Ghislaine Maxwell Is Still Contesting Her Prison Conditions
Ghislaine Maxwell’s imprisonment at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn has been peppered with arguments from her lawyers and federal prosecutors about the conditions she’s being kept under. In a court filing on Monday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons defended its treatment of the alleged Jeffrey Epstein accomplice, outlining her routines and addressing the state of her health.
“Her medical records show that she currently weighs 134 lbs., which fluctuates plus or minus 2 lbs.,” lawyers for the bureau wrote. Maxwell was placed in quarantine in November after an MDC staff member who works in the area where she is held tested positive for the coronavirus. “While there has been a number of inmates whom have tested positive for COVID-19,” the bureau’s filing said, “Ms. Maxwell remains in good health and is not in contact with those individuals.”
In a response letter on Monday, Maxwell’s lawyers said the bureau’s reassurances were insufficient. “While her weight may currently be fairly consistent, she had lost over 15 pounds, and she is sustaining hair loss,” they wrote.
“Touting that Ms. Maxwell is not in contact with ‘a number of inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19,’” Maxwell’s lawyers added, “the MDC’s letter totally ignores that she was in contact with a member of her revolving security team who tested positive.”
On Tuesday, Judge Alison Nathan denied Maxwell’s request to summon the MDC warden to personally respond to questions about her treatment.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury and aiding Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors. She was denied bail in July 2020, and her trial is scheduled for July 2021. Amid her complaints about prison conditions, Maxwell has been petitioning for a new bail hearing, with her renewed application expected in time for a Tuesday deadline. Her lawyers have said that the application should be sealed, writing in a court filing that it “will rely on sensitive and private information that, if made public, would be highly damaging to both Ms. Maxwell and third parties.”
Maxwell’s lawyers wrote that her family members and friends who are supporting the application “are legitimately afraid that if their identities become public, they will be subjected to the same relentless media scrutiny and threats that Ms. Maxwell has experienced for more than a year,” and cited social media posts threatening Maxwell.
Nathan will decide whether there will be a new bail hearing after Maxwell’s submission is filed, prosecutors respond, and Maxwell replies—setting a due date of December 18 for these filings.
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