Rapper YNW Melly AKA Jamell Demons filed a lawsuit against the Broward County Sheriff’s Office for what he says has been extreme isolation and denial of his constitutional rights while in pretrial detention. Melly has been in custody for almost three years as he awaits retrial on charges of double murder, and he says the treatment he has endured runs afoul of basic standards of humane incarceration.
His attorney, Michael Pizzi Jr., who filed the suit on his behalf, said Melly is being treated “cruel and unusual,” affecting his communication with family and counsel. Pizzi’s lawsuit, filed on behalf of Demons against the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, accuses the Broward County Sheriff’s Office of violating the Constitution on multiple counts and cites the First, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. According to Pizzi, Demons has been put in extreme isolation, with restrictions that prevent him from seeing his family and severe limitations on interactions with his attorneys.
“These inhumane restrictions are illegal and hinder Melly’s right to counsel,”
The lawsuit says that the conditions merit his immediate release.
Lawyers for Demons argue that such isolation and lack of access to his family and attorneys amount to a direct violation of his constitutional protections as a pretrial detainee. The lawsuit alleges the Broward Sheriff’s Office has enacted policies that make any real communication between Demons and his legal representation impossible, impeding his defense preparation.
“Such callous disregard for his human dignity warrants his release,”
Pizzi said in a statement, stressing that Demons’ detention condition is punitive and unfair given his pre-trial status.
Melly had remained in Jail since 2018 when he was accused of murdering his two childhood friends, Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. Prosecutors said Melly and a co-defendant masterminded the killings, then staged the crime to look like a drive-by shooting. An initial trial of the double murder resulted in a mistrial last summer. A retrial is set for September 10, 2025. A pretrial hearing has also been scheduled for December 5, 2024, as Melly’s legal team continues to work on his defense in increasingly difficult circumstances.
YNW Melly was transferred back to Broward County Jail from the Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach, Florida, around mid-August 2024. This move occurred as he faced new legal challenges, including several witness tampering and conspiracy charges. Previously, he had been held in stricter conditions at the Paul Rein Facility, including solitary confinement, but at Broward County Jail, he has somewhat improved detention conditions with limited phone privileges
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has not publicly responded to Demons’ allegations thus far. However, this case has raised some eyebrows in the legal circles due to concern about how pretrial detainees are treated and the limits placed on their access to their legal rights.
