ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Federal authorities shouldn’t be alarmed, but they should be mindful following the probe into the Jeffrey Epstein death case: R&B crooner R. Kelly isn’t doing too well.

Imprisoned as he is in isolation in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the accused sex offender’s attorney says he is “miserable.”

If the name of Mr. Kelly’s home sounds familiar, it is because it is.

Jeffrey Epstein, another infamous monied man who wallowed in the grimy world of teen girls and sex, was locked down in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center.

Of course, you know he longer is there because his lifeless body was found Saturday — reportedly following a suicide.

Mr. Kelly, a native of Chicago, was locked down in July in Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago because he was due in court on federal sex charges. He never made it.

Mr. Kelly refused to leave his accommodations, and the U.S. Marshals Service seemingly obliged.

His attorney, Steve Greenberg, told the judge: “Suffice it to say that the Marshals Service said moving Mr. Kelly is a large undertaking.”

Was there a scuffle? Did Mr. Kelly sing-song his way out with a bluesy tune? Might he have had an epiphany about Epstein? Hmm.

Mr. Kelly can’t read his fan mail. He’s illiterate.

He isn’t overwhelmed with visitation requests. He only gets one or two, here and there.

If he seeks solace from his Bible, that would prove difficult, too, unless he’s memorized passages.

He doesn’t have TV privileges. So, if he somehow learned of Epstein’s death, it was likely by word-of-mouth.

For a man who once believed he could fly, Mr. Kelly, 52, is locking himself down by refusing to appear in court. He’s hurting himself and his multistate case.

Surely, it hasn’t escaped Mr. Kelly that he faces charges in at least three states. Federal prosecutors even slapped him with the Mann Act, whose original intent when enacted in 1910 was to prosecute men and women who transported any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery or any other immoral purpose.

Being illiterate and having few visitors leave Mr. Kelly with, perhaps, too much time to think.

Because the Epstein probe remains open, the most effective way for federal authorities to watch their own backs is by watching Mr. Kelly‘s.

⦁ Deborah Simmons can be contacted at [email protected]

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