AceShowbiz - R. Kelly has been placed in solitary confinement in a Chicago, Illinois prison after he was beaten up in his cell by a fellow inmate, according to the singer's lawyer.

A TMZ source claimed the "I Believe I Can Fly" hitmaker, who is behind bars awaiting trial on a series of child sex abuse charges, was attacked in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, and now Kelly's legal representative has confirmed the report, revealing measures have been taken to protect his client.

"That's the only place they can protect him," Steve Greenberg tells Page Six. "My understanding is, every time there is a pro-R. Kelly protest outside of the jail, they lock down the entire facility. When they do this, inmates don't get their commissary, they don't get their shower, stuff like that and since they’re fairly sporadic anyway, they get upset. So they're penalising everyone in the facility because people are protesting in support of Kelly."

The ongoing drama has led to tensions behind bars and that resulted in the "dust up" on Wednesday (26Aug20).

Greenberg insists there were no major injuries and nothing was broken thanks to the quick thinking of prison guards.

"I'm still very concerned because sure this time the guards were able to quickly stop something from happening but what happens if someone goes in his cell with a shank or something like that? Or the guards are busy doing something else?" Greenberg adds. "We were fortunate this time."