YNW Melly could be released from jail in time for Christmas after the judge overseeing his murder case called on law enforcement to justify why the rapper should continue to be incarcerated.
In response to Melly’s lawsuit against Broward County Sheriff’s Office over allegations of cruel treatment, Judge Melissa Damian has given the department until December 6 to reply to the suit and explain why he should remain behind bars, otherwise the rapper will be freed on bail until trial.
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Melly’s trial is currently scheduled to start on September 10, 2025, though that is subject to change.
The “Murder On My Mind” hitmaker (whose real name is Jamell Demons) has been behind bars since he was first arrested on charges of double murder in 2019.
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Melly’s lawsuit, filed earlier this month, detailed the alleged conditions in which he was being held and called for his immediate release from jail.
“Demons is a black male whose current detention conditions shock the conscience and could not even be imagined in this day and age even in a third-world country that has no guard rails protecting human decency and dignity,” the complaint reads.
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“For over three years, Petitioner Jamell Demons has not been permitted to make a single phone call or have a single visit with his family or any member of the outside world, including not seeing or speaking with his own mother in over three years!!!
“Demons has and continues to be subjected to the type of debilitating isolation that renders his conditions of incarceration cruel, unusual and beyond belief in a civilized society governed by Constitutional safeguards.”
The suit specifically mentions a 2022 controversy in which Broward County authorities accused Melly of plotting an escape from jail. It says that despite Melly being cleared in an investigation, he “was moved from his current dorm into solitary confinement and all phone communication with the outside world ceased.”
In response, the Sheriff’s Office issued a statement saying: “The jail does not utilize ‘solitary confinement.’ Rather, Mr. Demons has been placed on administrative segregation, which is a classification resulting in an alternate living assignment for an inmate whose placement in the general population poses a serious threat to the safety of staff or inmates, or life and property.”
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The 25-year-old rapper stands accused of murdering two childhood friends, Chris “YNW Juvy” Thomas and Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams, in 2018 and making it look like a drive-by shooting.
