Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell was reportedly punished by authorities at the Federal Correctional Institute Tallahassee over a recorded jailhouse interview that aired in January.
The onetime British socialite, who was accused of procuring underage girls for convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, “was handcuffed and slung into solitary confinement for 48 hours after prison authorities accused her of profiting from a media interview,” the Daily Mail reported Monday.
“She protested her innocence but was marched off to the Special Housing Unit (SHU) — a ‘prison within a prison’ comprising tiny, grim cells where inmates are locked up for 23 hours at a time and fed through slits in the door.”
The news outlet quoted unnamed “insiders” as saying that the inmate they know as “Max” “was just minding her own business when they came in, turned her around and handcuffed her.”
“She got really upset, she was crying, she was yelling that she hadn’t received any money, but nobody saw her again for three days.”
The Mail’s source said, “The SHU is not a nice place.”
“It’s like a little box and you’re only allowed out to shower once a day. There’s no contact from anyone, no privileges, they slide your meals through a slot.”
According to the report, Maxwell’s interview, which was aired Jan. 23 on TalkTV, would have violated the terms of her 20-year federal prison sentence if she received payment for the appearance.
Also in question was how the interview was obtained. As federal prisoner number 02879-509, she is permitted video calls with only those family members and friends on a list approved by the federal prison, according to the report.
She apparently conducted the interviews during phone calls with her friend, filmmaker Daphne Barak.
Maxwell made headlines for several remarks made during those interviews.
One much-publicized comment was that she believed Epstein, contrary to the official narrative, did not commit suicide in his jail cell in 2019.
“I believe that he was murdered,” Maxwell said.
When she heard the news of his death, “I was shocked,” she said. “And I wondered how it had happened. Because as far as I was concerned, he was going to … I was sure he was going to appeal. And I was sure that he was covered under the non-prosecution agreement.”
She also expressed regret for her association with Epstein during the interview. “I honestly wish I’d never met him, you know, looking back now,” she told the interviewer. “I probably wish I had stayed in England.”
Perhaps the most infamous aspect of the widely-publicized January interview was her apparent refusal to issue any sort of apology to the young victims of her crimes.
The best sentiment she could muster was, “I wish them time to heal and to be able to have a productive and good life going forward.”
Maxwell also used the interview to again question the authenticity of a photograph of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, with Virginia Giuffre, who was then a teenager known as Virginia Roberts.
“It’s a fake,” Maxwell insisted. “I don’t believe it’s real for a second, in fact, I’m sure it’s not. There’s never been an original.”
The week after her claim was publicized, the Daily Mail published a story quoting a Florida-based photographic expert as saying he believed the photo to be genuine.
The Mail, which was the first news outlet to publish the photo 12 years ago, said the photo was taken on a Kodak disposable camera and that it was developed at a Walgreens pharmacy in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 13, 2001.
The photo “was developed at a one-hour lab making it virtually impossible to doctor,” according to the report.
