Ghislaine Maxwell is losing her hair, is a 'withering shell of her former self' and was physically abused by a guard during pat down at Brooklyn jail, her lawyer claims
Ghislaine Maxwell is ‘withering’ away behind the bars of her Brooklyn federal jail cell, is losing her hair and has allegedly been abused by a guard during a pat down search, her lawyer has claimed.
In a letter to Judge Alison Nathan on Tuesday, Maxwell’s attorney Bobbi Sternheim complained about the ‘onerous’ conditions her client is allegedly being subjected to at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Such treatment is purported to include being deprived of sleep, being given inedible food, being 'physically abused' by a jail guard – and later being punished for complaining about it.
‘It is impossible to overstate the deleterious effect of the conditions under which Ms. Maxwell is detained,’ Sternheim wrote.
‘She is withering to a shell of her former self — losing weight, losing hair, and losing her ability to concentrate.’
Ghislaine Maxwell claimed through her lawyer Tuesday that a guard physically abused her at a federal lockup in Brooklyn, and then she was punished for complaining about it
The Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn is seen above. Maxwell's lawyer have routinely complained about the 'onerous' conditions she's being confined in
The lawyer’s letter states that Maxwell is subject to constant searches and surveillance by guards, which Sternheim claims is to make up for the Bureau of Prison’s failure to prevent her alleged cohort, Epstein, from killing himself in 2019.
‘Ms. Maxwell continues to be at the mercy of a revolving group of security officers who are used to guarding hundreds of inmates but now focus their undivided attention exclusively on one respectful, middle-aged female pretrial detainee,’ Sternheim wrote.
The attorney further claimed that recently – and out of view of the surveillance cameras in her isolation cell – Maxwell was ‘physically abused’ by a guard during a pat down search.
‘When [Maxwell] asked that the camera be used to capture the occurrence, a guard replied “no.”, Sternheim claimed. ‘When Ms. Maxwell recoiled in pain and when she said she would report the mistreatment, she was threatened with disciplinary action.’
Days later, in response to her complaints, Maxwell was then allegedly ordered into a shower by guards and told to clean, sanitize, and scrub the walls with a broom.
She once again requested for the encounter to be recorded but was allegedly denied, Sternheim said.
Sternheim went on to claim that surveillance of her client is so strict that ‘guards forbid’ Maxwell from standing in certain areas of her six-foot-by-nine-foot cell, including telling her not to stand to the left or right over her toilet.
In her letter, the attorney pointed out that prosecutors have previously confirmed complaints she raised months ago about guards point a flashlight at the ceiling of Maxwell’s cell ‘every fifteen minutes from approximately 9:30am to 6:30am.’
‘It is hard to verbally convey the power of a light that bounces off a concrete ceiling in a six-by-nine-foot concrete box into Ms. Maxwell’s eyes, disrupting her sleep and ability to have any restful night,’ she wrote. ‘The attenuating effects of sleep deprivation are well documented.’
Maxwell is scheduled to face a July trial on charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to abuse in the mid-1990s. She has pleaded not guilty
Other grievances raised by Sternheim included complaints that Maxwell has ‘never received a properly heated meal’ and has been forced to drink ‘odorous’ tap water during her some-200 days behind bars.
Maxwell is routinely given food in a container that is not meant for use in a microwave, but staff microwave her food anyway, the lawyer said.
‘Ms. Maxwell’s food either does not defrost the food or disintegrates it and melts the plastic container, rendering the food inedible,’ Sternheim wrote.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, have previously described Maxwell’s incarceration situation as luxurious, circumstantially speaking.
In December, prosecutors said she is allowed out of her solitary confinement cell for up to 13 hours each day, has a shower to herself, in addition to her own phone, access to two computers and a TV.
But Maxwell’s attorney has accused the prison of denying her client vital information, alleging that newspapers are delivered to her six weeks late and that he emails have been deleted from prison computers - hindering her abilities to communicate with her defense lawyers.
In summation, Sternheim wrote: ‘Having been incarcerated in de facto solitary confinement for 225 days and monitored by two to six guards 24 hours a day with a handheld camera dedicated to capturing her every move, except when it would record improper conduct on the part of the guards, it is not surprising that Ms. Maxwell feels she is detained under the control of the Bureau of “Pretrial Punishment”.’
Maxwell's (pictured with Trump right in 1997) first attempt at bail shortly after her July arrest was rejected. The president said he 'wished her well' in an interview with Axios earlier this year
Maxwell, 59, is awaiting a July trial on charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse in the 1990s and committed perjury during 2016 depositions in a civil case.
She was arrested in July 2020 following a worldwide search and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
She has remained incarcerated without bail since July, when she was arrested almost exactly a year after Epstein was arrested to face sex trafficking charges. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail a month after his arrest.
In late December, a judge rejected a $28.5 million bail proposal for Maxwell, saying she was a risk to flee and was not forthcoming with authorities about her finances after her arrest.
As part of the bail proposal, lawyers said Maxwell had about $22.5 million in assets with her husband and had set aside over $7 million for her defense.
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