The Federal Bureau of Prisons is defending its treatment of Ghislaine Maxwell, the accused co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, after she complained about her detention.
The Bureau of Prisons’ lawyers penned a Monday letter ahead of Maxwell’s preparation for a new bail application. The lawyers pushed back on Maxwell’s claims that her treatment at the Metropolitan Detention Center is particularly restrictive given that Epstein died in another Bureau of Prisons facility while awaiting trial. His death was determined to be a suicide.
“Since Ms. Maxwell’s arrival, she has been provided three meals a day in accordance with BOP policy and its National Menu,” said staff attorney Sophia Papapetru in the letter, according to the New York Post.
“Her medical records show that she currently weighs 134 pounds, which fluctuates plus or minus 2 pounds,” the letter continues.
The lawyers said that for 13 hours per day, Maxwell can access “recreational space, social calls, television, shower, legal telephone calls, email, computers, and discovery material.” The Bureau of Prisons added that she gets more than eight hours of time per month for social calls, which she uses.
The 58-year-old socialite claimed that guards check in on her every 15 minutes at night using a flashlight to see if she is still alive, although the Bureau of Prisons said staffers check in on all inmates at night.
“MDC Brooklyn correctional staff utilize flashlights when viewing inmates’ cells overnight to ensure inmates are still breathing and not in distress,” the letter read.
Despite other inmates testing positive for COVID-19 at the Brooklyn facility, Maxwell has tested negative and “remains in a good health and is not in contact with those individuals” or staff who were in contact with the infected inmates.
Maxwell is accused of helping Epstein, an alleged sex trafficker, of procuring underage girls. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was earlier denied release on $5 million bond.
