Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a Texas prison prompted an outcry from survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and some lawmakers.
Since arriving in August, Maxwell has gushed to friends and family about the conditions of the minimal security prison camp in Bryan, near College Station.
Perks have included customized meals delivered directly to her cell, late-night workouts, access to staff-only areas and special accommodations to meet with visitors, according to a whistleblower’s report obtained by the House Judiciary Committee.
A reader asked who authorized the transfer for Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for procuring underage girls for Epstein, from Florida to Texas. Why was she moved? Curious Texas delved into the issue.
Curious Texas
Texas prison camp
Set on 37 acres near residential neighborhoods, the prison is nicknamed “Club Fed” for its relaxed environment. The prison houses about 650 women, including Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and until recently, Jen Shah of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
Minimum-security federal prison camps house inmates the Bureau of Prisons considers to be the lowest security risk. Prison camps were originally designed with low security to make operations easier and to allow inmates tasked with performing work at the prison, like landscaping and maintenance, to avoid repeatedly checking in and out of a main prison facility.
Sex offenders are not typically allowed to serve time at minimum-security prison camps, according to the bureau’s regulations.
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The transfer
In July, Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that she never saw any sexually inappropriate interactions involving President Donald Trump. Days after that interview, she was transferred to the Bryan prison.
It is not clear who authorized her transfer or why she was moved, but typically a bureau administrator must approve a transfer request. In an email to The Dallas Morning News, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said it could not comment on individual cases. The agency did not respond to follow-up questions about the transfer process.
“The Bureau of Prisons is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, impartiality, and professionalism in the operation of its facilities,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, declined to comment on the reason for the move to news outlets.
Prisoners can request a transfer to move closer to home or family, to a lower- or higher-security facility based on changes to their security level, or to participate in a program not available at their current facility.
Some Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, have demanded details of Maxwell’s transfer. Those details have not yet been made public.
“Ms. Maxwell was transferred without explanation and in possible violation of standard Bureau policy,” Whitehouse said in a statement. “Against the backdrop of the political scandal arising from President Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Ms. Maxwell’s abrupt transfer raises questions about whether she has been given special treatment in exchange for political favors.”
In a 2011 email, Epstein wrote that Trump had “spent hours” at his house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a separate message years later that Trump “knew about the girls.”
Trump and Epstein were friends, but the president has consistently said he did not know of Epstein’s crimes and had cut ties with him long ago.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty.
The Justice Department is expected to release files involving Epstein by Dec. 19 after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
