The image of the convicted sex trafficker swanning around Federal Prison Camp Bryan, Texas, has infuriated Maxwell’s victims and those of her lover Jeffrey Epstein
Child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell strolls to a yoga class in the cushy new lock-up where she is serving a 20-year stretch.
The images have infuriated her victims – who were already angry at her move to the soft jail dubbed Camp Cupcake just three years into her sentence. The decision broke US prison rules which state that a sex offender cannot serve their time in a minimum-security facility like Federal Prison Camp Bryan, Texas.
Her transfer from a run-down prison in Tallahassee, Florida, came just seven days after she spoke favourably of Donald Trump’s notorious friendship with her paedophile ex Jeffrey Epstein.
READ MORE: Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell ‘conspired to discredit sex abuse victims’READ MORE: Ghislaine Maxwell moved to cushy jail to ‘keep her mouth shut’ says Trump chief
Last night, one of those abused by the late billionaire hit out at the British socialite’s VIP treatment.
“Ghislaine helped destroy so many lives, and now she gets rewarded with a transfer to a country club prison,” she said. “It’s a slap in the face to survivors. We’ve been left with scars that never heal, while she gets to do yoga and tend gardens while serving her time.
“How much time that is now depends on her buddy Trump.”
The US leader is embroiled in the greatest threat to his presidency after he reneged on a campaign promise to release the government’s files on his former pal Epstein.
He now claims that the documents contain no information and that the controversy about them is a hoax. His about-turn came weeks after Elon Musk claimed the President’s name appeared in the files.
Dozens of Epstein victims have since come forward, backed by millions of Americans including Trump voters, to demand that the files are released. The New York financier died in jail awaiting trial in 2019 and two years later his former girlfriend was convicted of helping him abuse girls.
Last month she was grilled for two days in Tallahassee by Trump’s deputy attorney general and former personal lawyer Todd Blanche.
Maxwell told him: “The president was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.”
She insisted Trump and Epstein were only “friendly in social settings” and stressed: “I never saw the president in any type of massage setting.” The 63-year-old daughter of crooked tycoon Robert Maxwell is seeking a presidential pardon so she can walk free. Many, including Democrat politicians, view her prison transfer as a reward for her comments.
Today we picture Maxwell for the first time in her new lock-up, taking morning strolls across the manicured grounds. Over four days, we watched as she walked from her block to her clerical job or to work out.
She rarely acknowledged another inmate, keeping her head down under her umbrella. Dressed in prison-issue grey sweats, she cuta lonely figure as she wandered off to a yoga class with a rolled-up mat under one arm.
“She never goes anywhere without her umbrella. Even when it’s dark, she’s got it with her,” one prison source said. Thanks to Maxwell, Camp Bryan is now America’s most notorious women’s jail.
The Texas institution usually houses white-collar prisoners like fraudsters and drug offenders serving short sentences – and offers them work-release privileges, gardening and dog training. Since Maxwell arrived in late July, it has turned into a fortress.
Screens 12ft high shield her from the public and heavily armed guards from the elite Special Operation Response Team, or SORT, patrol. Armed with semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and sidearms, they are usually only deployed in emergencies like riots or hostage crises.
“Everywhere you go there are guards,” one lawyer representing inmates said. “This isn’t Bryan any more. It’s lockdown.”
One prisoner, serving time for drug offences, told her family: “We’re all paying for her sins.” Another woman paid a heavier price after passing a comment to the press about Maxwell through her husband.
Within hours, officials yanked Julie Howell, 44, out of a puppy-training class and shipped her off to a notorious detention centre in Houston. Her lawyer Patrick McLain fumed: “Nobody’s going to say anything about Ghislaine Maxwell now, are you kidding?”
The Bureau of Prisons has claimed Maxwell’s transfer was routine but a senior Justice Department official has disputed that explanation.
Joseph Schnitt told an undercover reporter on a date that Maxwell’s relocation did break federal rules “which means they’re offering her something to keep her mouth shut”.
Schnitt also claimed that the department planned to redact all Republican names from the Epstein Files, leaving Democrats exposed. The department said his comments “have absolutely zero bearing with reality”.
Schnitt later explained that they were based only on media reports he had seen and not on anything he had learned from his job.
Trump once said of Epstein: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Epstein’s death in a Manhattan prison cell aged 66 was ruled suicide by hanging but has been mired in conspiracy theories ever since. Maxwell has been in jail since July 2020 and was found guilty the following year of recruiting and trafficking young girls for Epstein.
The pair were friends with some of the world’s most famous people, including Prince Andrew. The late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre alleged she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew while she was 17 at Maxwell’s London flat.
Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing and in 2019 told the BBC he had no recollection of meeting Maxwell.
The Bureau of Prisons did not respond to a request for comment.