Federal prosecutors are firing back at Pooh Shiesty, telling a judge there’s nothing “inhumane” about his treatment in jail as he awaits trial for allegedly holding Gucci Mane at gunpoint.
The response came a week after Shiesty (Lontrell Williams Jr.) filed an emergency motion claiming he was suffering psychological damage from being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day and hit with limited visiting hours for no apparent reason.
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In a legal filing Tuesday (Oct. 20), the feds say there were obvious reasons: the star’s “ability to negatively affect normal facility operations” and “concerns for his safety.” For example, they say three other inmates already tried to break into his cell “to get his autograph.”
Prosecutors also pointedly noted that Pooh has “unfettered access” to computer tablet while living in solitary, which they say he’s heavily used for video calls, emails, games, music, Netflix and the NFL Channel.
“It can hardly be said that these conditions of confinement are inhumane and therefore this emergency motion should be denied outright,” prosecutors write in the court filing, obtained by Billboard.
Pooh was arrested in April over a January incident in Dallas in which he allegedly pulled an AK-style pistol on Gucci Mane, the longtime star who had signed the young rapper in 2020 to his 1017 Records.
Prosecutors say the veteran Atlanta rapper was lured to what he thought was a normal business meeting, only to be angrily confronted by an armed Shiesty over the terms of his deal. Gucci was allegedly forced — at gunpoint and on camera — to say he was releasing the young rapper from the deal, then robbed of his wedding ring, Rolex watches and cash.
“Instead of discussing business in a civil matter, the defendants resorted to violence and intimidation to achieve their purported business objectives,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Shiesty was charged alongside his father, Lontrell Williams Sr., Big30 (Rodney Lamont Wright Jr.) and several others. A trial is tentatively set for February, where the rapper faces a maximum potential sentence of 30 years to life in prison.
While he awaits trial, the rapper is living at Rolling Plains Regional Jail in rural North Texas — not a federal prison but a so-called “contract facility” used by federal officials for detainment.
In his emergency filing last week, Pooh’s attorneys argued was facing unfair treatment even though he “has not been convicted of any offense in this case” and is “entitled to the presumption of innocence.”
“Prolonged near-total confinement of the kind imposed here is associated with heightened anxiety, depression, and difficulty concentrating,” the rapper’s lawyers wrote at the time. “Mr. Williams reports that the isolation is adversely affecting his mental health. He describes increasing difficulty sleeping and increasing anxiety.”
But in the new response filing, the feds cited many concerns that had led to special treatment. In addition to the other state reasons, they said Pooh had “corrupted individuals” at an earlier half-way house where he was being held when the Gucci attack allegedly happened. They also said he had admitted he “recently ingested fentanyl,” but did not elaborate on that claim.