Ghislaine Maxwell can at least comfort herself knowing that she didn’t give up easily as she departs for a federal prison to serve the remainder of her 20-year sentence. She and her diminishing group of followers tried just about everything.
She can comfort herself by remembering that it won’t be as horrible as the dreary Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she spent the previous 23 months.
Maxwell’s next stop is the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut, partly based on the location she provided for her intended residence upon release.
In the prison drama television series Orange Is The New Black, the low-security facility, which contains separate male and female prisons, served as a partial model for the fictitious Litchfield Correctional Institution.
According to Justin Paperny, whose company, White Collar Advice, counsels high-profile clients on coping with life behind bars, this new residence will be “like Disneyland” in comparison to Brooklyn.
Maxwell’s crimes are too serious for them to be sent to an open or “minimum security” jail, which is where most white-collar offenders end up. Danbury, though, is far from a Gulag. It contains a baseball field, a jogging track, and a well-kept grass with trees and walkways.
Along with circuit training, gardening, aerobics, and “over-50s” exercise, the facility provides offenders with “a wide selection of hobby craft and music.” A church and library are also present. Inmates may spend the remaining time roaming the institution, save when they are resting or working.
Former Danbury detainees have expressed dissatisfaction, claiming that the show’s association has led to an inaccurate picture of the facility as “Club Fed,” with a setting resembling a summer camp.
They assert that female prisoners are frequently chained while giving birth, Muslim women have their hijabs removed, and male guards frequently pat prisoners down to ensure they aren’t sneaking food from the canteen.
However, the authorities must first decide what level of security Maxwell needs in order for her to access the facilities. Psychologists will assess whether she needs to be segregated from other convicts and put on suicide watch once more.
After a fellow prisoner at the Metropolitan Detention Center allegedly received payment to hang Maxwell, Maxwell’s own attorneys asserted that “there are countless prisoners who would not hesitate to kill Ms. Maxwell – whether for money, celebrity, or plain “street cred”.”
She might get isolated once more at Danbury if that turns out to be the case.
Despite this, she has apparently already begun to adjust to life in prison. The convicted socialite’s legal team has sought to have her dismal circumstances taken into account during her trial and sentencing ever since she was arrested in New Hampshire over two years ago.
However, even her accusers admitted that Maxwell had the ability to turn on the charm like no other, so it was quite unexpected to learn that she had been doing the same while incarcerated.
A letter from a fellow prisoner at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, who wanted to share her “positive thoughts” of a woman depicted by prosecutors as a “monstrous” predator, was recently brought to court by her attorneys.
Tatiana Venegas remembered how the Englishwoman greeted everyone with a handshake, a grin that was “genuine, pleasant,” and the words “Hi, I’m Maxwell.”
The Oxford alumna had also offered to teach yoga and English as a second language, as well as to assist her fellow convicts study for the GED, within a week of her arrival in the unit from solitary confinement (a high school equivalency diploma).
Venegas might not be everyone’s notion of a trustworthy character witness given that he is accused of orchestrating a £2.3 million cocaine deal.
Maxwell, whose extensive contact list once included presidents, prime ministers, and a myriad of celebrities, can now hardly pick her friends.
Venegas’ testimony not only conveniently echoed the assertions made by Maxwell’s attorneys on her pro bono work while imprisoned, but it also highlighted Maxwell’s excellent persuasion skills once more.
The victims of Maxwell claim that her kindness and generosity with her time helped lull them into a false feeling of security with her and her paedophile buddy Jeffrey Epstein.
She appeared very different to those she didn’t need to captivate. She allegedly dominated Epstein’s numerous multi-million dollar residences with an iron fist and delighted in her role as the pampered “lady of the house,” according to employees at his properties.
The inmates “have real empathy for Maxwell as they’ve observed how cruelly she’s been handled by the administration in the facility,” claimed Jeffrey Lichtman, a lawyer who represented both Venegas and Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Only Maxwell could have given them that impression. She has described the 22 months she spent in the Special Housing Unit of the Brooklyn jail, away from the general inmate population, as hell and a barbaric victimization. This separation lasted from July 2020 to May of this year.
