Convicted murderer Rebecca Grossman languishes in Los Angeles’ notorious ‘Twin Towers’ prison as she awaits transfer to a state prison to serve her sentence for killing two young brothers.
It could take between two and four weeks for Grossman to be transferred to one of three women’s prisons in California, sources told DailyMail.com.
The 60-year-old disgraced socialite, whose birthday is Friday, has been held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles since a jury found her guilty nearly four months ago in the hit-and-run deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander in September 2020.
She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in an emotionally charged hearing in Van Nuys on Monday, but could be eligible for parole in as little as seven or eight years.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to consider a sentence of 34 years to life in prison and argued that the disgraced socialite was “more than deserving” of a harsher punishment.
Rebecca Grossman sits in Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles until she is transferred to a women’s prison in California to serve her 15 years to life sentence
Rebecca Grossman, who turns 61 on Friday, went from hosting glitzy fundraising galas to the most crowded and dangerous jail in Los Angeles County.
“We’re obviously disappointed,” Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould told DailyMail.com on Tuesday. ‘We feel that two lives were taken and therefore she should be punished for the two separate lives she took.
“There was a lack of remorse, even in court, when she said, ‘I’m sorry for what happened.’ Not once did she say she regretted what she had done. She has never taken responsibility for her own actions because, according to her , it’s always been someone else’s fault.’
Grossman fatally struck Mark Iskander, 11, and his brother Jacob, 8, as they sped behind a car driven by her then-lover Scott Erickson, a former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and then fled the scene.
The Iskander boys, Mark and Jacob, ages 11 and 8, died at the scene after Grossman’s Mercedes hit them at high speed.
Sources said Grossman was placed on suicide watch during the first days she was locked up in the Twin Towers after a jury found her guilty of two counts of murder in February.
During a shocking moment at his sentencing in a Los Angeles courtroom on Monday, Grossman admitted that he had thought about suicide and wished God had taken his life.
“He knows that if he had seen anyone, he would have thrown me against the brick wall,” a hysterical, sobbing Grossman told the Iskander family. ‘He wanted God to take my life. I don’t know why God didn’t take my life.
She continued: ‘I would like Him to take my life. And if he could give my life right now and say to God, “Could you bring back Mark and Jacob?”, she would tell God to take my life. Very sorry!’
Understaffed and overcrowded, the Los Angeles County prison system, the largest in the country, houses nearly 200,000 inmates a year and polices a population that averages 18,000 a day. Upstairs, in a crowded reception center, inmates sleep on the floor as they wait to be processed for the Men’s Central Jail in the Twin Towers in downtown Los Angeles.
An inmate with mental health issues sleeps on the floor in the Forensic Inpatient Unit, part of the Correctional Treatment Center Hospital, at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, California, USA. USA, September 23, 2014.
Rebecca, who co-founded a renowned burn center with her plastic surgeon husband Dr. Peter Grossman, went from glitzy galas and fundraisers with Hollywood elites to sleeping in the largest jail in Los Angeles County, known for its “barbaric” and overcrowded conditions.
The Twin Towers, which have separate facilities for men and women, were denounced last year by a group of senators for their “appalling” conditions in which inmates were found chained to tables, sleeping on urine-soaked floors and sitting on their own feces.
The Torres have also had a history of sexual assaults among inmates or even among the agents guarding them, according to reports from the United States Department of Justice.
Gould said Grossman will most likely be transferred to the state women’s prison in Chino or Chowchilla. Once she is transferred to one of those facilities, she will undergo a reception and classification process that could take up to 90 days.
During that time, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation administrators will review several factors, including Grossman’s mental health, the type of crime he committed and his criminal history.
Lou Shapiro, a criminal law expert and defense attorney, said Grossman would most likely be placed in a ‘Tier 1’ area, the lowest level, due to his lack of criminal history.
The Los Angeles River flows behind the Twin Towers Jail, downtown, as seen from the MTA building in downtown Los Angeles.
Rebecca Grossman could be moved to a state women’s prison in Chowchilla, California
He added that some inmates even qualify to be “trustees” or inmate workers, who are selected for jail jobs such as cooking, managing the jail library or maintenance.
“Trustee status even allows them to have more access to free time, perhaps sometimes better food and opportunities for more visits,” Shapiro told DailyMail.com. ‘They could also get their sentences reduced. It’s in return for good behavior and the work they’re doing and the goodwill they’ve earned as trustees.
“Although she was convicted of murder, it was not an intentional crime, so it is very likely that she was in a Level 1 part of the prison and could be an administrator.”
At Chowchilla State Prison, Grossman would be in the same facility as ‘House of Horror’ mother Louise Turpin, who was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison – along with her husband David – for starving and torturing 12 of his 13 children in his Perris. California at home.