R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (2024)

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R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (1)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (2)

Instagram posts

stated on July 14, 2022 in an Instagram post:

R. Kelly “missing after prison security verify he’s escaped beneath facility.”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (3)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (4)
  • Facebook Fact-checks
  • New York
  • Illinois
  • Instagram posts

By Ciara O'RourkeJuly 18, 2022

If Your Time is short

  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison. He was recently moved from a federal detention facility in New York to one in Chicago where he awaits another criminal trial.

See the sources for this fact-check

At the end of June, singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted in New York of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. At the time, he was being held in a Brooklyn federal detention center. But an Instagram post a couple of weeks later claimed that he had escaped custody.

"BREAKING: R KELLY reportedly MISSING after PRISON SECURITY verify he’s ESCAPED beneath FACILITY," the July 14 post said. It featured an image of Kelly and a picture of a tunnel with the ABC News logo and the word "exclusive."

The post elaborated that he had escaped "his New York prison only a week after being sentenced."

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

R. Kelly did leave the Brooklyn detention center, but he didn’t break out.

Featured Fact-check

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (6)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (7)

Threads posts

stated on July 14, 2024 in a post

Photo shows Barron Trump on July 13, 2024, at Butler, Pennsylvania, rally.

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (8)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (9)

The Chicago Tribune reported that Kelly, 55, was moved from Brooklyn to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago on July 12 in advance of another criminal trial. That one is set to start Aug. 15 and involves charges that Kelly conspired with two former associates to rig a 2008 child p*rnography case against him in Cook County, Illinois. (The Atlantic detailed that indictment, as well as the one from New York, in a 2019 story here.)

Kelly’s full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly and we searched for it among current federal inmates on July 18.

We found "Robert Sylveste Kelly," a Black male age 55, who was in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

We previously debunked a claim in 2021 that a photo showed Kelly being released from prison. The photo was an old one and showed him leaving jail in 2019 after paying child support he owed his ex-wife. He was still in custody then, and he’s still in custody now.

We rate this post False.

Read About Our Process

The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter

Our Sources

Instagram post, July 14, 2022

CNN, R. Kelly placed on suicide watch after being sentenced to 30 years in prison, his lawyer says, July 1, 2022

CNN, R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison for federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges, June 30, 2022

Associated Press, Disgraced R&B star R. Kelly back in Chicago for sex trial, July 13, 2022

Chicago Tribune, R. Kelly back in Chicago’s federal jail ahead of trial next month, July 13, 2022

PolitiFact, An old photo of R. Kelly leaving jail is being shared online but the singer is still in custody, June 4, 2021

Bureau of Prisons, Inmate search: Robert Kelly, July 18, 2022

The Atlantic, The R. Kelly Federal Indictments Describe a Conspiracy, July 12, 2019

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Ciara O'Rourke

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (10)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (11)

Viral image

stated on August 8, 2024 in a Facebook post:

Says Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had his stomach pumped “after overingesting horse sem*n.”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (12)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (13)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (14)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (15)

Viral image

stated on August 6, 2024 in a Threads post:

Photo shows former President Donald Trump “asleep at the 2017 NATO summit.”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (16)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (17)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (22)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (23)

Facebook posts

stated on August 5, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“Caitlin Clark declines $1 million offer from ABC to appear on ‘The View.’”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (24)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (25)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (26)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (27)

Instagram posts

stated on August 2, 2024 in an Instagram post:

President Joe Biden walked “onto an empty airplane for no reason.”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (28)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (29)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (30)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (31)

Viral image

stated on July 12, 2024 in an Instagram post:

“Police found human remains and evidence of cannibalism” at Oprah Winfrey’s home.

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (32)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (33)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (34)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (35)

Facebook posts

stated on August 3, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“Michael Jordan rejects $400 million Disney offer, stating, ‘I do not collaborate with companies aligned with woke ideologies.’”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (36)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (37)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (38)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (39)

Viral image

stated on July 31, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“Scientists at Exeter University have reconstructed this 3D model of how Moses might have looked.”

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R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (41)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (42)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (43)

Facebook posts

stated on July 27, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“Elon Musk calls for ban on ‘The View,’ ‘I’d rather walk barefoot on hot asphalt than watch ‘The View.’”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (44)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (45)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (46)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (47)

Facebook posts

stated on July 23, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“Elon Musk backs Caitlin Clark, offers $10 million endorsem*nt.”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (48)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (49)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (54)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (55)

Viral image

stated on July 21, 2024 in a Facebook post:

Video shows a “strong tornado in Atlanta.”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (56)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (57)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (58)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (59)

Facebook posts

stated on August 2, 2024 in a Facebook post:

Says Simone Biles “announces retirement” and “reveals she is ‘expecting a baby.’”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (60)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (61)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (62)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (63)

Threads posts

stated on July 16, 2024 in a Threads post:

Switzerland “no longer recognizes Islam as an official religion.”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (64)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (65)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (66)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (67)

Facebook posts

stated on July 26, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“Netflix loses 6 million subscribers within hours of donation announcement.”

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (68)

R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (69)

No, R. Kelly didn’t escape prison

  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (70)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (71)

    Donald Trump

    stated on August 8, 2024 in a press conference:

    “I went down in a helicopter with (Willie Brown). We thought maybe this is the end. We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together and there was an emergency landing.”

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (72)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (73)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (74)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (75)

    Viral image

    stated on August 8, 2024 in a Facebook post:

    Says Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had his stomach pumped “after overingesting horse sem*n.”

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (76)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (77)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (78)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (79)

    Viral image

    stated on August 6, 2024 in a Threads post:

    Photo shows former President Donald Trump “asleep at the 2017 NATO summit.”

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (80)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (81)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (82)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (83)

    Threads posts

    stated on August 2, 2024 in a Threads post:

    “Mike Tyson says he’s willing to box Olympic DUDE with all proceeds to go to a battered women’s charity.”

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (84)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (85)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (86)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (87)

    Donald Trump

    stated on August 8, 2024 in a press conference:

    Says his Jan. 6, 2021, speech on the White House Ellipse drew the “same number of people,” as the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (88)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (89)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (90)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (91)

    Facebook posts

    stated on August 5, 2024 in a Facebook post:

    “Caitlin Clark declines $1 million offer from ABC to appear on ‘The View.’”

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (92)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (93)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (94)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (95)

    Threads posts

    stated on August 4, 2024 in a post:

    Image shows Hitler in similar scene as Trump.

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (96)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (97)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (98)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (99)

    Byron Donalds

    stated on August 6, 2024 in una entrevista:

    "Tim Walz firmó una ley para dar licencia de conducir a inmigrantes ilegales en Minnesota".

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (100)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (101)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (102)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (103)

    Tim Walz

    stated on August 6, 2024 in un mitin de campaña en Filadelfia:

    "El crimen violento aumentó bajo Donald Trump".

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (104)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (105)
  • R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (106)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (107)

    Byron Donalds

    stated on August 6, 2024 in an interview:

    "Tim Walz signed into law driver's licenses for illegal immigrants in Minnesota."

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (108)

    R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (109)

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R. Kelly didn’t escape prison (2024)
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