Manhattan federal prosecutors struck back after a Ghislaine Maxwell lawyer complained last month about her “adverse” conditions and said in a letter filed Tuesday that the real problem appeared to be that she was not “very dirty”. cell cleaning and her toilet does not flush.
The letter comes in response to a complaint sent to a federal judge by a British social security lawyer in February.
Maxwell – who is responsible for the care and trafficking of girls for Jeffrey Epstein, a multimillionaire sex offender, claimed that she was forced to drink dirty tap water and eat unheated meals and that a guard physically abused her during ‘ a pat-down search in the Metropolitan Detention Center.
‘The overall conditions for detention have a detrimental effect on me. Maxwell’s health and general well-being; and she’s drying up on a shell of her former self – losing weight, losing hair and losing her ability to concentrate, ‘Attorney Bobbi Sternheim wrote U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan.
However, federal prosecutors in Manhattan paint a very different picture. In their Tuesday submission, they say that Maxwell has a healthy weight, has no noticeable hair loss, has received the COVID vaccine, and that he appears to be sleeping through night checks – but has himself been warned about neatness issues.
Prosecutors said Maxwell’s charge of misconduct was ‘unfounded’, before adding that detention staff had warned the 59-year-old about her alleged refusal to keep her jail cell clean or even flush the toilet.
“Following the complaint of the defense in the letter of 16 February 2021 of an improper pat-down investigation, the MDC conducted an investigation and found that the search in question, contrary to the claim of the accused, was in fact completely was recorded by a handheld camera. , ”Reads a footnote in the letter submitted by Assistant American Attorneys Maurene Comey, Alison Moe and Lara Pomerantz.
“After reviewing the camera footage, the MDC concluded that the search was conducted in the correct manner and that the accused’s complaint about the incident was unfounded,” their letter read. “MDC’s legal advice further confirmed that all pat-down searches were videotaped by the accused.”
The government letter added that after Maxwell’s complaint of abuse, MDC staff ordered the heir to ‘clean her cell because it got very dirty.’
“Among other things, MDC staff noted that the accused regularly did not flush her toilet after it was used, which made the cell smell,” the documentation continues. ‘In addition, the accused did not clean her cell for some time, which caused the cell to become increasingly dirty. MDC staff instructed the accused to clean her cell in response to the smell and dirt, not in retaliation for complaining about a specific search. ”
Prosecutors also say Maxwell has enough time to call her lawyers, and that she, seven days a week 13 hours a day accessing both a computer and a laptop, still gets more time to review the discovery than any other prisoner. ‘
MDC also checked Maxwell’s email account after she alleged that prison staff deleted her messages prematurely. “The investigation revealed that the defendant deleted her emails herself and archived others,” the letter reads. “The investigation showed no evidence to suggest that MDC staff deleted any emails from the accused.” (According to the Prison Bureau’s policy, inmates’ emails are purified every six months, the notes read.)
Maxwell is allowed out of her cell every day from 07:00 to 20:00 and while in the day room, prosecutors said: “has exclusive access to the MDC computer, the laptop, a television, a telephone on which ‘ a social worker or lawyer can place. calls and a shower. ‘
She is “allowed outdoor recreation every day, although she has the option to reduce such recreational times as she wishes,” the government adds. “The accused also has as much, if not more, time than any other MDC prisoner to communicate with her attorneys.”
Prosecutors say MDC’s legal adviser told them that Maxwell’s meals are heated in a thermal oven and that the water from the facility is New York City tap water. When the city does maintenance, they say, prisoners receive bottled water. “MDC’s legal adviser emphasized that MDC staff, including legal staff, drink the same tap water from the same water system as the defendant while in the institution,” reads their letter.
Maxwell’s legal team turned to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals last week in an effort to secure her release from MDC. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has three times refused to grant bail because it considers an aviation risk.
Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, compared her in their motion for release before trial to other convicted sex offenders who were granted bail before the trial, including Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein. Mark refers The silence of the lambs‘fictional serial killer too.
“Since her arrest, Ms Maxwell has had nightmares,” the motion reads. ‘Although she is a model prisoner who poses no danger to society and has literally done nothing to encourage’ special ‘treatment, she is being held in solitary confinement – circumstances appropriate for Hannibal Lecter, but not a 59- year old woman who threatens no one. . ”