Harvey Weinstein is suing New York for poor prison conditions

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Convicted former film producer Harvey Weinstein is suing the city of New York over poor prison conditions on the notorious Rikers Island prison island. His lawyers are talking about “inhumane treatment” and are now asking for five million US dollars.

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Former film producer convicted of sex crimes Harvey Weinstein (72) he has a lawsuit against the city New York has been submitted. He is seeking at least $5 million in damages for what he says are “inhumane conditions” at the notorious Rikers Island prison, according to court documents. This has been reported, among others, by the business magazine “Deadline”.

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

Serious charges against the authorities

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

Weinstein was moved from Wende’s maximum security prison to Rikers Island in April after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his sex crime conviction. However, he is still in custody on conviction in Los Angeles. The city of New York has not yet commented on the lawsuit.

Rikers Island has been in the headlines for years

The allegations about 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 recorded there each year, but most of them 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 areas – it is also difficult to implement. A federal judge recently criticized the city of New York for disregarding development measures that had already been ordered. The conditions on Rikers Island are still seen as a symbol of the structural problems in the US prison system. (dr/spot)
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