Ghislaine Maxwell once used her wealth and social status to take advantage of the vulnerable. Now, she has swapped her glittering life of privilege for a grim existence in a reportedly rat-infested prison, caked with mould
She once rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, but now Ghislaine Maxwell is locked away in reportedly “filthy” conditions, where her fellow inmates mock her with a teasing nickname. In June 2021, the disgraced socialite was sentenced to 20 years behind bars after being found guilty of enticing and sex trafficking underage girls, who she would recruit for sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Having been granted every imaginable privilege growing up, aristocratic Maxwell now resides behind the mouldy walls of The Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida – a place so dilapidated, inmates have reportedly had to use sanitary products to plug leaks.
Here, the Mirror takes a look at Maxwell’s life now, including her attempts to paint herself as a female “role model” for other prisoners.
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‘Filthy’ conditions
Inmates at the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee live in squalid conditions, according to a February 2024 report in The Independent – a far cry away from Maxwell’s notorious London townhouse. As per a Justice Department watchdog report seen by the publication, black filth and mould was found covering the walls of the rodent-infested living quarters, while sanitary products were used to plug leaks.
A report by the US Office of the Inspector General highlighted the “alarming” conditions of the low-security jail, uncovered by inspectors during an unannounced visit. It was discovered that there were “serious operational deficiencies”, while inmates expressed fear of reprisals if they complained to staff, some of whom were accused of using discriminatory language and not enforcing rules.
This report also sheds light on the prison’s ‘inadequate’ food service and storage facilities. Rotting vegetables were found in fridges, while prisoners were served mouldy bread. It was reported that the cafeteria area contained broken stools, which, with their sharp edges, could be used as makeshift weapons. There were also leaking windows in this area, and a notable quantity of dead insects.
Over in the food warehouses, investigators uncovered “seriously unsanitary conditions”, including rodent droppings, chewed-through boxes of food, insect-infested bags of cereal, and food containers showing signs of rust. According to the report: “Due to the severity of the issues, we identified and the immediate risks they posed to inmate health, we informed FCI Tallahassee management of our observations. Within 24 hours of our notification, FCI Tallahassee staff removed large volumes of food from the storage warehouses.”
‘Prison Karen’
Maxwell is reported to have earned the nickname “Prison Karen” after lodging more than four hundred complaints “about the food, the bedding” and about not having access to hair dye. In the summer of 2023, a source told the Mail Online: “Maxwell hates her grey showing through, and she’s filed a grievance because they don’t sell it anymore.”
The source went on to assert that Maxwell “acts like she’s a genuine attorney and fills the forms in for some of [her fellow inmates].”
‘Starving’ on Thanksgiving
In November 2024, the Mail Online reported that Maxwell had been left “starving” at Thanksgiving after the jail “ran out of money”. One source informed the publication: “This has been going on since last week. The inmates have been told the Bureau of Prisons has run out of money, and Ghislaine and the others have been left starving.
“Portion sizes have been cut from 8oz to 2oz, and Ghislaine hasn’t had food for five days. The prison says it can’t afford to buy the vegetarian diet plan she is on. She and the others are going hungry.” In this same report, it was claimed that prisoners had been advised there was “no money for medication”.
Prisoners have been told there is ‘no money for medication’. Another source said: “The prisoners who need medication, everything from chemotherapy drugs to blood pressure medication, were pulled to one side and told there isn’t money for the drugs. It’s insane.”
Typical day
The disgraced British socialite typically wakes up before sunlight. Before heading to her job in the prison’s law library, where she works Monday through Thursday, she is served breakfast between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m.
She and inmates from her “B South unit” dormitory are called to the prison canteen to pick up their food, which is served on a throwaway styrofoam tray. The tray typically contains a muffin, cereal, oatmeal, fruit, and milk.
By 7:30 a.m., she has to have her bed made and be “inspection ready” in her work uniform—a button-up shirt and matching khaki trousers. Outside such hours and on the weekend, Maxwell is allowed to wear her own clothes, known as “grades”.
Maxwell has her lunch served between 11 am and 11.30 am and has dinner between the hours of 4.30 pm and 5 pm. On the weekend, she is served roast beef, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables for her evening meal.
Fitness routine
Despite her age, the 63-year-old is known among inmates to be a fitness fanatic, sometimes beating other, much younger women in a race. She has been spotted running around the 400m asphalt track in a grey T-shirt, matching sweat shorts and trainers.
“Ghislaine is incredibly fit,” said a prison source. She runs almost every day, and when not jogging on the track, she will walk with one of her friends. For her age, she is incredibly active and does a 40-minute session, completing lap after lap without stopping before she needs to be back inside. She is happy to be allowed out in the open once again, where she has at least some semblance of freedom.
“When not working in the law library, she stays outside in the sun for hours. She is very, very sociable.”
New hobby
Following the easing of lockdown conditions in Florida’s Tallahassee jail, cons were afforded more recreation time. Maxwell has reportedly become obsessed with playing softball in prison, even representing her wing in competitive games.
