Ghislaine Maxwell's ex-cellmate reveals all about her life in prison, and how she has 'dirt' on Donald Trump

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

The first time Kathryn Comolli saw Ghislaine Maxwell was when the convicted sex trafficker was about to enter the isolation unit at Tallahassee prison, Florida.
Comolli said: '[Maxwell] was just standing there in an orange jumpsuit and orange flip-flops, with handcuffs behind her back and a guard on both sides. She was looking down at the ground, tense and angry.
Comolli slept a few feet away from Maxwell, 63, for over three months, and she had heard another inmate reveal that her cellmate had 'dirt' on Donald Trump - who was friends with the notorious late pedo Jeffrey Epstein.
About that first meeting, Comolli, 44, said: '[Maxwell] had just been strip-searched, which involves squatting naked and coughing because they don't want any contraband [concealed on the person].'
'I heard some female inmates shouting, "Here comes Maxwell. Here comes that big money b****." I thought to myself, "Oh my God, there she is. What is she doing here in this hell-hole?" But Maxwell stayed cool, calm and collected. That was the way she was. Her golden rule seemed to be that she would keep herself to herself.'
At that time, Maxwell had already been at the prison for a few months - but she had to spend a night in isolation as punishment for talking to the media without permission from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
Referring to Maxwell's appearance on Talk TV's Jeremy Kyle Live, in which the disgraced British socialite said she wished she had 'never met' Epstein, Comolli said: 'It was the only interview she ever did and she got in trouble for it.'
Comolli spent 15 days in isolation after she was transferred from Federal Prison Camp Marianna in Florida, where she had been found with a mobile phone.
After completing the time, she was taken by guards to B South Dormitory and assigned a bunk near Maxwell's. Both women slept on their respective bottom bunks.
B South was a horseshoe-shaped room made up of sleeping cubes, divided by shoulder-height concrete walls. There were 140 inmates in the dormitory. Each section had two bunk beds with lockers in the middle but 'no privacy whatsoever'.
Comolli was serving six years for 'conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine'. After her arrest in September 2020, she served two years of her sentence at Tallahassee and was released last August.
She said: 'While most of us would watch TV, cook noodles, listen to the radio or play cards, Maxwell just laid on her bed reading.
'It was hot and sweaty and any time it rained, we'd have to take maxi pads [sanitary towels] and put them in the cracks in the ceiling so we didn't get wet.
'There were just four toilets for 140 of us and they were always getting blocked. We'd put a garbage bag over them and just wait until somebody got round to fixing them -anywhere from a week to a month.'
Comolli said it was common knowledge among inmates that Maxwell's aim was not to serve her full 20-year sentence and instead hoped to get a pardon from then President Joe Biden in exchange for information about Donald Trump in the lead-up to the 2024 election.
Fresh air: Maxwell's keen on keeping fit and she was seen running laps on the track of FCI Tallahassee on November 6, 2022
Comolli said: 'I heard her tell another inmate that she had dirt on Trump and that it was going to get her a pardon from Biden. I guess Biden's camp just didn't want to go down that route.'
There's still talk of a pardon.
Last week, Maxwell was moved to Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, where there were no perimeter walls or wire fences.
Her move came after she met and was questioned by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Comolli said: 'I believe Maxwell made a deal with the devil to get that transfer out of Tallahassee.'
Life in the Tallahassee prison's markedly different from that of Camp Bryan.
Comolli said: 'Breakfast would be a scoop of bran flakes and a carton of milk, which was usually frozen. Sometimes you'd get half a frozen pancake.
'Lunch could be two pieces of bread and a slice of salami or some potatoes, and dinner could be moldy lettuce, expired tomatoes, and lots of beans and rice.'
With such unappealing food on offer, Comolli said inmates would often cook 'prison soup' in the dormitory by pouring hot water into an empty chip packet or lunch box and then add noodles, crushed corn chips, pickles, and cheese.
But Maxwell never did that, according to Comolli: 'She had particular habits. For example, she didn't let anyone wash her clothes and she cleaned her own cubicle.
'She claimed to be allergic to the dye in the prison blanket so she was given special white hospital blankets. You could tell which was Maxwell's bed because of the white blankets. She was the only one in the whole prison who had white blankets.
'Maxwell didn't ask for anything from other inmates because she worked out that if you did, there was usually a favor attached to it. There's a price tag on everything in prison.'
Comolli revealed that Maxwell did befriend one fellow prisoner, a doctor, who would follow her everywhere and joined her for meals.
Comolli said: 'My own first real conversation with [Maxwell] was when I asked to borrow her prized New York Times Sunday edition.
'I said, "Hey, can I check out your New York Times?" and she replied, "Yes, but everybody else always wants to read it so you'll have to wait but it won't be a problem."'
Comolli never saw Maxwell being disrespected by other inmates and the former socialite was able to converse in four languages.
Maxwell received 'ungodly amounts of mail with stacks of daily letters. But under prison regulations, all letters - including envelopes - are photocopied before distribution so that inmates can't use drug-laced paper for smoking or consumption'.
Comolli also saw Maxwell passing the time by working as a clerk at the law library in the prison's education building. She worked there three to five days a week.
She said: '[Maxwell] was smart and knew the law well. She helped people with legal stuff and won respect from inmates for this - but she would not let anyone take advantage of her.'
Of Maxwell's perceived persona, Comolli says: 'The evil pimp? I never saw that. I just saw a person trying to get through each day like the rest of us. She was active in her Jewish faith and took that seriously. She had a Torah and participated in the Sabbath. She was a participant in all Jewish activities.'
Comolli joined Maxwell's twice-weekly yoga and Pilates classes for several months. Around a dozen inmates would head to a corner of the yard with prison mats that Maxwell had secured for them.
Comolli said: 'She was in phenomenal shape, running up to five miles every day in the yard. She could outrun pretty much anybody.
'Whenever she would be walking back from the track and someone would holler out, "Hey, Maxwell, come here!" she would ignore them. She was good at ignoring people. Then sometimes she would be in a playful mood and she'd grab a basketball and start dribbling around the court and shooting hoops. She is very athletic.'
But, even after Maxwell had been exercising, Comolli says she never saw her take a shower like other inmates and instead 'would just go straight to her bunk'.
Her former cellmate said: 'I'm assuming she didn't want to put herself in a vulnerable position. I never saw her alone in the bathroom. She was on her guard 24/7.
'One day, she got her hair cut and took her hair with her rather than sweeping it up. I guessed she didn't want anything of hers that could possibly be sold or exploited.'
Last month, Maxwell's brother Ian claimed that she feared for her safety in Tallahassee with 'serious staff shortages and more dangerous higher risk-category prisoners now being admitted to the prison'.
But Comolli said there were no serious issues between Maxwell and other inmates, besides some name-calling.
Recalling her last conversation with Maxwell, Comolli said: 'It was in the law library. I wanted to file a Freedom of Information application to see my federal file and she gave me some advice.
'I wouldn't say I got close to her during my time at Tallahassee but that was Maxwell's strategy. She refused to get close to anyone.'