Manhattan federal prosecutors have hit back after a Ghislaine Maxwell attorney complained about her “harmful” circumstances last month, saying in a letter submitted Tuesday that the real problem appears to be her not cleaning her “very dirty” cell and flushing her toilet .
The letter came in response to a complaint filed in a federal judge in February by a British socialite attorney.
Maxwell – on trial for grooming and trafficking girls to multi-millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – claimed she was forced to drink dirty tap water and eat unheated meals, and that a security guard “ physically assaulted ” her while on a search at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
“The general conditions of detention have adversely affected the health and overall well-being of Ms. Maxwell; and she is fading to a shell of her former self – losing weight, losing her and losing her powers of concentration, ”attorney Bobbi Sternheim wrote to US District Judge Alison Nathan.
Manhattan’s federal prosecutors paint a very different picture, however. In their Tuesday filing, they say Maxwell is at a healthy weight, has no noticeable hair loss, has been given the COVID vaccine, and appears to be sleeping through nighttime checks, but herself has been warned of any cleanliness issues.
MDC determined that Maxwell’s complaint of an insulting pat-down was “ baseless, ” the prosecutors wrote, before adding that detention staff had warned the 59-year-old about her alleged refusal to keep her prison cell clean or even flush the toilet. flush.
“In response to counsel’s complaint in his letter dated February 16, 2021 about an improper search, the MDC conducted an investigation and found that, contrary to the accused’s allegation, the search in question had in fact been fully recorded by a handheld camera. , ”Said a footnote in the letter filed by assistant US attorneys Maurene Comey, Alison Moe and Lara Pomerantz.
“After reviewing the CCTV footage, the MDC concluded that the search had been properly conducted and that the defendant’s complaint about that incident was unfounded,” their letter said. “MDC’s legal counsel further confirmed that all pat-down searches of the suspected video recordings.”
The government letter added that following Maxwell’s abuse complaint, MDC staff ordered the heiress to “clean her cell because it had become very dirty.”
“MDC employees noted, among other things, that the suspect often did not flush her toilet after using it, causing the cell to smell,” the filing continues. “In addition, the defendant had not cleaned her cell for a while, so that the cell became increasingly dirty. MDC personnel ordered the defendant to clean her cell in response to the odor and filth, not in retaliation for complaining about a particular search. “
Prosecutors also say Maxwell has ample time to call her attorneys and that, with 13 hours a day, seven days a week access to both a desktop computer and a laptop, “still gets more time to review the discovery than any. any other prisoner. “
MDC also looked into Maxwell’s email account after claiming prison staff deleted her messages prematurely. “That investigation revealed that the defendant herself had deleted some of her emails and filed others,” notes the letter. “That investigation did not reveal any evidence that MDC staff had deleted the defendant’s emails.” (Under Bureau of Prisons policy, inmate emails are deleted every six months, the filing notes.)
Maxwell is allowed to leave her cell every day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and while they are in the day care center, prosecutors say, “ she has exclusive access to the MDC desktop computer, the laptop, a television, a phone on which she can make a social or attorney phone calls and shower. “
She is allowed “to do outdoor recreation every day, although she has the option to refuse such recreation time if she wishes,” the government added. “The defendant also has as much, if not more, time as any other MDC inmate to communicate with her attorneys.”
Prosecutors say MDC’s legal counsel has informed them that Maxwell’s meals are heated in a thermal oven and that the facility’s water is New York City tap water. When the city does maintenance, they say, inmates get bottled water. “MDC’s legal counsel emphasized that MDC personnel, including legal personnel, drink the same tap water from the same water system as the defendant in the facility,” their letter said.
Last week, Maxwell’s legal team turned to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in an effort to secure her release from MDC. The United States Court for the Southern District of New York has three times refused to grant her bail because she is considered a flight risk.
In their motion for provisional release, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus compared her to other convicted sex offenders who received bail before trial, including Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein. Mark was referring The silence of the lambs‘fictional serial killer.
“Since her arrest, Ms. Maxwell has faced nightmarish circumstances,” the motion said. “Although she is a model prisoner who poses no danger to society and has done literally nothing to encourage ‘special’ treatment, she is kept in isolation – conditions befitting Hannibal Lecter, but not a 59-year-old. woman who is not a threat to anyone. . “