R. Kelly won’t be walking out of prison anytime soon. On Thursday, June 20, a federal judge in Chicago denied the disgraced R&B singer’s emergency request for home confinement—shutting down a dramatic new legal filing in which his attorneys claimed his life was in danger behind bars.

In a motion filed earlier this month, Kelly’s legal team painted a chilling picture: alleging prison officials at FCI Butner in North Carolina had orchestrated a murder-for-hire plot using a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. The goal, they said, was to silence Kelly from exposing a previous scheme in which his mail was allegedly intercepted and turned over to prosecutors. According to court documents, the accused hitman—an inmate named Mikeal Glenn Stine—was allegedly promised early release if he killed Kelly.

The singer's legal team also claimed he was recently the victim of a deliberate overdose administered by prison staff. On June 12, Kelly was reportedly given a dangerously high dose of medication that led to dizziness, blackouts, and collapse. He was rushed to Duke University Hospital, where doctors found life-threatening blood clots in his lungs and legs. According to the motion, Kelly was supposed to remain hospitalized for at least two weeks for surgery—but was allegedly removed prematurely and returned to solitary confinement against medical advice.

While the claims might sound like something out of a prison thriller, U.S. District Judge Martha Pacold didn’t even entertain their validity. She ruled that her court had no jurisdiction over Kelly’s confinement, noting that he is serving his 30-year sentence at FCI Butner in North Carolina—outside the bounds of her Chicago district. “Kelly has not demonstrated a legal basis for this court’s jurisdiction,” Pacold wrote. “Accordingly, his emergency motion… is denied.”

Kelly’s legal team responded with frustration but little surprise. “We knew that technical jurisdiction would be a challenge under these circumstances,” said attorney Beau Brindley. “However, we had no choice but to act immediately given explicit evidence of a threat to Robert Kelly’s life.”

Federal prosecutors, however, aren’t buying it. In their formal response, they called the allegations “repugnant” and “deeply unserious,” accusing Kelly of trying to avoid accountability for “years of sexually abusing children.” They insisted the emergency filing was nothing more than a stunt “to promote himself despite there being no legal basis to be before this Court.”