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Jussie Smollett has been moved out of a prison psychiatric ward.
The former ‘Empire' star's brother, Jocqui Smollett, raised concerns over the weekend about his sibling's incarceration but he's now thanked fans for backing his campaign for the 39-year-old actor to be transferred to a different part of Cook County Jail and urged them to continue to “apply pressure” to officials at the prison.
Offering an update on social media, Jocqui said: “I just got to see him. I just want to give you all an update. Thank you so much for the support, for the #FreeJussie movement. It's working.
“He has now been moved to a new jail cell, out of the psych ward that has a bed. Before he was sleeping on a restrained bed and now he has moved into a jail cell that actually has a bed, so thank you so much, that is really because of all the #FreeJussie that has been going on. It's all the pressure that we're applying on Cook County Jail.
“Unfortunately, the county doesn't really move until they get bad publicity, so we just have to keep applying pressure y'all. Keep reposting with #FreeJussie, keep continuing to call Cook County Jail, checking in on him and continue saying that he should be free.”
The former ‘Empire' star was convicted last December of lying to police over a hate crime attack and last week was jailed for 150 days, as well as ordered to pay over $120,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine and placed on probation for 30 months.
Jussie has denied the allegations against him, and his brother insisted it is “absolutely ridiculous” that he is in jail because there is “absolutely no evidence” to prove he orchestrated the attack on himself.
He continued: “It's absolutely ridiculous that he's in there. This means that you could just be associated with two liars, and that is all it takes is their word to get you locked up. The state could lock you up, that should leave you terrified.
“There is no evidence linking Jussie to this crime. There is absolutely no evidence, no emails, no letters, no phone calls, no text messages, none of that, of Jussie saying, ‘I am planning an attack on myself.'
“There is none of that happening, so please continue to fact check people, to fact check the media wherever possible, and thank you so much for the folks who have sent letters to him.
“You have no idea how great that is to keep him going and keep him strong and keep him focused on the task at hand. He is so, so grateful for the letters. He has read all of them, and he is going to reply to every single one of them.”
