Harvey Weinstein Has Been Attacked In Prison – The Hook news

Harvey Weinstein has said he was punched in the face by another inmate at New York’s Rikers Island jail, claiming he was left bleeding on the floor during an encounter while waiting to use a prison phone, as the disgraced former film producer remains in custody ahead of yet another trial in the long-running sex crimes case that helped ignite the global #MeToo movement. In comments published on Tuesday from a jailhouse interview first reported by The Hollywood Reporter and repeated by other outlets, Weinstein described life at Rikers as “hell” and said the assault happened after he asked another inmate whether he had finished using the phone. “He got off and punched me hard in the face,” Weinstein said. “I fell on the floor, bleeding everywhere. I was hurt really badly.” He added that when officers asked who attacked him, he refused to identify the inmate, saying, “You can’t be a rat. That’s the law of the jungle.”

The 73-year-old, once one of the most powerful men in Hollywood through his work at Miramax and later The Weinstein Company, said he now spends most of his time in severe isolation. According to the interview accounts, Weinstein said he speaks mainly to guards and nurses and spends 23 hours a day in his cell, with short windows of phone access serving as one of his few links to the outside world. He said he feels unsafe around other inmates and portrayed the isolation as both punishing and, in his view, necessary for his survival. “It’s too dangerous for me to be around anyone else,” he said, adding that whenever he is out among other prisoners, “I feel like I’m under siege.” He said inmates approach him demanding money, legal help or favours, and claimed, “I wouldn’t last long out there.