Ghislaine Maxwell reports prison staff threatened her safety, prompting viewers to commit suicide According to Reuters
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s associate, sits as the guilty verdict in her sex abuse trial is read out in courtroom sketches in New York City, U.S., May 29 December 2021. REUTERS / Jane Rosenberg / File Photo
By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ghislaine Maxwell said prison staff in Brooklyn threatened her safety, prompting staff to place her on suicide watch, prosecutors said on Sunday, for that there was no need to delay her sentencing on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell, 60, is expected to be sentenced on Tuesday to a December sentencing for aiding her then-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, the internationally renowned financier and convicted sex offender. conviction, abusing a girl from 1994 to 2004. Prosecutors say she deserves to be between the ages of 30 and 55 in prison.
In court filings on Saturday, Maxwell’s attorneys said she had been placed in a suicidal state at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) and asked for her sentencing to be adjourned. On Sunday, prosecutors argued there was no need for a delay because Maxwell already had her legal papers and was able to sleep for such lengths.
They said Maxwell was transferred after MDC staff reported threats to her safety to the federal Bureau of Prisons inspector general.
Prosecutors said Maxwell refused to explain why she feared for her safety. She told the psychologist that she did not commit suicide.
Maxwell’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Bureau of Prisons said it did not comment on any particular inmate’s conditions of detention.
Prosecutors said the prison’s warden would oversee an investigation.
“Given the defendant’s inconsistent accounts with the (inspector-general) and the psychologist, the Chief Psychiatrist assessed the defendant as an additional risk of self-harm, as it appeared that she was attempting to be transferred to a single cell where she could engage in self-harm,” prosecutors said in a court filing.
Epstein committed suicide in 2019 in his Manhattan cell while awaiting trial.
The sentence will be imposed by US Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan federal court. Maxwell wanted 20 years less, arguing that she was being made a scapegoat for Epstein’s crimes.
