Ghislaine Maxwell now in NYC jail


The one-time lover, confidante, business associate, and alleged procurer of teenage girls for abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and his friends has been transferred from the New Hampshire jail where she was over the weekend to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in New York City. She is expected to appear in court on Friday at which the issue of bail will be discussed. Prosecutors will warn that she is a flight risk because of her money and her UK and French citizenship and connections, and thus should be denied bail, while her lawyers will likely argue that the fact that she had not already left the country (something that has puzzled me) means that she does not want to flee and so could be let out on bail

The MDC is not the jail where Jeffrey Epstein reportedly killed himself but like pretty much all the major US jails and prisons, people are treated with almost no dignity.

“You go from living a life like Maxwell to all of a sudden being in a situation where you’re being strip-searched and having people look into your body cavities,” said Cameron Lindsay, a former warden at the MDC. “That is a crushing experience.”

Lindsay said MDC officials will have to weigh whether to keep Maxwell in her 10-foot-by-12-foot (about 3-meter-by-3.7-meter) cell alone or housed with another female prisoner.

A cellmate might help prevent her from attempting suicide, a critical issue following Epstein’s death, but Lindsay said the nature of her charges and her high profile also makes her a target.

For other prisoners, injuring Maxwell “would be a badge of honor,” said Lindsay.

Apparently child abusers are considered despicable by other inmates and so trying to make sure that Maxwell does not also die in custody is going to require very close monitoring by jail officials.

One of the things that I hope comes out of the jailing of high-profile inmates like Epstein and Maxwell is an increasing awareness of how awful jails and prisons in the US are and that they really need to be radically overhauled. For someone like Maxwell who has led a very pampered life of great privilege, this could prove to be a real eye-opener.

The arrest of Maxwell has aroused a lot of interest in the UK because she was a close friend of Prince Andrew who has been accused of being involved in the abuse of young girls and has increased calls for him to cooperate more with US investigators.

The British news program BBC Newsnight had a segment on what the future might hold for Andrew.

Comments

  1. wsierichs says

    Pardon my extreme cynicism here, but I’m looking for a gambling website taking bets on whether Maxwell commits suicide or is show while trying to escape. I think the odds lean toward the escape scenario; another “suicide” might be too much to cover up.

    P.S. That’s a cynical joke from “Casablanca,” in case anyone hasn’t seen the movie.

  2. jrkrideau says

    Apparently child abusers are considered despicable by other inmates

    Well, it is apparently hard to keep male child abusers alive and in one piece in Canadian institutions.

  3. Matt G says

    I wonder how many other prominent men are a little nervous right now. Alan Dershowitz? Bill Clinton? Steven Pinker? Lawrence Krauss?

  4. jrkrideau says

    The Mail on Sunday is not exactly the most reliable paper but is this not a bit overboard to arrest one woman?

    The raid on the 156-acre property where Maxwell was staying in Bradford, New Hampshire, swung into action at 8.20am on Thursday when 24 armed FBI agents, officers from the local police force, New York police and New Hampshire’s gang task force used bolt-cutters to break the lock on a metal gate leading to the secluded property that she bought for cash last December.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8490443/FBI-agents-smashed-door-Ghislaine-Maxwells-bolthole-hauled-handcuffs.html

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