CHICAGO - A lawyer says singer R. Kelly is enduring “cruel and unusual punishment” by being held in solitary confinement in a Chicago jail on sexual misconduct charges.

Defence attorney Steve Greenberg on Thursday filed a motion asking a judge to order the Federal Bureau of Prisons to allow the entertainer to interact with other inmates of the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center.

In the motion, Greenberg told U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber that the 52-year-old Kelly is being held on the most restrictive floor of the jail. He contends the floor is where inmates are sent for violating the facility’s rules, which Kelly hasn’t done.

Prison officials have pointed to Kelly’s “alleged offence and notoriety” as a reason to keep him in solitary.

Leinenweber, who ordered Kelly held without bond in July, is to take up the motion next week.

Kelly is accused of sexual misconduct in Illinois, Minnesota and New York, in addition to federal charges.