IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was denied bail and sent to New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail on Monday, a crushing blow as he fights charges that he assaulted and tried to rape a hotel maid.
Hours after his bail request was rejected, Strauss-Kahn was dispatched to a bare jail cell at Rikers, a dramatic fall for a man who oversees the world economy, has for long enjoyed a luxury lifestyle and was tipped to be France’s next president.
He is being held in protective custody in an 11-by-13-foot cell to prevent attack from other inmates, officials said late on Monday.
“This is not about isolating the inmate from any human contact,” said a spokesman for New York’s Department of Correction. “This is about preventing the inmate from being victimized or harmed in some way as a result of his high profile.”
