Harvey Weinstein's Life In Prison Is Worse Than We Thought

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Few were weeping into their Cornflakes when Harvey Weinstein was sent to the slammer. In March 2020, he was sentenced to 20 years for forcing a production assistant, Miriam Haley, to perform oral sex on him and three years for raping an unnamed woman. In February 2023, Weinstein found himself in even deeper legal trouble when he was sentenced to a further 16 years for another rape. "Please don't sentence me to life in prison," Weinstein implored the judge. "I don't deserve it." 

Many begged to differ. The Hollywood heavyweight's predatory behavior and penchant for sexually assaulting women were pretty much an open secret in the movie world for decades, and Weinstein's guilty verdicts were widely celebrated. The 2020 sentence was overturned in April 2024 after a court was determined he hadn't received a fair hearing. Still, the 2023 conviction holds, and he remains languishing behind bars while awaiting retrial.

People were eager to know what life in prison would be like for Weinstein — would he get a cushy Club-fed style set-up or be forced to do hard time? Opinions were divided before sentencing was handed down. However, it soon became clear that the disgraced über producer was heading for the latter. In fact, it transpired that, in reality, Weinstein's life in prison would be even worse than anybody thought.

Harvey Weinstein is languishing behind bars at the notorious Rikers Island. Inmate number 06581138Z is being kept in the West Facility. The NYC Department of Correction Inmate Lookup Service lists him as 6 feet and 250 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes. According to the DOC website, West Facility, opened in 1991, consists of single-cell units, some of which house inmates with contagious diseases.

Weinstein's life inside is far from rosy. Rikers has a bad rep for a very good reason. 15 inmates died in 2021 alone; at least six of them from suicide. A July 2023 report found the facility overcrowded, understaffed, dangerous, filthy, and crawling with cockroaches, mice, and ants, among other vermin. "We saw showers that are covered in mildew, inches of soap scum, little drain flies coming out of the drains, and these are areas where people are going to try to get clean," Legal Aid Society's Veronica Vela told CBS News.

"There's no [correctional officers], they're not feeding people, there's no water, no showers, no phone calls. There's people there that haven't took showers in two weeks or longer," a former inmate told Curbed in September 2021. "You barely eat; they don't care. There were people in cells having seizures, and they just left them there. I was in a cell with about 30 other people. You could be sleeping, and they'd spray mace or come banging on the cells for no reason, just to wake you up."

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It's safe to say Harvey Weinstein is not living la dolce vita on Rikers Island. He had been enjoying a relatively cushy life in Bellevue Hospital's ICU, where he was admitted in April 2024 after his 2020 conviction was overturned. He had his own private room with an en suite bathroom, a dedicated phone line, and a TV. According to The City, Weinstein spent his days lazing in bed watching CNN, chatting with his attorneys, and ordering Pepsi.

"He's a sick man," his lawyer insisted. "Harvey has multiple health issues, and he's never gotten the level of care that he received prior to going into custody." However, after doctors evaluated him, they determined Weinstein didn't need any specialist treatment for the "constant chest and abdominal pain" his legal team insisted he was suffering. So, he was kicked straight back to Rikers just days later.

Still, chest pain or no chest pain, Weinstein is struggling with one majorly painful issue — his teeth are rotting. "I'm in pain every day. I have cavities, and I can't eat because I'm missing teeth," Weinstein told a judge in September 2022 (via New York Post). The disgraced movie mogul begged the court to allow him to pay for private dental treatment because the prison service would just pull the rotting teeth out — just like other inmates have to suffer.