Ghislaine: I do f lush loo frequently
Maxwell says it’s ‘absurd’ to claim she wants to live in jail squalor
GHISLAINE Maxwell has denied not flushing the toilet in her jail cell – insisting she does so ‘frequently’.
The UK socialite, 59, who is accused of procuring girls for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, said she flushes it often ‘to avoid plumbing problems’.
Maxwell said through a letter from her lawyer that if the toilet pipes go unused ‘gases escape from the drains’ which cause a ‘pervasive stench’.
She blamed the smell at the detention centre in New York on overflowing toilets in the cell block above hers which caused an ‘overwhelming’ odour.
The letter from lawyer Bobbi Sternheim came the day after prosecutors alleged that Maxwell’s cell stank because she did not flush the toilet.
They claimed that guards ordered Maxwell to clean her cell ‘in response to the smell and the dirtiness’. The dispute marks a bizarre escalation in the row about conditions in prison since the daughter of crooked newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell was arrested last year.
In the letter Miss Sternheim said that problems with a smell at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn ‘long predate’ Maxwell’s time there. She quipped that she wanted to ‘flush out the persistent unsanitary conditions at the MDC’.
She wrote: ‘This past weekend there was a pervasive stench of sewage in Miss Maxwell’s unit necessitating guards to flush pipes by pouring water down open drains in an effort to trap and disperse gaseous emissions. As guards explained to Miss Maxwell...when the plumbing system goes unused gases escape from the drains and cause the stench. At times the stench in Miss Maxwell’s isolation cell has been overwhelming due to overflowing of toilets in the cell block above.
‘Due to lack of privacy, Miss Maxwell refrains from using the toilet in the isolation cell and, as directed by the guards, she flushes frequently to avoid plumbing problems. At times, the stench is apparent upon entering the visiting area.’ The letter did not specify where Maxwell goes to relieve herself, but she has access to other parts of the prison at times.
Miss Sternheim said that ‘to suggest she willingly lives in squalor is absurd’ and alleged that guards use cleaning as a ‘punishment to wield power’. She wrote: ‘The MDC – especially the East Building where Miss Maxwell is held – is permeated with mould and vermin.
‘Cockroaches and rodents are plentiful and glue tracks have been placed in Miss Maxwell’s day area.’ Maxwell denies bringing underage girls to Epstein and committing perjury. Wealthy Epstein, 66, an ex-boyfriend of Maxwell and former friend of Prince Andrew, was arrested in 2019 for sex trafficking of minors.
He later died in jail in what was controversially deemed to be suicide.
‘Gases escape from drains’