NEW YORK—Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers filed a legal claim Tuesday against New York City, alleging that he is receiving substandard medical treatment in unhygienic conditions while in custody at the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.
The notice of claim, which is the first step in filing a lawsuit, accuses the facility of failing to manage the former movie mogul’s medical conditions, which include chronic myeloid leukemia and diabetes, and negligence ranging from “freezing” conditions to a lack of clean clothes.
The city’s law department and Department of Correction did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“When I last visited him, I found him with blood spatter on his prison garb, possibly from IV’s, clothes that had not been washed for weeks, and he had not even been provided clean underwear—hardly sanitary conditions for someone with severe medical conditions,” Weinstein’s attorney, Imran H. Ansari, said in a statement, comparing the facility to a “gulag.”…