Pooh Shiesty has filed an emergency motion warning he’s being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day for no reason while he awaits trial on charges that he held Gucci Mane at gunpoint.
Months after the rapper (Lontrell Williams Jr.) was arrested on federal charges of armed robbery and kidnapping over the alleged incident, his lawyers told a federal judge Thursday (Oct. 15) that he’s been subjected to unfair treatment at the rural Texas jail where he’s being held until trial.
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In the motion, obtained by Billboard, Pooh’s attorneys say he’s faced both confinement to his cell for most of the day and limited family visiting hours, 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 write. “Mr. Williams reports that the isolation is adversely affecting his mental health. He describes increasing difficulty sleeping and increasing anxiety.”
The “only explanation” the rapper has been given is “a vague statement that he is being isolated for his own protection,” his lawyers tell the judge. “He has not been told who or what poses a threat to him, and no one has explained why confining him to his cell 23 hours a day is necessary to address it.”
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 rapper 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.