YNW Melly is demanding to be let out of jail in a new lawsuit, claiming that the conditions he’s subject to while awaiting trial on murder charges are “cruel, unusual and beyond belief.”
Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons, has been in a Broward County, Florida jail since February, 2019. The suit, filed in Florida district court on Saturday (November 2) against Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony and his office, alleges that the “Murder on My Mind” rapper should be released from custody immediately.
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“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.
“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!!!
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“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 mentions specifically 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.”
It further charges that in late 2022, Melly was moved to a vacant unit in the jail, with “no privileges, no television, and no access to a newspaper.”
“This isolation has inflicted enormous emotional impact on him and is designed to deteriorate his mental health and his ability to prepare for a trial,” it continues.
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Melly’s retrial is currently scheduled to begin on September 10, 2025, while a pretrial meeting for his separate witness tampering case will be held on December 5 of this year.
The 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.
