prison and there was even a rumor that he broke out. Despite all the discussion about Kelly being behind bars, a lot of people have no idea if he gets special accommodations from the people in charge of the prison.
Why Fans Think R. Kelly Has It Easier In Prison
In this day and age, it often seems like everyone wants to become a celebrity. Of course, part of the reason that is the case is that people want to make lots of money and most people think that most stars become rich.
However, there is another aspect of being a celebrity that most people are attracted to, the special treatment that stars get. As everyone already knows, stars who show up at restaurants usually get the best tables and don't have to wait in line. On top of that, most celebrities have loads of fans who would bend over backward to impress them.
Even after the world learned the extremely serious and deplorable nature of the crimes R. Kelly was accused of, most people were completely repulsed. Despite that, there were still fans who showed up at Kelly's sentencing to support him.
Given that Kelly can inspire that level of loyalty in fans, it makes sense that people assume he gets special treatment behind bars. Of course, that begs an obvious question, does Kelly really have it easier now that he is in prison?
When R. Kelly first entered prison, he had it better than the other inmates in at least one way.
For anyone who isn't familiar with how most prisons in America work, inmates are provided with some necessities. On top of that, they can use real money that they have in their prison accounts to purchase other goods including better food and even things like TVs depending on the facility.
At one point, Kelly had more than $27,000 in his prison account which would have allowed him to purchase things most inmates couldn't afford. However, Kelly's fortunes have since turned as a federal judge ordered the Bureau of Prisons to turn that money over to pay the former singer's debts.
On top of the money Kelly had early on, it certainly is possible that some inmates who enjoyed Kelly's music in the past have treated him well.
Why R. Kelly's Time In Prison Has Been Awful
Aside from the report that revealed that R. Kelly had a lot of money in prison when he first went behind bars, everything else that is known about his sentence paints a very different picture. In fact, it seems very clear that in some important ways, Kelly has it worse behind bars than some other inmates.
In 2020, a lawyer who represented Kelly named Nicole Blank Becker spoke to The Chicago Sun-Times. During the resulting conversation, she revealed just how scared Kelly was to be behind bars.
"Fear and terror have left him petrified and paranoid. [Kelly] can't sleep and is now afraid to leave his jail cell during the two hours he's permitted daily to venture out. His insomnia is serious ... He's even afraid to get his hair cut."
Shortly before that interview, it was revealed that Kelly's status played a direct role in the fear he was living in. As it turns out, Kelly had devoted fans who staged protests outside his prison. As a result of those protests, the prison was put on lockdown.
After the prisoners were allowed to move around the prison again, Kelly was in his cell sitting on his bed when another inmate who was angry about the lockdown entered. From there, the other inmate attacked Kelly.
Worse yet, Kelly's lawyers claimed that prison staff did nothing to help the former singer until the attack had been going on for a while. That said, it is important to note that claim has been denied by prison staff including the employee who broke up the attack.
After the attack, Kelly was placed in solitary confinement for his own safety. While that makes sense, the fact remains that there is a reason that there is a long history of solitary confinement being used as punishment.
On top of having to deal with being attacked and solitary confinement, there is something else that has made Kelly's time in prison worse. Although, at least in this case, everyone who has been behind bars in recent years has gone through the same thing.
During Kelly's time in prison, the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm and made prison much worse for many inmates.
First off, according to the Equal Justice Initiative, people in prison were more than five times more likely to contract COVID-19 than people on the outside. According to Kelly's lawyers, he has health issues that made getting COVID-19 more serious for him.
On top of that, the Equal Justice Initiative also reported that there was less prison staff during COVID-19. As a result of the lack of staffing, inmates were left at a much higher risk of being the victim of violence. It also has been reported that prisoners like Kelly were forced to spend more time in their cells during COVID-19.
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