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 Rikers Island.

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.”

Legal claim says Weinstein returned to Rikers too soon after hospitalizations

Weinstein, 72, has been in city custody since earlier this year, following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction in the state. The case is set to be retried in 2025. Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing.

Weinstein was briefly hospitalized in April and again in July for health problems. His team has said he’s been treated for diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, COVID-19, and fluid on his heart and lungs.

The legal claim, which seeks $5 million in damages, argues he’d been returned to Rikers each time before he had fully recovered.

Weinstein’s film production company went into bankruptcy proceedings after his convictions, setting up a $17 million fund for a sexual misconduct claims fund.

The Rikers Island jail is slated to be closed in 2027, but the city has pushed back deadlines to do so.

Jean Rather, the wife of former longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather, died Tuesday at the age of 89, her family announced.

Rather died in Austin, Texas, surrounded by family and friends following a battle with cancer, her family said in a statement.

“Jean was a steadfast advisor and rock of true Texas grit during every storm,” her family said. “She was also the kind of wife who could meet presidents, kings and queens, draft dodgers, criminals, and corporate suits every day with equal ease and a stunning smile.”

Born Jean Goebel in Smithville, Texas, a small town southeast of Austin, Jean was one of three sisters. She went to work immediately after graduating high school.

Jean and Dan met at a Houston radio station and were married 67 years.

Her family described her as an accomplished artist with paintings that were shown in galleries and private collections across the U.S. 

She served for eight years as vice chair of the New York City Art Commission. She also served on the boards of several nonprofits, including the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the UT Press and the Harry Ransom Center.

The 93-year-old Dan Rather spent 44 years with CBS News, as a bureau chief, war correspondent, foreign correspondent and White House correspondent.

He succeeded Walter Cronkite as the anchor of “CBS Evening News” in 1981 and spent 24 years in that chair before signing off in 2005.

In 1963, he reported on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy from Dallas. In an interview last year reflecting on his career, he recounted a conversation he had with Jean at the time.

“I didn’t take time to grieve,” Rather said. “Because I said to myself, it’s my professional responsibility. I remember calling my wife Jean, who was in Houston at the time of the assassination, and she had cautioned me: ‘Dan, sooner or later, you’re going to have make room for your own emotions.'”

Along with her husband, Jean is survived by her son and daughter, Danjack and Robin, and her grandson Andy, along with several members of her extended family.  

Her family described her as a “tremendous mother and grandmother, making every game, cheering on every win, putting Band-Aids on every skinned knee, and serving as a confidante and friend to all her family members.” 

contributed to this report.