The child sex trafficker loves the sport so much that inmates have dubbed her ‘Dottie’ after the character in the baseball movie A League of Their Own. She is now a key player in her B South unit’s softball team, which beat bitter rivals A South unit and another wing.
A prison source said: “Ghislaine is very popular among the girls. She is very sociable. Straight away, she began mixing with others, taking part in all manner of activities. She almost won musical chairs one day, getting down to the last two.
“But it’s her love of softball she seems to most enjoy. Whenever there is a game, Ghislaine wants to play. When she took to the field, they called her Dottie. It stuck.”
Etiquette classes
Maxwell is reportedly hosting etiquette classes for prison inmates and preaching about women’s empowerment. The convicted teen sex trafficker holds classes twice a week for up to 40 prisoners, teaching them about how to have good manners as well as how to talk, dress and behave in a job interview, an insider has claimed.
Maxwell is said to be “passionate” about the course as she wants to promote herself as a female “role model”, according to sources at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida. A flyer pinned up inside the prison, which promotes the course, says: “Taught by Mrs. Maxwell, this course teaches the three principles of etiquette – focusing on respect, consideration and honesty.”
An insider said Maxwell’s classes have proven so popular that she is hosting the course in both English and Spanish with the help of a Colombian inmate who is acting as a translator for the jail’s Hispanic population.
A source told the Daily Mail: “It’s less about balancing books on heads and being ladylike, and more about having confidence in yourself – how to behave and talk in a professional manner, the secrets of success in the corporate world, that sort of thing.
“Miss Maxwell’s message is, so what if you’re a woman and a convicted felon? You’re not a second-class citizen. She’s an unlikely role model, but she’s very passionate about this.”
Call centre job
It was previously reported that, in 2023, Oxford-educated Maxwell took a literacy test to determine whether or not she had the skills to work in the prison’s call centre It’s here where successful applicants earn 99p an hour selling cut-price internet, TV and phone bundles for a telecommunications giant.
The company outsources some of its call centre work to Florida’s FCI Tallahassee female prison, where she is held. In this role, Maxwell would earn three times more than in another role she has previously held in the jail law library. However, she will need a lot of hours to pay off the £644,000 fine imposed by her trial judge.
A prison insider said: “Many of the girls work in the call centre. Customers would never know they are talking to a drug dealer, armed robber, killer or, in Ghislaine’s case, a sex trafficker.
“The girls have been joking if she does move jobs, callers will think they’ve called Buckingham Palace with her posh accent. Being on the phones allows the girls contact with the outside world. Some find it a lifeline.”
Jeremy Kyle interview
Maxwell has previously spoken to talkshow host Jeremy Kyle from behind bars in an interview that aired back in January 2023. While speaking from prison, she told the presenter she regrets ever meeting ex-partner Epstein and didn’t know he was “capable of evil”.
“Clearly my association and the fact that I worked for him and spent time with him and knew him has devastated my life and hurt many people that I’ve loved and hold dear around me,” she said. “I honestly wish I had never met him. I wish…I had stayed in England. I’d been a banker and so I should have moved on from him. I didn’t know that he was so awful. I mean, obviously now, looking back with hindsight, of course.”
Maxwell went on to assert that she believed the photo of Prince Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre to be “fake”, insisting that she has “no memory” of it.
Ms Giuffre (nee Roberts) brought a civil case alleging Prince Andrew had forced her to have sex with him on three occasions – at Maxwell’s London home, at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and in the Virgin Islands – in 2001 when she was 17 years old. Prince Andrew strongly denied the allegations and later agreed to an out-of-court settlement with his accuser.
The settlement is not an admission of guilt, and the Duke of York continues to deny any wrongdoing. Ms Giuffre used the image, in which Prince Andrew appears to have his arm around her, as evidence to support her allegations against the prince before the case was settled outside of court.
Speaking of the image, Maxwell told Kyle: “I have no memory of them meeting. And I don’t think that picture is real. There is no original of that photo, (just) copies of copies and parts of it, according to some experts, look like it has been photoshopped. I don’t remember her in my home.”
She added: “I know that Virginia travelled with Jeffrey, and so it’s entirely possible. It wasn’t something so outrageously out of left field that it couldn’t have happened.”
This comes after Virginia shocked social media followers by revealing she had been left with just four days to live following a horror car crash. Revealing that she’d been left with severe kidney damage, Virginia shared a picture of herself covered in bruises, expressing that she was “ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time”.
Medical staff who attended to the 41-year-old mum-of-three, who has reportedly separated from her husband of 22 years, have clarified that, while she has been injured in the collision, her condition is not believed to be life-threatening.
Meanwhile, Virginia’s spokesperson has reportedly now said the original Instagram post was a mistake and that she had intended to share the post to her private Facebook page. Their statement read: “Virginia thanks everyone for the outpouring of love and support. She is overwhelmed with gratitude. Today she remains in (a) serious condition while receiving medical care. On March 24, in rural Western Australia, a school bus hit the car in which she was riding.”
They added: “Virginia was banged up and bruised and returned home. Virginia’s condition worsened, and she was admitted to the hospital. Concerning her Instagram post, Virginia thought that she had posted on her private Facebook page.”
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