R Kelly has been moved from a restrictive unit to the general prison population of a Chicago jail despite concerns other inmates could hurt him, US prosecutors have said.

The R&B singer was removed from the restrictive housing unit in the jail he is being held in on Tuesday, according to a filing by the federal prosecutors.

Kelly’s lawyers last week said the artist had been in solitary confinement since July, calling it “cruel and unusual punishment”.
But Tuesday’s filing said Kelly had cellmates while in the restrictive unit and that he himself asked to be kept from other inmates for fear of attack.

Prosecutors quoted Kelly as saying in a jail phone call he had seen “too many movies” about bad things happening to well-known inmates.

He faces sexual misconduct charges in Illinois, Minnesota and New York.