​Weinstein to get special treatment in jail ​

Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein will get special treatment in custody — because officials fear another “Epstein incident,” sources told The New York Post.

Still reeling from the uproar after paedophile Jeffrey Epstein managed to die by suicide in his Manhattan lockup last year, jail officials are taking extraordinary steps to monitor their newest high-profile inmate.

Weinstein will always have his own cell, constantly have a dedicated team of correction officers with him — and could even be shipped to a facility outside of the city, sources said.

“The last thing you want is another Jeffrey Epstein incident,” a jail source told The Post.

“Harvey is going to be isolated as much as possible and will always have a detail with him throughout the prison. He’s never going to be like other prisoners, able to walk down the hallway or sit in the canteen alone.”
 

The special measures have already started within Bellevue Hospital, where Weinstein was taken for chest pains after his conviction Monday, Joe Russo, president of the Assistant Deputy Wardens / Deputy Wardens Association, told The City.

A jail captain escorts him on every move, and the team watching him includes several members of the department’s elite emergency response unit to ensure he doesn’t try to harm himself, Mr Russo said.

The entire jail hospital unit is shut down to eliminate any chance Weinstein could bump into other inmates, Mr Russo continued.

“There seems to be a Jeffrey Epstein influence here,” he said.

Mr Russo suggested city officials are keen to keep the high-profile prisoner out of the city, with options being debated including a jail in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester or even as far away as Albany.

If he does stay at Rikers he could even get an entire housing unit just for him, Mr Russo told The City.

“He’s very high-profile and you can’t put him with somebody else,” he added.

Sources told The Post that while options outside of the city are being considered, it is far from straightforward, with state officials getting the final say.

The Correction Department declined to comment on The City’s Weinstein report.

“He’s in our custody right now,” Avery Cohen, a City Hall spokesperson, told the site.

Weinstein was convicted in Manhattan court Monday of rape and criminal sex act — which leaves him facing up to 29 years behind bars. Wherever he ends up, Weinstein should be well prepared — having hired a “prison consultant’’ to help prepare him for his time behind bars.

Epstein, 66, was being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan, awaiting sex-trafficking charges, when he was found dead the morning of August 10.

Corrections officers Tova Noel and Michael Thomas with falsifying documents claiming they’d checked on Epstein and other inmates every half-hour the night he died. Both guards pleaded “not guilty”.

This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was republished with permission.