R. Kelly Stopped Cook County Jail in its Tracks

R. Kelly still has the star power to bring things to a screeching halt, 'cause he did exactly that on at least a couple of occasions this weekend while behind bars.

Sources tell TMZ that Cook County Jail became temporarily paralyzed twice between Saturday and Monday, while Kelly was incarcerated there after turning himself in Friday.

We're told the jail's guards were told twice -- once on Saturday and again on Monday -- to cease the other inmates' movements entirely while Kelly was being transported through the facility to meet visitors. Our sources say the visits lasted 15 minutes.

Think about that for a minute. Cook County jail houses roughly 6,100 inmates ... and all of them had to sit tight whenever R. Kelly was on the move. We're told jail officials are ecstatic he's gone, 'cause it's a pain to do that for one inmate.

A Cook County Jail spokesperson made no bones about it ... telling us Kelly's celebrity status is absolutely the reason for the temporary jail freeze. Officials didn't want the other inmates causing a fuss as the singer was taken from one division of the jail to another.