Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Jeffrey Epstein’s associate in sex trafficking and previously in a romantic relationship with him, has reportedly been receiving “unusually favorable treatment” at a low-security federal prison in Texas, according to a recent report.
Inmates at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan have expressed dissatisfaction about changes in security measures and special privileges afforded to Maxwell, as noted by The Wall Street Journal.
Bryan is a low-security prison with 622 offenders, housing notable figures such as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and former “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jennifer Shah.
Maxwell, now 63, was transferred to the facility during the summer after reaching an agreement with federal prosecutors, just before her recent appeal was denied by the Supreme Court.
Ghislaine Maxwell was seen holding an umbrella over her head, revealing her face. She left for her prison job before dawn and carried an umbrella to keep her face shielded. On her lunch break, she returned to her cell carrying several folders and a clear backpack with earphones visible on September 20, 2025. (Matthew Symons/Mirrorpix/Mega)
The report also noted that inmates were instructed not to speak to the media regarding Maxwell’s circumstances. One inmate who spoke to a reporter was subsequently transferred to a more secure facility.
Sam Mangel is a federal prison consultant whose clients have included Sam Bankman-Fried and Steve Bannon. He told Fox News Digital he works with two women incarcerated at Bryan, neither of whom will discuss Maxwell, even with him, over the phone or through email.
“Speaking with the sister of one of my clients yesterday or the day before, she told me that they are treating Maxwell more like she’s the guest in a hotel as opposed to an inmate in a federal prison,” he said Wednesday.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both indicted on federal sex trafficking charges stemming from Epstein’s years of abuse of underage girls. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
In one example, he said prison officials locked down the whole camp, so Maxwell could have a secretive visit with VIP guests in the chapel.
“They actually closed everything down and locked everybody in their unit and brought the visitors into the chapel but through a side entrance so that no one can see who the visitors were,” Mangel said. “That’s very unusual.”
However, he added, if Maxwell were to have visitors in front of other inmates, that could stoke further controversy, especially for prisoners with daughters the same age as Maxwell’s victims. It’s unprecedented that someone convicted of sex crimes would be housed at Bryan, he said, which he called the most desirable prison for women convicted of white collar felonies in the country.
Ghislaine Maxwell jogs around the track at FCI Tallahassee, Tallahassee, Florida, Thursday, July 10, 2025. Maxwell is serving a twenty-year sentence for sex trafficking in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)
“You’re gonna go into a visiting room and see Maxwell, who doesn’t belong there, having these visits in a casual situation or environment, that that’s upsetting,” he said. “It really upsets the other inmates and their families.”
“Strings were absolutely pulled at the highest possible levels of the DOJ to get her moved from Tallahassee to Bryan,” he said. “Now, I agree that there was a reason to move her from Tallahassee. Once she started cooperating, and it was obvious she was cooperating with Todd Blanche, she became a target.”
Blanche is the deputy attorney general who interviewed Maxwell at her former prison Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, in Florida, in August. That facility is a low-security prison more typical for housing a sex offender like Maxwell.
The sign outside Federal Prison Camp Bryan, on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025, in Bryan, Texas. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
A spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency instead sent an automated email saying that its public affairs office would not be commenting due to the ongoing government shutdown.
The Supreme Court rejected Maxwell’s appeal last week. She’s due for release in 2037 after a 20-year sentence for procuring girls for Epstein, who died in a federal jail in New York before his own trial in 2019.
Maxwell told Blanche she never witnessed President Donald Trump doing anything “inappropriate with anybody.” She shot down claims that former President Bill Clinton had traveled to Epstein’s infamous island in the U.S. Virgin Islands and said the Clintons were her friends, not Epstein’s.
File photo of Jeffrey Epstein in New York City, New York, on Feb. 23, 2011. (David McGlynn)
“I do believe that Epstein did a lot of, not all, but some of what he’s accused of, and I’m not here to defend him in any respect whatsoever,” Maxwell told Blanche. “I don’t want to, and I don’t think he requires, nor deserves any type of protection or — from me in any way, to sugarcoat what he did or didn’t do.”
Cooperation with authorities is one of two major areas where inmates can improve their prison conditions, according to Mangel. The other is acceptance of responsibility.
When Maxwell met with Blanche, she claimed her innocence and denied having witnessed any nonconsensual sexual activity or sex with minors.
