Jussie Smollett's attorneys file an appeal after sentencing in race crime hoax

Courtesy Cook County Sheriff’s Office

Not 24 hours after a Chicago judge sentenced Jussie Smollett to five months behind bars for staging a racially motivated attack on himself, attorneys for the disgraced former Empire star have filed an appeal. 

According to ABC affiliate WLS-TV, Smollett is now in protective custody at Cook County Jail, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office noted in a statement, clarifying that the actor is not being held in solitary confinement, contrary to some reports.

A statement from the Sherriff’s Office explains that confinement like Jussie’s is “routinely used for individuals ordered into protective custody who may potentially be at risk of harm due to the nature