Singer-songwriter R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing minors. However, the disgraced R&B star claimed that authorities placed him on suicide watch shortly after his sentencing last week.

Kelly noted that this was a form of punishment that federal authorities had placed against him. However, jail authorities are pushing back on these claims by the convicted sex offender. 

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn filed court papers last Saturday, which said that R. Kelly remains on suicide watch "for his own safety." 

The court papers claimed they did this after a psychological assessment of the known child molester and disgraced R&B star.

The U.S. Attorney's Office Claims R. Kelly Is Under a Lot of Stress

The U.S. Attorney's Office filed the court papers after R. Kelly sued the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for placing him on suicide watch. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Melanie Speight wrote in the filing that Kelly's current circumstances in life had brought much emotional stress to the singer. 

The court filing said he has just been convicted to spend 30 years in prison and is facing more charges in Chicago for child pornography. And because of the emotional stress, they have placed him on suicide watch "solely for punitive purposes" and as "a high-profile inmate."

According to The New York Times, the jail's staff psychologist placed Kelly on suicide watch after his sentencing because a psychiatric review determined that he was clinically at risk of harming himself following the ruling. 

The court documents state that psychologists base their decisions for placing an inmate on suicide watch on the defendants' state of mind, degree of hopelessness, and the length of sentence.

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R. Kelly Lawyer Claims Jail Staff Knew He Is Not a Suicide Risk

However, R. Kelly's lawsuit against the Metropolitan Detention Center stated that the singer had already expected the decision. 

Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, argued that while the status of suicide watch might be appropriate for those who are truly a danger to themselves, Kelly himself is not suicidal, and it was unconstitutional under his Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment.

The lawsuit against the detention center also claimed that Kelly explicitly told psychologists that he was not suicidal but was placed in the program anyway. 

The filing noted that inmates under suicide watch are made to wear paper smocks instead of regular prison jumpsuits and are also not provided eating utensils, forcing inmates to eat with their hands. His lawyer also claimed that the suicide watch brought irreparable harm to Kelly because of its "harsh" conditions.

The lawsuit further noted that even the staff members from the detention center knew that Kelly was not a suicide risk. However, government lawyers argued that taking the singer off a suicide watch based merely on his self-analysis is "unprecedented."

Following the suicide of fellow child molester and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons has been under heightened scrutiny.

In addition, the Brooklyn-based detention center where R. Kelly is imprisoned is also housing another high-profile sex offender, Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein. The detention center also placed her on suicide watch.

READ MORE: R. Kelly Prison Sentence Compared to Ghislaine Maxwell's Jail Time: Twiterverse Slams Disparity

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: R. Kelly Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Sex Abuse - From BBC News