“The irony of putting someone on a suicide watch when they’re not suicidal is that it actually causes more harm,” Bonjean said. Kelly’s lawyers later filed suit and sought a temporary restraining order. The complaint names Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) and its top officials as well as the United States government as defendants. According to the lawsuit, Kelly’s attorneys called the detention center after his sentencing to inquire about his condition, and employees repeatedly hung up on them, “laughing and being extremely unprofessional.” CNN contacted the US Bureau of Prisons and attempted to reach the MDC warden for comment. Bonjean said earlier that she was told by prosecutors who spoke with corrections officers Kelly, 55, was put on suicide watch because he is known. “It’s a punishment for being high profile. And it’s horrific frankly,” he said. “Having someone kill themselves in these circumstances is cruel and unusual when they don’t have to.” “MDC-Brooklyn has a policy of punishing high-profile inmates by subjecting them to the harsh conditions of suicide, even though they are not suicidal,” the lawsuit states. Bonjean is also seeking a temporary restraining order to remove Kelly from confinement. Bonjean said she asked Kelly to email her after he returned to the federal facility following his sentencing Wednesday, but she never received an email from him. He has not received answers about his condition from the detention center until prosecutors requested information from the facility, Bonjean added. A jury convicted Kelly last September of nine counts, including one count of extortion and eight counts of violations of the Mann Act, a sex-trafficking law. Prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York accused Kelly of using his celebrity status and a “network of people at his disposal to target girls, boys and young women for his own sexual gratification.” testimony from witnesses who said they were sexually and physically abused by Kelly. The court also heard from people involved in orchestrating the disgraced R&B singer’s 1994 marriage to the late singer Aaliyah when she was just 15 and an adult after believing she had become pregnant. Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Kelly to more than 25 years behind bars, while his defense attorneys had asked for 10 or less.
