Maxwell leaves solitary for shared prison cell
Socialite, 60, in ‘danger’ from other prisoners, says brother Ian, but she can now see friends and family
Ghislaine Maxwell has been removed from solitary confinement after almost two years of “torture”, her family has disclosed. Maxwell, 60, who is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of sex trafficking in a New York court, is now sharing a dormitory cell with fellow inmates, and for the first time is entitled to visits from relatives and friends. Ian, her older brother, accepted there were now “dangers” but it brought to an end her “inhumane” treatment in isolation.
GHISLAINE MAXWELL has finally been removed from solitary confinement after almost two years of “torture”, her family has disclosed.
Maxwell, 60, who is awaiting sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking in a New York court, is now sharing a dormitory cell with fellow inmates and for the first time is entitled to visits from relatives and friends.
Ian, her older brother, accepted there were “dangers” in her now living with the general prison population but it brought to an end her “inhumane” treatment while in isolation. He said he now looks forward to visiting her, having managed only snatched conversations during her high-profile trial.
Maxwell, the daughter of the disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell, remains in the Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York City, where she was taken following her dramatic arrest in July 2020. She is due to be sentenced on June 28 and faces a maximum 55-year term. Her lawyers have pushed for her to be transferred to a low-security jail.
During 22 months in solitary confinement, Maxwell has complained of “brutal and degrading” treatment. She was placed on round-the-clock suicide watch, woken up by guards every 15 minutes and confined to a 6ft-by-9ft cell with a concrete bed and lavatory. She claimed she was physically abused by a guard and ordered to scrub down the walls of a shower block in retaliation for lodging a complaint.
Her family had filed a legal claim with the United Nations over the “dehumanising” conditions.
Authorities feared Maxwell would take her own life following the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, her former boyfriend, at a Manhattan prison, in August 2019, and for whom she was convicted of procuring underage girls for sex.
Ian Maxwell said: “I am finally going to be able to see Ghislaine ... apart from a few seconds of snatched conversation I had with her at the bar of the court, we have not had any meaningful interactions.
“There are dangers in it but she has come out of being in that SHU [segregated housing unit] and out of that torture she has suffered ... she has kept her head held high and I admire her determination,” he added.
Maxwell was moved out of solitary confinement once Alison Nathan, the trial judge, upheld the conviction at a hearing a week ago. Her lawyers had attempted to have the guilty verdict overturned after it emerged a juror had failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during the jury selection process.
Mr Maxwell, 66, said it was frustrating that it was taking six months to sentence his sister, delaying her transfer. But he said family and friends would be desperate to see her although many friends had declined to offer public support because of a “cancel culture” that would lead to them being pilloried.
“There are nasty internet trolls out there continuing to lead a lynch mob against her,” said Mr Maxwell. He said he was unclear about her current conditions in jail but understood she was now sleeping in a “dormitory-style” cell.