Where is YNW Melly being held? Rapper requests immediate release alleging cruel, inhumane conditions designed to break him

Jamell Maurice Demons, also known as YNW Melly, recently sued the Broward Sheriff's Office for "egregious violations" of his constitutional rights. On Saturday, November 2, 2024, the rapper's attorney, Michael Pizzi Jr., filed a lawsuit alleging cruel treatment, isolation, and inhumane conditions, asking for his client's immediate release.

For the uninitiated, Jamell is a rapper from Florida best known for his track Murder on My Mind. In February 2019, he was arrested for the murder of his friends YNW Sakchaser (Anthony D'Andre Williams) and YNW Juvy (Christopher Thomas Jr.) in October 2018. He was charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder.

Following a lengthy trial, which was declared a mistrial, he is being held without bail at the Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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YNW Melly's lawsuit claims the rapper was in conditions that violated the First, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments

According to a report by NBC Miami, citing YNW Melly's lawsuit filed by Michael Pizzi Jr., the rapper is being "illegally detained" under conditions that allegedly violate the First, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.

The civic complaint claimed that the rapper's legal counsel faced "unreasonable" obstacles in communicating with him. The obstacles included being forced to wait long hours, being denied entry to the jail, and being forced to meet under conditions that don't offer privacy to discuss confidential information.

Per a report by the Miami Herald, the petition detailed an incident from April 2022 when a fellow inmate claimed Melly was planning an escape by having one of his attorneys slip him the keys to his handcuffs. As a result, detention officers seized his belongings, including jail-issued clothes, and restrictions on his communication.

The publication quoted the lawsuit, writing:

"(YNW Melly) has and continues to be subjected to the type of debilitating isolation that renders his conditions of incarceration cruel, unusual and beyond belief in a civilized society governed by Constitutional safeguards."

The lawsuit claimed these restrictions were not related to "legitimate security concerns" and instead called them "punitive measures designed to deteriorate Melly's mental health and impede his ability to prepare for his trial." The lawsuit alleged that no such restrictions were enforced on other black inmates.

According to the report, citing the legal filing, at one point YNW Melly was transferred to a unit where he could be outside his cell for only an hour and had no contact with other prisoners. Asking for Melly's immediate release, the lawsuit added:

"Mr. Demons' cruel and punitive treatment and the interference in his legal defense by government officials is a throwback to the worst of the chain-gang days where inmates who are presumed innocent were given no rights and no protections."

The rapper pleaded not guilty, and his trial began in June 2022. During the proceedings, Melly claimed he and his friends were shot at after a late-night recording session. Prosecutors alleged that the rapper shot his friends and staged the scene to look like a drive-by shooting.

After the jury couldn't come to a unanimous decision, the judge declared a mistrial and declined YNW Melly's bail. A new trial was scheduled to begin in October 2023, but due to several delays, including Melly facing an additional charge of witness tampering, it has been pushed back to September 2025.

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YNW Melly's pre-trial proceedings will begin on December 5, 2024.