Pooh Shiesty is responding to the federal government's defense of his 23-hour daily lockdown.
In a reply obtained by Complex, which was filed in the Northern District of Texas, attorney Kent Schaffer again says that the 27-year-old rapper (born Lontrell Denell Williams Jr.) is being held in indefinite solitary confinement without any “written classification,” disciplinary infraction involving violence, or administrative hearing.
While prosecutors last month pointed to his electronic tablet usage to argue his conditions are humane, the defense countered that the rapper’s 1,170 recorded hours of tablet activity reflects a man “with nothing else to do and no one to talk to.”
“The government’s central argument is that Mr. Williams cannot be suffering inhumane conditions because he can use a tablet to watch Netflix, play games, send electronic messages, and make video calls,” his attorneys wrote. “But the motion does not seek more entertainment. It challenges near-total isolation from other people that has not been justified. Screen time does not substitute for human contact, and the government cites no case holding otherwise.”
The defense also rejected the government's shifting hearsay justifications. When he was first isolated upon arrival at Rolling Plains Regional Jail, officials verbally told him only that it was "for his own protection.” The defense noted that facility staff later cited "safety and security reasons" involving inmates seeking his autograph, alongside unproven substance allegations.
As relief, the rapper is requesting a transfer to a facility closer to Dallas to make it easier for family members to visit him and “meaningful out-of-cell time” without being housed in solitary confinement unless he is “found to pose a danger to himself or others.” He is also asking for at least four monthly visitation hours.
“Mr. Williams is not asking the Court to run the jail,” his attorney wrote. “He asks only that a presumptively innocent man not be held in near-total isolation indefinitely on the strength of an unsworn, changing explanation that, even taken at face value, describes no violence, no threat, and no misconduct of his own at [Rolling Plains Regional Jail].”
Schaffer previously shared in an email to Complex that Shiesty “has little to no human contact and that can wear anyone down physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
“Pre-trial incarceration is not supposed to be punitive so we are trying to get the court to step in and put an end to it." he added.
Federal prosecutors previously opposed an emergency motion filed by the rapper, arguing that the restrictions are necessary for institutional order and his own protection. Prosecutors pointed to several safety concerns, including prior allegations that Shiesty “corrupted monitors” at a halfway house, an incident where three inmates tried to reach him for autographs, and admitting during a court hearing that he recently took fentanyl.
Shiesty is detained at the facility while awaiting a February 2027 trial concerning the alleged robbery and kidnapping of Gucci Mane.
