NEW YORK: Rikers Island is taking no chances when it comes to its highest-profile inmate ever, placing Dominique Strauss-Kahn in an isolated cell on suicide watch with a personal guard, sources said Wednesday.
The International Monetary Fund chief, a man with a global footprint who had been tipped to become the next French president, now inhabits an 11 by 13 foot (3.3 by 3.9 meter) cell in the notorious jail on Manhattan's East River.
Looking after Strauss-Kahn, who denies allegations he sexually assaulted and attempted to rape a hotel chambermaid on Saturday, is a massive challenge, said Norman Seabrook, president of the New York correction officers union.
"We've never had to deal with someone of this level," Seabrook told AFP. "This is a very, very high-profile person... a presidential candidate of a major country that is an ally of the United States."
Ordinarily, a suspect awaiting trial, considered innocent until proven guilty, is detained with numerous privileges, including the right to wear his own clothes and bring in possessions.
Not Strauss-Kahn.
A law enforcement source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the 62-year-old VIP had been placed in an area of the West Facility normally reserved for inmates with contagious diseases.
That's because the layout, with cells designed to isolate prisoners as much as possible, suits the requirements in this extraordinarily high-profile case.
In addition to his bed, he has a shower and a toilet and a table for eating and is entirely alone. Or almost.
"There's no one else there except guards. In this case, there is a guard just a very few feet away," the source said.
Rather than being allowed to stay in his elegant executive's attire, Strauss-Kahn has been given a grey jumpsuit specially designed to minimize risks.
"With this, there are fewer opportunities to conceal things, for example," the source said.
He also has to wear slip-on shoes -- not the fine leather kind he wore to conferences with world leaders, but "standard issue shoes, slip-on with a crepe rubber bottom and canvas uppers. Slip on with no laces," the source said.
Laces can be used to used to hang oneself.
Rikers, New York's main jail complex for defendants awaiting trial, has held some big names in the past but no one of the international political stature of Strauss-Kahn, Seabrook said.
Ultimately the State Department might have to "get involved in this to see if there is some other arrangement," he added.
Strauss-Kahn, who only a few days ago was checking into a luxury suite at the Sofitel hotel in Times Square, is due to remain at Rikers until at least Friday, when he will find out if his case is going to trial or not.
The French politician is allowed to exercise one hour daily outside. He also has the run of a day room where he can watch television, including the nearly non-stop news coverage of his own case.
Guards maintain an around-the-clock check and if he is lying down they have to be sure, even when he sleeps, whether he is breathing.
If the chest cannot be seen obviously rising and falling, "we wake the inmate to determine that the inmate is still alive," Seabrook said.
According to Seabrook, Strauss-Kahn is classified as a CMC, or centrally monitored case, which means he will go to court on Friday under extraordinarily tight security.
"Every time he travels to court he will be escorted by our emergency services unit. He will be handcuffed, shackled, he will be transported in a vehicle escorted by several highly trained officers."
Seabrook said these measures and the isolation cell were ordered so that "we don't put him in any danger. We do not allow any inmates to come into contact with him. (We) protect him from anyone who may want to make a name for themselves, take a swing at him."
Officials at Rikers Island would not comment on Strauss-Kahn's state of mind or whether he had been put specially on suicide watch.
A spokesman for the New York Department of Correction said all inmates are kept under "the same protocol for the safety and security."
"The protocol dictates that every inmate is assessed for risk of harm to themselves and risk of harm to others," a statement said. "All inmate health records are confidential under the law."
Comments
Comments are closed.