Maxwell Isn’t Being Treated Harshly in N.Y. Jail, U.S. Says
U.S. Says Maxwell Isn’t Being Treated Harshly in N.Y. Jail
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. prosecutors urged a judge to reject Ghislaine Maxwell’s complaints that she’s being closely “monitored” and treated “worse” than others held at a federal jail in Brooklyn, New York.
The British socialite has been held at the facility since early July after she was charged with helping her ex-boyfriend, the late Jeffrey Epstein, sexually abuse underage girls. Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell last August in what was later ruled a suicide.
“There is no merit to her complaints about being monitored by staff, as it is entirely appropriate for Bureau of Prisons 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,” prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday.
Maxwell complained of being under suicide watch for weeks and being stuck in solitary confinement, where she said she was subject to multiple cell searches daily as well as numerous body scans, and woken up in the middle of the night to change into “special clothing.”
“Like all inmates, the defendant may be subject to observation or searches of her person or space as appropriate,” prosecutors said. “It is otherwise entirely unclear what specific ‘privileges given to other pretrial detainees’ the defendant believes she is being denied.”
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