Jussie Smollett’s lawyers requested Monday an emergency suspension to his prison sentence due to alleged “vicious threats” that call his safety into question.
Smollett had been placed in protective custody generally meant for people with mental health issues, Rolling Stone reported. His lawyers argued he is the target of threats that “no doubt reflects the hatred and wish for physical harm toward Smollett which he may experience during incarceration.”
Empire co-star Taraji P. Henson previously pleaded for Smollett’s release on the basis that he has “lost everything.”
“I am not here to debate you on his innocence but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime. Emmett Till was brutally beat and ultimately murdered because of a lie and none of the people involved with his demise spent one day in jail, even after Carolyn Bryant admitted that her claims were false. No one was hurt or killed during Jussie’s ordeal. He has already lost everything, EVERYTHING!” she wrote via Instagram.
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
One of Smollett’s siblings received a disturbing anonymous call Friday, Rolling Stone reported. The caller reportedly made over a dozen calls to Smollett’s siblings that same day, according to Rolling Stone. (RELATED: Jussie Smollett Believes He Got Jail Time For Conviction Because He’s Black)
“I hope what they do to that guy in jail — here’s what they’re going to do, right. They’re going to take a broom handle, and take that little [expletive], shove it in there, and he’s gonna go, [shrieking sound],” the man said, according to the outlet.
The attorneys argued his placement in protective custody is “solitary confinement” and argued it could diminish or cause “extraordinary damage on his mental health,” the outlet reported.
His brother, Jocqui, argued Sunday that Jussie was being held in a “psych ward” though he is mentally stable.
Smollett was convicted in December 2021 for crimes related to a false police report claiming to be the victim of a hate crime in 2019. He staged the attack alongside two fellow staff members, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundario, to make it appear that someone tied a noose around his neck and shouted racist and homophobic slurs at him.
The judge sentenced Smollett to 150 days in jail, 30 months probation, $120,106 restitution and a $25,000 fine on Thursday. The former Empire actor left the courtroom repeatedly exclaiming he is “not suicidal.”