Harvey Weinstein’s Lawyers fear he will die while incarcerated at Rikers Island, where his 2020 rape conviction was overturned on appeal in New York, according to Hollywood actor.
According to Weinstein’s legal team, the film’s producer faced egregious conditions while incarcerated, including remains covered in blood, wearing the same underwear for weeks and exposed to freezing temperatures. They also claim that he denied that medicine is the mainstay of cancer treatment.
For Weinstein’s lawyers, they say his abuse was so horrific that they suspect prison was deliberate and that their client’s death was an “inevitable outcome.”
Last week, Weinstein’s lawyers filed by the right petition against New York City seeking $5m in damages. Weinstein is alleged to be a victim of medical neglect and forced to live in a “gulag” condition.
Weinstein was reported in October diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. He was eventually taken into custody at Bellevue Hospital in lower Manhattan after a blood test showed dangerously low levels of white blood cells, raising the risk of serious infection.
During the protracted trials, Weinstein’s legal team pushed for him to be allowed to stay in full in unity at Bellevue Hospital. In many court appearances, he is often driven by a wheelchair.
Weinstein’s attorney Imran H Ansari told The Hollywood Reporter that his visits to Rikers made him “a question of whether I was in a prison facility that is supposed to be treated according to our constitution, or a gulag where prisoners are treated like animals.” .
“I don’t want to be speculative, but it’s certainly not another inmate number,” Ansari said. “I’m sure everyone knows this Harvey Weinstein. Here was a guy who lived in the lap of luxury and was at the top of the game in Hollywood, and here he is now.
Weinstein’s retrial in the rape case at the center of his overturned conviction is scheduled for 2025. Rikers Island is supposed to be closed in 2027, but New York The city will close the deadlines postponed.