Harvey Weinstein, the convicted rapist, is not doing well in prison. At his court session on Tuesday, the prisoner seemed ragged and exhausted.
This newest examination of his physical condition comes amid reports that his health is deteriorating. With unruly hair, huge circles under his eyes, and a 5 o’clock shadow, the convicted sex offender sat in court.
He arrived in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, the same prison where he will stand trial next week on allegations of sexually abusing five women in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013.
Weinstein has been imprisoned since March 2020, when he was sentenced to 23 years in jail for third-degree rape and criminal sexual conduct in the first degree.
Reports of his deteriorating health have emerged since his incarceration.
The surprising court appearance on Tuesday comes only a few weeks after he notified a judge that his teeth are decaying.
Weinstein asked the court to force a jail dentist to cease extracting his teeth. He is in pain every day, he testified in court. He has cavities and can’t eat because he is lacking teeth, he explained, pressing on seeing a private dentist.
As a prisoner, one doesn’t have many alternatives for medical treatment. Weinstein was apparently offered the choice of keeping his decaying teeth alone or having them removed. This may have surprised the former Hollywood producer, who is accustomed to receiving the greatest medical treatment.
He informed the judge he’ll pay for the dentist.
This predicament, together with the pressure of upcoming hearings, might be one explanation in his unsettling look.
The defamed Hollywood producer is being imprisoned at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles awaiting a new trial on October 10.
Indications of his declining health have been visible since the charges against him started. Following spinal surgery in 2020, he started using a walker.
He has shed 75 pounds since the charges surfaced.
In February 2020, he was found guilty of forcibly performing oral sex on former Project Runway production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haleyi in 2006. In 2013, the same Manhattan jury convicted him guilty of raping hairdresser Jessica Mann.
Harvey argued that his trial was unjust and decided to file an appeal.
His hope was fulfilled in August when New York’s top court consented to hear his conviction appeal.
He had previously been acquitted of two counts of sexual assault stemming from claims that he assaulted actress Annabella Sciorra in the mid-1990s.
