Jail officials fear Weinstein will end up like Jeffrey Epstein
Jail officials reportedly fear an there will be incident similar to the death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Top New York City jail officials are concerned there could be another "Epstein incident" once convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein is behind bars on Rikers Island, according to multiple reports.
TMZ reported New York City Department of Correction bosses' fears, citing high-ranking officials who are afraid of an event similar to the death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found hanging from strips of orange bed sheets inside his jail cell in Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.
Harvey Weinstein, left (Getty); Jeffrey Epstein, right (Associated Press)
While it's up to the city's corrections department to decide where inmates are housed, Judge James Burke said he'd ask that Weinstein be placed in the Rikers Island's North Infirmary Command, where he'd have "something tantamount to protective custody."
"The last thing you want is another Jeffrey Epstein incident," a corrections source told the New York Post.
WEINSTEIN CONTRIBUTED TO 'EVERY' DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE, SAYS HILLARY CLINTON
Epstein was pronounced dead shortly after he was discovered on the morning of Aug. 10, 2019. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office later announced he had committed suicide by hanging, but his death is now the subject of a Department of Justice Investigation.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who was hired by Epstein's family to investigate the circumstances of the death, has repeatedly said Epstein's injuries were more consistent with murder than suicide.
'SOMETHING DOESN'T FIT' IN JEFFREY EPSTEIN DEATH: NEW YORK CITY MAYOR
Meanwhile, Weinstein – who was hospitalized shortly after he was convicted of third-degree rape and criminal sex act – remained at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City, where doctors were addressing concerns about high blood pressure and heart palpitations.
An ambulance carrying Harvey Weinstein is escorted from a Manhattan courthouse, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
As a result of corrections officials' concerns about Weinstein's anticipated stay within their system, bosses have come up with a plan to keep him isolated and, most importantly, alive.
"Harvey is going to be isolated as much as possible and will always have a detail with him throughout the prison," a jails source told the Post. "He's never going to be like other prisoners, able to walk down the hallway or sit in the canteen alone."
WHO IS WEINSTEIN'S EX, GEORGINA CHAPMAN?
Weinstein will have his own jail cell and will likely be assigned a jail captain to escort him everywhere he goes, along with several other department employees, such as officers from the DOC's emergency response unit, Joe Russo, president of the Assistant Deputy Wardens/Deputy Wardens Association, told The City.
The team of DOC officers has already taken position guarding Weinstein at the hospital, The City reported.
A woman walks by a sign at the entrance to Rikers Island on March 31, 2017, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Rikers' North Infirmary Command has the capacity to isolate high-profile inmates from others, according to the report. Whenever Weinstein is moved throughout the infirmary, the entire unit will be temporarily shut down.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
There's a chance Weinstein is assigned a housing unit entirely to himself, The City reported.
Epstein was the only person staying in his cell, which was within a Bureau of Prisons facility. Weinstein was not federally prosecuted in his rape and sex assault trial, and would, therefore, most typically be confined to one of the DOC's facilities. But Russo told the outlet officials are also mulling transferring Weinstein to a facility outside of New York City, to a correction complex on Long Island or in Westchester, instead.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
The Associated Press contributed to this report.