By Vincent Barone | New York Post
Ghislaine Maxwell is being held in isolation from other inmates in a Brooklyn Federal jail for her own safety and the “orderly” function of the facility, federal prosecutors argued Thursday.
The British socialite, 58, earlier this week petitioned to be released into the general population at the Metropolitan Detention Center. She whined in court documents of the “onerous” conditions she’s facing — including around-the-clock camera surveillance and guards filing notes on her every move.
But Assistant Manhattan U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller responded Thursday that the Bureau of Prisons’ exhaustive measures were to protect Maxwell.
“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,” Rossmiller wrote.
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The Bureau of Prisons “will continue to evaluate” where Maxwell should be placed and will only consider sending her 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,” he went on.
Maxwell claimed she’s been treated “worse” than other pre-trial detainees because the prison is overreacting to the suicide of her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein and trying to prevent a similar situation.
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The multi-millionaire pedophile was found hanging inside his federal Manhattan jail cell last August. Two corrections officers allegedly falsified records and never checked on him the night he took his life.
But Maxwell’s lawyers wrote that the precautions were unwarranted because she “has never been suicidal and was never diagnosed as exhibiting risk factors for suicide.”
“Her cell is [still] searched multiple times a day and she has been forced to undergo numerous body scans,” her attorneys said.
Rossmiller countered that her treatment was “entirely appropriate” considering her circumstances.
“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,” he wrote.
Maxwell has been charged on a six-count indictment accusing her of procuring girls for Epstein to abuse and lying about it under oath.
She’s pleaded not guilty.
Additional reporting by Ben Feuerherd
