Inside Ghislaine Maxwell's 'home' for 20 years: Danbury Correctional offers gardening and aerobics!
Ghislaine Maxwell's new prison will likely not be as bad as Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre, where she was incarcerated for the past 23 months. The disgraced socialite is now headed to the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut, a low-security facility with separate male and female prisons. The facility was the inspiration for the fictional Litchfield Correctional Institution in the popular TV series 'Orange Is The New Black'.
British socialite turned-convicted sex-trafficker Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in helping convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls. US District Judge Alison Nathan said the sentence of 240 months was “sufficient and not greater than necessary" for Maxwell. She has also been ordered to pay a $750,000 fine for her role in the crime.
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Justin Paperny, whose company White Collar Advice advises high-profile clients on how to cope with life in prison, said that Maxwell's new home will be "like Disneyland" compared to the Brooklyn prison. In fact, Danbury has its own running track, a baseball pitch and a manicured lawn with trees and pathways, the Daily Mail reported. The facility offers hobby craft and music for inmates. Additionally, it offers circuit-training, gardening, aerobics and ‘over-50s’ fitness. It is also equipped with a library and chapel.
However, contrary to these claims, former inmates have claimed that the prison's connection with 'Orange Is The New Black' has misled people into believing that it is like a 'Club Fed’, and has almost a holiday camp atmosphere. They have claimed that inmates are often shackled during childbirth, and hijabs are ripped off Muslim women's heads. They have also alleged that prisoners often have to go through pat-down searches carried out by male guards, whose aim is to ensure they are not smuggling food from the canteen. Former inmates of the prison include singer Lauryn Hill, reality TV star Teresa Giudice, and Piper Kerman, author of 'Orange is the New Black'.
However, Maxwell can make use of the reported 'luxurious' facilities only after authorities determine the level of security she will need. Psychologists are set to evaluate whether she needs to be placed on suicide watch and isolated from other prisoners yet again.
In her previous prison, Maxwell was placed on suicide watch days before she was scheduled to be sentenced. Bobbi Sternheim, who represents Maxwell, said in a letter to the US District Judge Alison Nathan that the Metropolitan Detention Center had placed her client on suicide watch. Sternheim claimed that this was done "without having conducted a psychological evaluation and without justification", adding that she has been wearing a "suicided smock". This is a piece of fabric that cannot be used to make a noose. Maxwell was also placed in solitary confinement. She was being held in the general population area of a prison where an inmate threatened to kill her. "One woman was going around openly bragging that she was going to murder Ghislaine for $1 million," a source told the Daily Mail.
Maxwell had claimed that her cell was squalid and tiny, and that she was groped by guards in pat downs. She claimed that she could not sleep and was woken up every 15 minutes with torch light being flashed into her room. She alleged that she was fed "rancid" food, and denied a soap, toothpaste and a toothbrush.
After the sentencing, Maxwell, 60, was seen hugging her attorney before leaving the courtroom. She was seen in blue jail scrubs and her ankles were in shackles. She did not speak to her siblings, seated in the row behind her. “To you, to you, all the victims who came in court and those outside I am sorry for the pain that you experienced,” Maxwell said before leaving. “I hope my conviction and harsh incarceration brings you closure.”
Before her sentence was delivered, Maxwell acknowledged that her friendship with Epstein will “forever and permanently” stain her. “I believe that Jeffrey Epstein was a manipulative, cunning and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalized life and fooled all of those in his orbit,” she said. “It is the greatest regret of my life that I ever met Jeffrey Epstein." She added that Epstein “should have been here before all of you.” In 2019, Epstein died in an apparent suicide while he was in federal custody. The 66-year-old was facing up to 45 years in prison on charges of sex-trafficking several teenage girls.
“Today is not about Epstein. It is for me to ultimately be sentenced," she admitted. She also said, "It is my sincerest wish to all those in this courtroom and all those outside the courtroom that this day brings a terrible chapter to an end. To those of who spoke here today and those who did not, may this day help you travel from darkness into the light.”
Prosecutors had urged judge Nathan to sentence Maxwell to at least 30 years and up to 55 years in prison, so that her punishment “sends a message that those who conspire with sexual predators will be held responsible for their significant role in these crimes.” However, Maxwell’s defense attorneys had said that she deserves no more than four to five years. Probation officials had recommended 20 years, which she finally received.