Alleged double-murderer Nick Reiner is isolated in a notorious Los Angeles jail plagued by urine-soaked floors and round-the-clock screaming

Nick Reiner

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Nick Reiner is currently housed at the infamous Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles (Image: Getty Images)

Accused double-murderer Nick Reiner is spending his days in one of the most scrutinized jails in the country.

Reiner, 32, is being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles, charged with cutting the throats of his father, filmmaker Rob Reiner, and his mother, Michele, on December 14.

The facility has drawn sharp criticism from state lawmakers. In 2023, California senators condemned conditions at the jail as “appalling” after investigators found inmates shackled to tables, sleeping on urine-soaked floors, and left sitting in their own feces. The U.S. Justice Department has also documented a history of sexual assaults involving both inmates and the deputies assigned to guard them.

 

Reiner is not in the general population. He is housed in the jail’s mental observation unit, a restricted wing where inmates are checked every 15 minutes around the clock due to suicide risk. He appeared in court last week wearing the unit’s signature brown gown, a single Velcro garment designed to prevent inmates from tearing fabric into ligatures.

A source with firsthand knowledge of conditions inside the unit offered a blunt assessment. “It’s the kind of place you don’t want to spend two minutes in. It makes One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest look like a day spa,” a source told Daily Mail.

The Twin Towers Correctional Facility

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The Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles

“They constantly scream night and day, they don’t shut up. There is no mute button. The noise really gets to you, it rocks your nervous system because it’s weird, like howling and all the profanity and sick sex talk. It’s not good,” they added.

“It’s really cold in there at all times, you are always cold, it’s not a good feeling, especially in the winter,” the source said. “It’s not like you can crank up the thermostat or ask for a down comforter or cashmere throw. And it’s dark — you don’t see much sunlight.”

Meals are a stark departure from the seaside Malibu restaurants Reiner’s family frequented before his arrest.

The U.S. Justice Department

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The U.S. Justice Department has documented a history of sexual assaults at the Los Angeles prison

“The food is not that good, but that is the way jail food is, lots of mystery meat,” the source said. “It is tasteless, but at least there are no bugs in it. And there is no metal silverware because it can be used as a weapon. So only plastic sporks are used.”

“You have to talk to psychiatrists a lot, you can’t get out of it,” the source said. “And often, the patients are on medications, they vary; some make you totally out of it.”

Nick Reiner

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Nick Reiner has been accused of murdering his parents, Rob and Mischelle Reiner(Image: Pool, Getty Images)

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who oversaw the county’s jail system from 2018 to 2022, confirmed Reiner would be kept away from all other inmates.

“Some have to remain alone at all times because they’re a danger, not only to others, but to themselves too,” Villanueva said.