Report: Prison Officials Going All-Out To Make Sure Ghislaine Maxwell Doesn't End Up Like Epstein
Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of convicted sex offender and accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, is being watched closely in a federal detention center to ensure she stands trial, according to a new report.
Maxwell, now known to the federal Bureau of Prisons as inmate 02879-509, is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
She was brought there Monday from New Hampshire, where she had been arrested last Thursday, according to the New York Post.
Last summer, Epstein was charged with sex trafficking, but he was found dead in his cell in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center a month after his arrest. The death was ruled a suicide, although many have expressed doubts about that determination.
After his death, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York sought to find Maxwell, who is accused of partnering with Epstein to operate a global network that resulted in the sexual abuse of underage girls.
Maxwell faces four counts of sex trafficking minors and two counts of perjury.
The Post quoted a law enforcement source as saying officials want to ensure Maxwell does not die in prison.
“They want to make sure she’ll stand trial,” the source said, adding that the federal Bureau of Prisons does not want another “black eye.”
According to the source, Maxwell will have top security every moment of her detention.
Guards will be with her every time she leaves her cell, the source said, and a surveillance camera will be focused on her cell.
Reports that guards did not keep to their rounds and that video equipment malfunctioned emerged after Epstein’s death in the Manhattan facility operated by the Bureau of Prisons.
Maxwell could be arraigned as soon as Thursday. At that time, Judge Alison Nathan will decide if Maxwell will remain locked up or go free on bail.
Homer Venters, a former chief medical officer for New York City’s jails, has said the Brooklyn facility is “ill-equipped” to deal with COVID-19 and did not meet standards for infection control practices, according to Bloomberg.
Venters said he was “concerned about the ongoing health and safety of the population” at the MDC.
Cheryl Pollak, a federal magistrate in Brooklyn, has criticized the prison where Maxwell is being held.
“Some of these conditions wouldn’t surprise me if we were dealing with a prison in Turkey or a Third World Country,” Pollak said in 2017, according to NBC News.
Prosecutors have said Maxwell “poses an extreme risk of flight,” according to WABC-TV.
Maxwell has three passports, is wealthy with lots of international connections, and has “no reason to stay in the United States and face the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence,” they wrote.
According to the charges against Maxwell, she was involved in the sexual abuse of three girls, including one who was 14 at the time of the alleged abuse.
Here is the fed’s case against Ghislaine Maxwell https://t.co/2zYDUaS0z7 pic.twitter.com/Slr5sl48C6
— New York Post (@nypost) July 4, 2020
In addition to the charges against her, authorities have been seeking Maxwell in order to get a fuller understanding of Epstein’s alleged trafficking network, giving her leverage to strike a deal with prosecutors.
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