No, it’s not a US high school... it’s Maxwell’s cushy Florida prison
WITH its palm trees, big windows and red-brick walls, the building looks like a US high school in a sunny southern state.
In fact, it is the low-security Florida prison that will be Ghislaine Maxwell’s home for at least 15 years.
The disgraced socialite has been moved to FCI Tallahassee, which will be a great deal cushier than the grim Metropolitan Detention Centre in New York where she has been held for the past two years.
Nevertheless, while the Federal Correctional Institution may look like a school, the regime there is still demanding. Maxwell will be woken up at 5am every day and will have breakfast at 6am followed by lunch at 10.30am, dinner at 4pm and lights out at 9pm.
The prison handbook says that the only approved uniform is khaki pants, khaki shirt, underwear, socks and authorised shoes. While at the MDC – where staff
‘Probably the best place’
were accused by her lawyers of mistreating her – Maxwell taught other inmates yoga and began to learn Russian, both of which she will be able to continue.
And she will be able to keep herself entertained by taking part in the prison talent show, watching movies or using the running the track.
Among the apprenticeships on offer for the 60-year-old are electrician, baker, horticulturist, plumber and beautician. Notable former inmates at the prison include the Islamic extremist Colleen LaRose, also known as ‘Jihad Jane’, and eco-terrorist Chelsea Gerlach.
Maxwell, who once rubbed shoulders with the likes of Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, will earn
15 cents (12p) an hour cleaning toilets or working as a clerk. The choice of prison by the authorities is against the recommendation of Judge Alison Nathan, who oversaw Maxwell’s trial and sentencing.
The judge asked the Bureau of Prisons – following a request from Maxwell’s lawyers – to send her to FCI Danbury in Connecticut. However, the bureau has ultimate authority and decided she should go to Florida without revealing its reasoning.
Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking after a trial in December in which her victims testified that she lured them to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when they were as young as 14. The bureau’s website indicates that Maxwell will not be eligible for release before July 17, 2037. She has appealed against her sentence and her conviction.
Holli Coulman, of Pink Lady Prison Consultants, which supports women prisoners, said that FCI Tallahassee is ‘probably the best place’ that Maxwell could have gone to.
After a recent series of scandals, including allegations of sexual abuse by the guards last year, Tallahassee guards are better trained than Danbury, Miss Coulman said.