However, US officials have categorically denied that she has ever been subjected to unfair treatment and have labeled her a dishonest liar in their pre-sentencing submission, which was submitted a few days ago.
Prosecutors claimed: “Simply put, the defendant lies when it’s convenient for her.” She appears to find it advantageous to circulate terrifying tales about her experiences in jail in an effort to win the public’s sympathy.
For the record, Maxwell complained that, among other things, rodents infested her cramped and filthy cell, guards grabbed her during sleazy body “pat downs,” and that she was cruelly deprived of sleep by being awakened every 15 minutes by a torchlight flashing into her room.
She alleged that she had been fed “rancid” food, denied access to even soap, toothpaste, and a toothbrush, and generally treated like Hannibal Lecter, the fictional psychopath from Silence of the Lambs, according to her attorneys.
She claimed that much of this was done to hinder her ability to prepare for her court case. She was actually treated better than other prisoners while being put on suicide watch, according to counter officials (a measure that was in large part a response to Jeffrey Epstein having died in his own jail cell in August 2019).
She was given her “personal area” and allowed to leave her cell for 13 hours every day, seven days a week, unlike other prisoners who were almost constantly confined to their cells.
Prosecutors stated that she received significantly more assistance than prisoners often receive in order to prepare their cases, including her own desktop computer, laptop, and hours on the phone with her attorney each day, in addition to having her own shower and television.
Maxwell was working on her case for around six hours a day during video chats with Leah Saffian, a lawyer who has been defending the Maxwells since 1991, according to Maxwell’s attorneys.
Additionally, Maxwell “blatantly lied about her own weight loss,” according to the medical documents, which revealed that she weighed 10.4 stone when she was detained in July 2020 and just 1.5 lb lighter in April of this year. The same, according to the authorities, applied to her allegations that her hair was thinning.
Prosecutors indignantly dismissed Maxwell’s horror tales as a sleazy ruse to win sympathy and secure a sentence reduction, asserting that she was “fully healthy with a full head of hair.” She frequently claims to have experienced considerable hair loss, but anyone who has seen the defendant in court can plainly see that is not true, according to the US district attorneys prosecuting her case.
Since her confinement at the facility began in July 2020, Maxwell claims to have filed almost 100 grievance reports, leading prosecutors to note sarcastically: In essence, the criminal dislikes being in jail.
It is understandable why she found being in jail upsetting given that she had grown accustomed to a life “filled with wealth and privilege,” first in the UK with her fraudster father Robert and later with Epstein.
It is absolutely frightening and unpleasant to go from being served with great courtesy to being locked up. But her friends have always praised her for being tough. She has made the most of her confinement, much like Maxwell did when she quickly clung to Epstein after losing her father.
Her lawyers recently boasted that the woman who inherited her father’s fierce work ethic had completed six courses during her allegedly hellish time in solitary confinement, although she could only put them to use when she was allowed to join the facility’s “general population” in May.
Her lawyers are anxious to allay fears that she is a “Repeat and Dangerous” sex offender who deserves a harsh sentence. They also disclosed that, following her conviction in December of last year, she was permitted to continue working as an orderly and assisting other prisoners with their academic work.
According to Mr. Paperny, “She doesn’t want to come across as hoity-toity and entitled.”
The Maxwell family’s claims that Ghislaine is a victim of a father who passed away more than 30 years ago were not well received by the prosecution.
In their harsh sentencing submission, they stated, “While the defendant may have had a slightly less favorable experience than other exceptionally wealthy children, it is difficult to see how stern conversation at the family dinner table is an excuse for participating in a child exploitation scheme.”
Maxwell “had already learned a hard lesson from her arrest and conviction,” according to her attorneys. But one has to ask what that lesson would be given that she has never admitted guilt or even exhibited much sorrow for her crimes.