Harvey Weinstein sues over “inhumane” prison conditions

Former film producer Harvey Weinstein (72), who was convicted of sex crimes, has filed a lawsuit against the city of New York. He is seeking at least $5 million in damages for what he says are “inhumane conditions” at the notorious Rikers Island prison, court documents show.

His lawyer Imran H. Ansari describes shocking conditions in a statement: During a visit, she found Weinstein with blood splatters on his prison clothes, possibly from infusions. His clothes hadn’t been washed in weeks. “I asked myself whether I was in a detention center that our constitution should run or in a gulag [sowjetisches Straf- und Arbeitslager, Anm.d.Red.]”where prisoners are treated like animals,” said the lawyer.

In the five-page lawsuit, Weinstein’s lawyers accuse the authorities of negligently worsening his health. The 72-year-old, who already had health problems during his trial in 2020, found himself in life-threatening situations several times. The conditions amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment” and violated his constitutional rights.

Weinstein was transferred from the Wende maximum security prison to Rikers Island in April after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his sex crimes conviction. However, he remains in custody due to a conviction in Los Angeles. The city of New York has not yet commented on the lawsuit.

The allegations against prison conditions on Rikers Island are part of a long history of scandals. The infamous prison island, which houses the world’s largest prison complex of the same name, has been criticized for decades for inhumane conditions. Thousands of cases of use of force by law enforcement officers are registered there every year, but the vast majority are not processed.

The city of New York has long since decided to close the prison complex by 2027 and replace it with four smaller prisons. But this plan is not only met with resistance in the affected districts – implementation is also difficult. A federal judge recently reprimanded the city of New York for disregarding improvement measures that had already been ordered. The conditions on Rikers Island continue to be seen as a symbol of the structural problems in the US prison system.