Ghislaine Maxwell is being held separately from other inmates at a Brooklyn federal jail for her “safety, security, and the orderly functioning of the facility,” prosecutors wrote Thursday.
Earlier this week, attorneys for the British socialite requested the Bureau of Prisons transfer her to general population of the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Prosecutors responded in a new filing that Maxwell, 58, shouldn’t second-guess jail officials.
“For reasons including safety, security, and the orderly functioning of the facility, BOP has made the determination that, at present, the defendant should not be fully integrated into the dorm-style accommodations of the general population,” Assistant Manhattan U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller wrote.
“The defendant will be placed into the general population if and when BOP is assured that such placement would not pose a threat to the orderly operation of the institution.”
The prosecutor scoffed at Maxwell’s complaints that she was being treated differently than other inmates and was under 24-hour surveillance. Maxwell’s legal team called the conditions at MDC Brooklyn “uniquely onerous” and said officials were going overboard to prevent her from committing suicide like her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, though she is not a suicide risk.
“There is no merit to her complaints about being monitored by staff, as it is entirely appropriate for BOP to carefully monitor any inmate, particularly a new inmate who has never before been incarcerated and who faces the strong likelihood of serving many years in prison. Additionally, like all inmates, the defendant may be subject to observation or searches of her person or space as appropriate,” Rossmiller wrote.
Maxwell now has 11 hours of time to sift through evidence in her case, according to the filing. So far, prosecutors have turned over 150,000 pages of evidence, mainly of financial records.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to lying under oath and grooming underage girls for Epstein’s sexual abuse in the mid-1990s.
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