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Weinstein, 72, was sent to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for an
“emergent treatment due to an alarming blood test result that
requires immediate medical attention,” his attorney, Imran
Ansari, said in a statement.
“It is expected that he will remain there until his condition
stabilizes,” the statement continues. "His deprivation of care
is not only medical malpractice, but a violation of his
constitutional rights.”
A spokesperson for New York City's Department of Correction did
not immediately respond to an email. The agency's inmate
database confirmed that Weinstein had been transferred from
Rikers Island to the Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward in Manhattan.
Weinstein has been in city custody since earlier this year after
the New York Court of Appeals overturned his 2020 rape
conviction in the state. The case is set to be retried in 2025.
Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing.
In a legal filing last week, Weinstein's attorneys accused the
city of providing him with substandard medical care for a litany
of medical afflictions, which include chronic myeloid leukemia
and diabetes.
“When I last visited him, I found him with blood spatter on his
prison garb, possibly from IV’s, clothes that had not been
washed for weeks, and he had not even been provided clean
underwear — hardly sanitary conditions for someone with severe
medical conditions,” Ansari said in a statement that likened
Rikers Island to a “gulag.”
The troubled jail complex, located on an island in New York
City's East River, has faced growing scrutiny for its
mistreatment of detainees and dangerous conditions. Last week, a
federal judge cleared the way for a possible federal takeover of
the jail system, finding the city had placed its incarcerated
population in “unconstitutional danger.”
A publicist for Weinstein, Juda Engelmayer, echoed the
allegation in a statement Monday.
“Mr. Weinstein, who is suffering from a number of illnesses,
including leukemia, has been deprived the medical attention that
someone in his medical state deserves, prisoner or not," he
said. "In many ways, this mistreatment constitutes cruel and
unusual punishment.”
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