Nick Reiner is being held in near-total isolation inside Los Angeles' notorious Twin Towers jail complex, where law enforcement sources say the alleged double-killer is under intensive mental health observation and cut off from family contact as he awaits trial.

The 32-year-old Reiner has been charged with murdering his father, filmmaker Rob Reiner, and his mother Michele by cutting their throats on 14 December.

According to former Los Angeles County sheriff Alex Villanueva, who spoke to theDaily Mail, Nick Reiner is being held in what the department describes as 'administrative segregation' because of the profile and nature of the case.

'Any type of case like this, a high-profile case, causes the department to place the inmate in what's called administrative segregation, designed to prevent the inmate from being hurt by other inmates,' Villanueva said.

During his first court appearances, Reiner was seen wearing what Villanueva called a 'suicide gown' – a thick, Velcro-fastened smock that cannot easily be torn into strips. It is standard kit for prisoners placed on an elevated suicide watch after intake screening.

The former sheriff said the garment indicated that Reiner has been assigned to 'mental observation housing', where staff check on inmates at least every 15 minutes around the clock.

'He'll be in a cell on his own,' Villanueva explained. 'They have day rooms, areas that are restricted to similar inmates. But some are classified as K10s, who they keep away from everybody.'

A 'K10' classification is reserved for prisoners deemed too dangerous or vulnerable to be around others, including other segregated inmates. The aim is to protect both them and the people around them, but it also means extreme isolation.

A separate source who has spent time inside the same mental health unit described conditions in far blunter terms. The unit, they said, is 'horrible', full of what they called 'crazies everywhere'.

'It's the kind of place you don't want to spend two minutes in. It makesOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nestlook like a day spa,' the former inmate told theDaily Mail,alluding to Ken Kesey's well-known 1962 novel set in a harsh psychiatric institution.

Source: International Business Times UK