Notorious jail that housed Tupac is ‘infested with mice and covered in pools of water’

A national tribunal could soon instrumentality power of New York’s astir notorious prison, which has housed the likes of Tupac, Sid Vicious, and presently – Harvey Weinstein.

Chief U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain found the situation was successful contempt of orders to amended the ‘grave’ conditions inside.

‘Those who unrecorded and work successful the jails connected Rikers Island are faced with sedate and contiguous threats of danger, arsenic good arsenic existent harm, connected a regular basis,’ Judge Swain said.

Each captive successful New York costs the authorities $400,000 a twelvemonth – astir six times much than the mean successful the United States.

But adjacent with the hefty terms tag, the conditions wrong person repeatedly worsened implicit the years.

Some inmates antecedently said the situation was rampant with mice, the odor of sewage and lacked basal care. Pools of h2o were reported arsenic well.

There were 6,784 incidents of usage of unit astatine the jailhouse successful 2023, up from 4,652 successful 2016, according to figures the justice cited. Thirty-three radical person died successful custody since 2022.

Harvey Weinstein has been astatine Rikers since earlier this year, but his lawyers issued a assertion for his maltreatment successful the facility.

His lawyer Imran Ansari said: ‘When I past visited him, I recovered him with humor spatter connected his situation garb, perchance from IV’s, apparel that had not been washed for weeks, and helium had not adjacent been provided cleanable underwear – hardly sanitary conditions for idiosyncratic with terrible aesculapian conditions.’

Its estimation for brutality and neglect has been the taxable of aggregate calls for betterment implicit the years.

The New York City Council voted for its closure successful 2019, aiming to regenerate it with 4 smaller, much humane jails.

The deadline for Rikers to halt operating was fixed arsenic August 2027, but officials person already admitted this whitethorn not beryllium realistic.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, immoderate dire pictures emerged from wrong the Otis Bantum Correctional Center connected Rikers Island.

Up to 26 men were squeezed into impermanent holding cells, having to utilizing integrative sheets arsenic blankets, cardboard for beds, and integrative bags arsenic makeshift toilets.

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