Ghislaine’s a VIP (Very Important Prisoner)
Inmates say she has her own floor ...and they had to clean it for her
GHISLAINE Maxwell is getting the royal treatment at a tough New York jail, inmates claim.
The British socialite’s lawyers had claimed she is living in squalor, with the lights in her cell left on 24 hours a day and limited access to a shower.
But other prisoners say she is getting preferential treatment at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn where she is awaiting trial for recruiting children for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Female inmates said Maxwell has an entire floor to herself – which they had to clean and polish – and has security outside her cell 24 hours a day.
She is also given three hours of exercise time a day compared with two hours for other inmates, and is moved cells every few days, it was claimed.
Maxwell’s welfare is of intense concern to the US Bureau of Prisons because Epstein hanged himself in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan last August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The authorities want to ensure Maxwell, 58, lives to see her trial which is set for next July.
Maxwell is being held on the second floor of the women’s block, sources claimed, where the medical facilities, legal visiting rooms and guard areas are.
The New York Daily News reported that inmates had never been asked to clean the second floor of the MDC before Maxwell arrived earlier this month. A few days after the order went out a woman moved in and prisoners were told it was Maxwell.
One inmate told the newspaper: ‘The only time we were allowed on the floor Miss Maxwell has to herself is when they sent us to clean it and polish the floor for her.
‘We had to polish it three times so it would be ready for her.’
The other inmates of the East Building, thought to number about 40, are on the third floor but can see into the floor below from their recreation area. When Maxwell gets exercise time other prisoners are locked out of the area, the inmate said. They can see her jogging in the outdoor space.
‘We are all criminal defendants and should all be treated the same. I don’t mind Miss Maxwell getting three hours of rec, but then we all should get three hours,’ they added. Maxwell’s lawyer, Mark Cohen, has painted a very different picture, claiming the lights are on in the socialite’s cell all day and she was not allowed to shower for 72 hours.
She has also had her legal materials taken away, he said.
Prison consultant and former MDC warden Cameron Lindsay said moving Maxwell around allows guards to ensure there is no contraband in her cell.
He said: ‘When you get someone so incredibly high profile as Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, said to be involved with children being harmed, that automatically makes them a target in the culture of jails and prisons.’
Mr Lindsay has previously said the MDC, which houses 1,600 inmates, is arguably the most ‘troubled’ facility in the federal prison system. Last winter the power reportedly went off for a week. The cells were so cold prisoners were seen banging on windows in protest.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to claims she procured girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse.
She is set to face further embarrassment today when a tranche of documents in a separate case are made public.
The hundreds of pages, sealed since 2015, will include lawyers asking her about her sex life and her relationship with Epstein – her former employer and lover.
Maxwell’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment.