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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Trump Sends Maxwell to Club Fed with Puppies, Anti-Aging—and Easy Escapes
Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell is enjoying cushy new digs at a prison camp that has no cell blocks or guard towers but does offer a full gym, yoga classes, and a 'puppy program.' Maxwell, 63, was quietly transferred last week from a prison in Florida to a minimum-security camp in Bryan, Texas. Oversight at her new facility is so lax, it partially relies on the honor system to keep inmates from—quite literally—walking off its wall-free campus, as three women did in 2017. Federal Prison Camp, Bryan has been nicknamed 'Club Fed,' as its inmates have access to an outdoor running track, music programs, intramural competitions, social and cultural events, and activities like table tennis, prison consultant Michael Santos says. At the facility, Maxwell will be permitted to buy mascara ($13.10), eyeliner ($1.70), concealer ($7.75), powder ($17), lip gloss ($3.40), makeup wipes ($9.25), and, the priciest luxury available, L'Oréal Revita anti-aging cream ($26.00), according to a comissary list obtained by the Daily Beast. Inmates are allowed to spend $360 a month there. If she wishes, Maxwell can also buy materials for hobbies like painting, crocheting, and sewing, all of which are offered for sale. If she is tight on cash, she is also free to enjoy the camp's free classes for weightlifting, yoga, and even Pilates. Julie Howell, a 44-year-old who self-surrendered to Federal Prison Camp, Bryan last month on a theft charge, told her loved ones she was accepted into a 'puppy program' that allows her to spend her days training a '12-week-old yellow lab named Louise' to become a service dog, she posted to Facebook on July 22. 'The program is really fantastic, and they are very strict about adhering to the rules and training,' she posted. 'This is my 'job' while I'm here, and it's literally 24/7 as the puppies stay in the room with us. It's me, my bunkie, and a puppy, and we have to supervise the puppy at all times.' She added of her prison gig, 'I absolutely love it.' Convicted sex traffickers like Maxwell are not typically permitted in a minimum-security camp, and the family of one of her victims, Virginia Giuffre, slammed Trump for granting Maxwell such 'luxury' accommodations. Maxwell's transfer came shortly after she spoke with Justice Department officials about Epstein for two days. It remains unclear exactly how Maxwell is spending her time in Texas. She now lives in dormitory-style housing on the same property as disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and reality TV star Jen Shah. Maxwell is no ordinary inmate. However, a handbook obtained by the Daily Beast lays out what her day-to-day life would look like if she were treated as one at the Texas facility. The handbook adds that Maxwell would be required to be awake by 6 a.m. for work each day, with breakfast beginning at 6:30 a.m. most days. Her work in the kitchen would not stop there. An early lunch is served between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. on weekdays, followed by dinner that is served between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. According to the protocol outlined in the handbook, last updated in 2023, Maxwell would spend her first three months working in the prison camp's kitchen, where she would be required to wear an all-khaki prison outfit and a lanyard identifying her by name. Maxwell would earn between 12 cents and $1.15 an hour for her work and would be eligible to seek a new prison job—perhaps practicing carpentry or training service dogs—after 90 days. FPC Bryan is often heralded as one of the most laid-back places to be a prisoner in the United States. Prison Pink Lady Consultants writes on its website that, save for Maxwell, who is British, its population is made up of 'non-violent female federal inmates' from the Southern United States, many of whom are serving time for financial crimes. It adds that inmates usually sleep in two-person bunk beds in a room of four in dormitories where guards have limited oversight. The property is 37 acres and is surrounded by residential neighborhoods. A public park and basketball court are just a half-mile away. Inmate Aid, another prison consultant, writes that FPC Bryan offers 'grounds with unsecured perimeters, generally unrestricted or open movement within those perimeters, and low inmate-to-staff ratios.' It adds that inmates there can 'expect relatively relaxed monitoring of mail, Corrlinks email, telephone calls, and visits, as well as fairly unsupervised and unmonitored recreational and leisure activities.' Still, FPC Bryan is a prison, and it is safe to assume that the majority of its population does not want to be there. A former inmate described the camp to Fox Business as 'close' to being the 'hellhole' of the U.S. prison system. Maxwell is sure to face challenges that most others do not have to face. While former FPC Bryan inmates note that inmates at the camp regularly rally behind each other and become friends, Maxwell carries significantly more baggage than someone convicted of wire fraud. A report by The Telegraph claims that Maxwell is already an outcast in Texas. 'Every inmate I've heard from is upset she's here,' Howell told the paper. 'This facility is supposed to house non-violent offenders. Human trafficking is a violent crime.' Howell expressed fear that the facility—which reportedly has no razor wire, watch towers, and has fewer guards per inmate than the majority of federal prisons—may not be equipped to protect Maxwell and other inmates from outside harm. 'This is a camp you can literally walk out of,' she told the Telegraph. 'I don't care how many people she turns in; it doesn't take away from her actions. As a mother of a sex-trafficking victim, I'm absolutely disgusted she's in this facility. Regardless of her reasoning, I don't think she belongs here.' Solve the daily Crossword
Courier-Mail
01-08-2025
- Courier-Mail
Mystery prison move for Epstein accomplice
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News. Notorious sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has quietly been moved to a cushy prison camp known as a 'Club Fed' as she tries to hash out a deal to divulge her sordid secrets about late pedophile ex Jeffrey Epstein. The 63-year-old convicted child sex trafficker was transferred from a jail in Florida to the minimum-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, north east of Austin, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confirmed to The New York Post on Friday. X Learn More SUBSCRIBER ONLY No reason was given for the move, but it comes days after she met Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche, who was Donald Trump's personal lawyer, twice while trying to seek immunity and a deal to spill her secrets about Epstein. 'We can confirm, Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas,' BOP spokesman Donald Murphy said. The notorious madam — who is serving 20 years for helping Epstein groom and abuse underage girls — is now in a prison for nonviolent inmates who are allowed to roam the grounds with 'limited or no perimeter fencing,' according to the BOP's website. She will be neighbours with well-known white-collar criminals, including Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced fraudster convicted of ripping off investors in her now-defunct blood-testing company Theranos, as well as Real Housewives of Salt Lake star and convicted scammer Jen Shah. 'It's one of the best prisons for anyone to go to,' Josh Lepird, regional vice president for the prison officers' union that includes Maxwell's new camp, told the Houston Chronicle on Friday. 'When you hear people say 'Club Fed,' they're talking about places like FPC Bryan.' A picture of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. Maxwell is supposed to be locked up until 2037. Yet inmates 'typically only go to a camp if you have just a couple years left,' Mr Lepird told the outlet. 'But if someone is a co-operating witness, they can request a lower security level.' Her unexpected move from Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee, in Florida, was handled directly by BOP officials, rather than US Marshals, according to the New York Sun, which said it included a 'brief stopover' in FCI Oakdale in Louisiana. No reason was given for the unexpected move. Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Marcus, also declined to elaborate, saying, 'We can confirm that she was moved but we have no comment'. The Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, on May 30, 2023, where Theranos' founder Elizabeth Holmes will serve her prison sentence. Holmes was ordered to begin serving prison time at the camp on May 30 after a court denied her latest request to remain free while appealing her fraud conviction. Holmes was sentenced to just over 11 years in prison for defrauding investors with her Silicon Valley start-up Theranos. (Photo by Mark Felix / AFP) However, the sudden transfer comes a week after Mr Blanche huddled with the disgraced British socialite and her lawyer at the US Attorney's Office in Tallahassee. It's unclear what Maxwell and Mr Blanche discussed at the meeting — or whether anything the convicted predator says would be considered credible — but her lawyer stressed afterwards that she 'honestly' answered Mr Blanche's questions. The DOJ in 2022 expressed doubts that Maxwell could be truthful, accusing her in court papers of a 'significant pattern of dishonest conduct' and failing to take responsibility for her heinous crimes. A Manhattan jury convicted Maxwell in 2021 on sex trafficking charges for serving as Epstein's right-hand woman — a 'sophisticated predator' that lured girls into the dead financier's orbit from at least 1994 to 2004, prosecutors noted. Four women testified at the convicted sex fiend's trial about Maxwell courting them and trafficking them to Epstein to be sexually abused. Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Photo by Handout / US District Court for the Southern District of New York / AFP) However, Maxwell's lawyers claimed she was made a scapegoat for Epstein's twisted schemes after Epstein died in a Manhattan federal jail in 2019 while awaiting his own trial. The Trump White House has faced renewed pressure in recent weeks to release more information about the government's probe into Epstein. US Attorney-General Pam Bondi vowed earlier this year to release a cache of Epstein files, which could include juicy information on what the feds seized from the financier's mansions. But she later backtracked, saying that no further disclosures would be warranted. Justice Department officials are currently lobbying two New York federal judges to release grand jury testimony from investigations into both Maxwell and Epstein. But such information would only include the accounts of two law enforcement witnesses, the feds disclosed this week. Such a disclosure, if the judges sign off, would only amount to a fraction of the 300 gigabytes of Epstein-related material that DOJ and FBI officials have said they have in their possession. Maxwell has also offered to testify to a congressional committee about Epstein, but only if granted immunity for what she says. President Trump has the power to pardon Maxwell or to release her from prison by commuting her sentence. When asked earlier this week about the possibility, he didn't rule out doing so, but insisted that he had not been approached directly with a request to pardon her. This story was published in Teh New York Post and is reproduced with permission. Originally published as Mystery prison move for Epstein accomplice
