Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred to a low security prison in Florida to serve her 20-year-sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse teenage girls.
Maxwell, 60, was sent to Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) and is set to stay there until 17 July 2037, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
The disgraced socialite had requested to be sent to FCI Danbury, a minimum security prison famed for hosting some of America’s most high-profile prisoners.
Despite missing out on the prison known to some as ‘Club Fed’ due to its hospitable reputation, Maxwell will likely be relieved to move on from her current residence.
Lawyers for Maxwell complained repeatedly about her treatment in the Metropolitan Detention Centre, a Brooklyn jail where she had been incarcerated since her arrest in July 2020.
She said she shared her cell with rats, was served food infested with maggots and was under such invasive surveillance from guards that it “rivals scenes of Dr Hannibal Lecter’s incarceration”.
Judge Alison Nathan, who presided over Maxwell’s sentencing, said the socialite had exaggerated her mistreatment after lawyers said it warranted a shorter sentence.
Nathan was reported to have accepted the plea from lawyers for Maxwell to be sent to FCI Danbury and it was unclear why prison authorities went against the judge’s decision.
Maxwell was sentenced on 28 June to 20 years in prison and fined $750,000 (£620,000) on five charges, including sex trafficking, related to her grooming of girls for her former partner, the late billionaire Epstein.
Her new detention centre in Florida is a few hours drive from Epstein’s residence in Palm Beach, where reports of his crimes first emerged.
FCI Tallahassee, a women’s prison which opened in 1938, has a population of 755 inmates and along with basic facilities has a running track and sports field.
