Ghislaine Maxwell seems to have new friends in high places

On July 24 and 25, convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — the number two official in the Department of Justice. At the time, Maxwell was three years into her 20-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institute in Tallahassee, Florida (FCI Tallahassee). A week later, the Bureau of Prisons — an agency of the Department of Justice — confirmed that she’d been transferred to the Federal Prison Camp at Bryan, Texas (FPC Bryan).

It’s not a pardon, but it’s a big improvement in her quality of life.

On the outside, it’s the difference between double-fenced barbed wire and a wrought iron fence akin to that of a gated community. On the inside, the differences are more dramatic.

FCI Tallahassee

After Maxwell’s conviction in 2021, her legal team requested that she serve her sentence at FCI Danbury — known as a “Club Fed” for its reputation as one of the more hospitable penitentiaries. But the Bureau of Prisons sent her to the low-security prison in Florida. Her incarceration began in July 2022.

Maxwell’s quarters were in an area of the facility known as the “snake pit” where “violence wasn't just common, but expected.” According to news reports, she was “living in fear of experiencing it first hand after she tattled on two other inmates.” In November 2024, Maxwell was promoted to the “honor dorm” — the prison's supposedly “cushier living quarters” reserved for 30 to 40 of the best-behaved inmates.

But “cushier” has little meaning at FCI Tallahassee. Two years ago, it was the subject of a damning inspector general’s report: The facility had “several serious operational deficiencies … Among the most concerning were the alarming conditions of its food service and storage operations … ”

In particular:

• Contaminated food: A food preparation refrigerator contained “moldy bread” along with “discolored and rotting vegetables.” In the food storage warehouses, the inspection revealed “likely evidence of rodent droppings, as well as bags of cereal with insects in them….”

• Decaying infrastructure: “Many female inmates live in housing units in which water frequently leaks from ceilings and windows on or near their living spaces. Additionally, we observed worn bedding, rusted inmate storage lockers, issues with showers and toilets, and black substances on walls and ceilings.”

• Inadequate Health Services: Staffing shortages “have negatively affected healthcare treatment and caused staff to modify the time of day it distributes insulin and drugs to female inmates, which may limit the therapeutic benefit of these drugs for certain inmates.”

At age 60 and not eligible for parole until 2037, Maxwell’s future was bleak.

FPC Bryan

After Maxwell’s meeting with Blanche, the Bureau of Prisons moved her from the Florida low-security prison to an all-female minimum-securitycamp in Texas. Her experience there will be dramatically different.

Fellow inmates are mostly non-violent and white-collar criminals considered low-risk, including former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star Jennifer Shah. Violence in FPCs is rare. Inmates can walk the grounds, work out in the gym, and generally have greater freedom of movement in a camp than in any other federal correctional institution.

Wait, what?

But here’s the kicker: Sex offenders typically aren’t eligible for federal prison camps. According to Forbes, “The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) classifies individuals with sex offense convictions using a Public Safety Factor (PSF) designation, which automatically excludes them from placement in minimum-security camps — the lowest custody level. While the BOP employs a point-based system to determine appropriate placement, sex offenders are assigned a PSF regardless of their score.”

In Federal Prison Guidebook – Sentencing and Post-Conviction Remedies (Revision 5), noted criminal defense attorney Alan Ellis and former high-level Bureau of Prisons official J. Michael Henderson explain:

SEX OFFENDER PUBLIC SAFETY FACTOR

Regardless of what a person is incarcerated for, if their history indicates sexual misconduct (in the pre-sentence report or other official documentation), they will receive a “sex offender” Public Safety Factor (PSF).

[1] Sexual misconduct includes evidence of non-consensual sexual contact, child pornography offenses, any sexual conduct with a minor, or any aggressive or abusive sexual acts.

This PSF means that the person is disqualified from placement in a minimum-security placement, and will thus be placed in at least a low-security institution. They will most likely be housed in standard general prison populations…

Perks of power

With power comes the ability to reward friends — and punish enemies. Maxwell’s transfer could be the inverse of what the Bureau of Prisons did to Trump’s former fixer, Michael D. Cohen. As Trump completed his first term in July 2020, Cohen arrived at a Manhattan courthouse to complete routine paperwork. It allowed him to finish his prison sentence at home because of the pandemic.

But probation officers asked Cohen to sign a document barring him from speaking to reporters or publishing a book for the remainder of his three-year sentence. With his tell-all book nearing publication, he refused on First Amendment grounds. Federal marshals took him into custody and back to prison.

Two weeks later, a federal judge ruled that the government’s actions were retaliation and ordered Cohen’s return to home confinement. On September 8, 2020, he published Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump. Cohen completed his sentence in November 2021.

The Bureau of Prisons hasn’t provided a reason for Maxwell’s transfer. Maybe that’s because there isn’t a good one.

• Steven J. Harper is an attorney, adjunct professor at Northwestern University Law School, and author of several books, including Crossing Hoffa -- A Teamster's Story and The Lawyer Bubble -- A Profession in Crisis. He has been a regular columnist for Moyers on Democracy, Dan Rather's News and Guts, and The American Lawyer. Follow him at https://thelawyerbubble.com.