Jussie Smollett’s brother says he has been moved to jail’s psychiatric ward

Actor Jussie Smollett was reportedly moved to a psychiatric ward after being jailed for staging a hate crime, his brother said in an Instagram video posted this past weekend.

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Jocqui Smollett said his brother was moved from the regular population at the Cook County Jail in Illinois to the psychiatric ward because jail officials said they were concerned about his mental health.

Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in the jail after he was found guilty on five of the six charges he faced for lying to police about an alleged hate crime.

After Smollett heard the verdict, he told Cook County Judge James Linn that he was “Not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that,” he shouted in court.

Smollett told Judge Linn that he respected him and the jury, “but I did not do this.”

In Jocqui Smollett’s Instagram post, he said his brother had been moved to another part of the jail.

“Jussie is currently in a psych ward at Cook County Jail. What’s very concerning is there was a note attached to this paperwork today on the front of his jail cell saying he’s at risk of self-harm.

He continued: “I just want to make it clear to folks that he is in no way shape or form. He wants to let folks know that he is very stable, very strong and healthy, and ready to take on the challenge that has ultimately been put up against him.”

“This is not right, this is completely [a] lack of justice, it’s angering, it’s an outrage, but he also knows what he needs to do. He wants to make sure folks understand that whatever … assumptions they may be making, I don’t know why they even have him in a psych ward, we still have not gotten clear answers there.

“They’ve recently added to his documentation that he’s at risk of harming himself, that is absolutely not true.”

According to The New York Times, Smollett was booked into Division 8, a facility that is used to administer medical and mental health treatment, as well as house inmates who require protective custody.

Smollett was sentenced Thursday and immediately taken into custody. He was found guilty in December.

Smollett, 39, told police that in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2019, he was confronted by two men on a Chicago street who yelled homophobic and racist slurs at him, hit him in the face, poured bleach on him and wrapped a noose around his neck.

Chicago police investigated the case but said they had determined the actor had orchestrated the alleged attack and paid two brothers he knew from “Empire” to stage the incident to raise his public standing, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation for lying to police. The actor must pay $120,106 in restitution and was also fined an additional $25,000.

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