Disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein is whining about his Rikers Island prison experience.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the former mogul bemoaned the treatment he has received during his last six years of incarceration, including how “dangerous” it is for him to be around other inmates. Luckily for him, a list of medical ailments keeps him housed in the medical block of the institution, separated from the general population of the infamous prison.
“Has your celebrity been a help or a hindrance?” the interviewer asked, curious to know if name-recognition went as far in Rikers as it tends to in the rest of the world.
“Here at Rikers, it hurts me because it forces me into isolation. It’s too dangerous for me to be around anyone else. Other inmates get to go to the yard. But every time I’m out there, I feel like I’m under siege. They come up and say, ‘Weinstein, give me some money.’ ‘Weinstein, give me your lawyer.’ ‘Weinstein, do this.’ ‘Weinstein, do that.’ I’m constantly threatened and derided. I wouldn’t last long out there,” he admitted.
“That didn’t happen to you upstate?”
“No. Because I was just one of the prisoners in a small group, and you get to know people that way. It’s lonely in prison,” Weinstein explained. “You just try to connect with people and not think too much about what got them there. I was friendly with one guy who read all the time — not like the Great Books, but writers David Baldacci or Harlan Coben. I turned him on to Daniel Silva, and he was very appreciative. When I was there, I volunteered to teach a course on how books become movies — like James Patterson and J.K. Rowling, like that. But they weren’t interested. I’ll try again if I ever make it back.”
“Has anyone hurt you physically?”
“One time while I was waiting to use the phone, I asked the guy in front of me if he was done. He got off and punched me hard in the face. I fell on the floor, bleeding everywhere. I was hurt really badly. The cops asked me who had done it, but I couldn’t say. You can’t be a rat. That’s the law of the jungle,” the convicted sex offender whined.
“Do you worry about the possibility that you may die here?”
“It scares the shit out of me. Cold and heartless. It’s incredible to have the life that I had and the things that I did for society, and not have the leniency to deal with me in a kinder way. Whatever they think I did bad in my life, I didn’t get the death penalty. I’m going to be 74 in March. I don’t want to die in here,” Weinstein said, shockingly full of himself considering his circumstances.
“Was there ever a point where you thought of taking your life?”
“No! Never! It got really dark for me, but I’d never do that to my kids,” he responded.
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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