Harvey Weinstein wants hospital transfer due to cancer amid “deplorable conditions”
The legal team for disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein have filed a legal motion to transfer him from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital during his re-trial, citing “deplorable conditions”.
Weinstein’s attorney, Irman H Ansari, said in a statement: “Harvey Weinstein is suffering from cancer and other serious medical conditions, yet he is consistently mistreated for serious infections, medication is given incorrectly, or not at all, he is experiencing unhealthy and atypical weight gain, and he is forced to endure freezing temperatures while not even being provided clean clothing.”
Ansari continued: “I have continuously and repeatedly raised these issues with attorneys representing the city agencies involved and nothing has been done to remedy the situation.”
Weinstein, who has been incarcerated since being found guilty of rape and sexual assault in 2020, was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer last year. He also underwent heart surgery last September, and is being treated for leukemia, diabetes, coronary artery disease and sleep apnea.
His legal representative claimed that conditions have let his client being “worn down considerably health wise, and now faces the stress of trial in this condition, which may very well lead to serious health complications, even death.” He added: “I have requested that at the very least he be housed at Bellevue Hospital during the pendency of the trial, yet have not received any response to this request from the attorneys for the city agencies.”
The attorney continued: “As such, we have filed an emergency petition in court requesting that the court order that he be housed in Bellevue Hospital during the pendency of the criminal trial.”
Ansari also labelled Rikers Island conditions as “horrible” and said Weinstein “has suffered considerably from deplorable conditions”.
Although Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault in 2020, he is currently facing a retrial after the highest court in New York vacated his conviction last year. The jury process began on April 15th and is expected to last for several days before the trial is scheduled, subject to change, to begin on April 22nd.
The trial is expected to last between four to five weeks once it gets underway.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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