Harvey Weinstein is back at NYC’s Rikers Island jail after hospital stay

Harvey Weinstein, a one-time movie mogul, was sent back to a New York City jail on Tuesday, according to his representative, following a published report saying he was receiving VIP treatment during his 10-day hospital stay.

Juda Engelmeyer, Weinstein’s publicist, stated that Weinstein was transferred late Monday from Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan to an infirmary at the city’s Rikers Island jail.

The decision was made just hours after the nonprofit news outlet The City disclosed that Weinstein was kept in the hospital’s intensive care unit in a private room that had a phone, television and bathroom,  rather than a separate floor where prisoners are normally kept.

The report was denied by Engelmeyer, who claimed Weinstein “wasn’t getting preferential or VIP treatment” and wasn’t staying in a room that could be characterized as a hospital suite. Engelmeyer stated that he had been put on the floor for inmates, where everyone had access to a phone and television room.

“He’s been moved back to Rikers largely due to pressure, I believe, due to pressure because of the news about what somebody thought was VIP treatment,” he stated.

Weinstein was transported to Bellevue Hospital just hours after being moved to Rikers from the Mohawk Correctional Facility, roughly 100 miles (160 kilometres) northwest of Albany, less than a day after his conviction was overturned by the New York Court of Appeals.