As Ghislaine Maxwell awaits trial in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn on charges that she groomed young girls for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, her lawyers complained about “horrific” conditions there. In response on April 6, 2021, prosecutors hit back with a letter detailing how Maxwell did not keep her own cell clean and even had to be reminded to flush her toilet.
Maxwell’s lawyers have been attempting to get the former socialite released on bail and said that conditions in the detention center have resulted in her losing weight, losing hair, and her ability to concentrate. They argued that the food being provided to her was not heated properly, making it inedible.
The prosecutors’ letter, which is available here, also responds to a specific Feb. 16 complaint by Maxwell’s lawyers that she was subjected to an “inappropriately conducted pat-down search.” It states:
MDC legal counsel further confirmed that all pat-down searches of the defendant are video recorded. Following this incident, MDC staff directed the defendant to clean her cell because it had become very dirty. Among other things, MDC staff noted that the defendant frequently did not flush her toilet after using it, which caused the cell to smell. In addition, the defendant had not cleaned her cell in some time, causing the cell to become increasingly dirty. MDC staff directed the defendant to clean her cell in response to the smell and the dirtiness, not as retaliation for complaining about a particular search.
In response to the lawyers’ other complaints, the letter stated that she was assessed as “physically healthy” and at a normal weight, and jail staff had "not observed the defendant experienced any noticeable hair loss."
Maxwell has been charged with a number of counts tied to allegations of trafficking minors with Epstein in the 1990s. A new indictment filed by prosecutors in March 2021 accuses her of grooming minors for sexual abuse until as late as 2004. She has been denied bail numerous times on account of concerns that she may flee.
Based on the prosecutors’ own letter, which describes the state of Maxwell’s cell, we rate this claim as “True.”