Rapper A$AP Rocky’s health and mental wellbeing are at risk due to the inhumane conditions at the Swedish jail where he is being held since his arrest on aggravated assault charges.
A$AP Rocky and 2 members of his entourage were arrested after they allegedly assaulted 2 Afghan migrants who pursued them for blocks in Stockholm, Sweden, where Rocky was scheduled to perform at a music festival.
The brawl was captured on cell phone video obtained by TMZ. The gossip blog published an edited version of the video that showed the rapper as the aggressor. A longer version of the video that was uploaded to social media by Rocky’s camp shows one of the 2 migrants hitting a bodyguard in the head with a pair of headphones.
Rocky, who was born Rakim Mayers, was allegedly moved to solitary confinement when jail officials grew concerned that he may be suicidal after the Swedish Supreme Court denied his request for an appeal on Monday.
Friends of the 30-year-old rapper are worried about his state of mind. Sources tell TMZ he is being held under deplorable conditions at the jail where he is deprived of basic human needs such as a nutritious diet, clean water and exercise outdoors.
TMZ described “shockingly inhumane conditions” – feces hurled against the walls, food not fit for human consumption, and facilities that are “disease ridden” and filthy.
The rapper is being held in solitary confinement with other inmates who suffer from mental and emotional problems. Sources tell TMZ, he is sleeping on a yoga mat on the dirty floor with no blankets. A prisoner in the next cell with severe mental problems repeatedly slams his head against the concrete wall and smears his feces on the walls and floor that are not cleaned daily.
Additionally, the water is not safe to drink and the food is not edible. Sources tell TMZ jail officials fed Rocky an apple a day for the first 5 days of his confinement.
Rocky’s team complained that jail officials denied entry to an official from the U.S embassy who tried to check on the rapper.
The Vienna Convention for Consular Relations – which both Sweden and the United States signed – gives U.S. Consulate officials immediate access to U.S citizens detained in Sweden.
After Rocky’s team complained to the U.S. State Department, an official from the U.S. Consulate was allowed in to see the prisoner 2 days later – but only in the presence and earshot of 2 Swedish guards, TMZ reports.
Rocky and the official were not allowed to speak in private and the rapper’s team say it was “a clear intimidation tactic.”
Rocky is being held in jail for another 2 weeks while prosecutors try to determine what charges to fabricate. If Rocky is convicted of aggravated assault, he could spend 6 years in prison. Court proceedings in Sweden are closed to the public and the media.
Photos by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage, Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
