Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas, officials have said.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of helping Epstein traffic and sexually abuse underage girls in 2021.
She was being held at a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, that housed men and women.
The federal Bureau of Prisons said on Friday that Maxwell has been transferred to a prison camp in Bryan, Texas, but did not explain the circumstances. Her lawyer confirmed the move but also declined to discuss the reasons for it.
The Texas camp houses solely female prisoners, the majority of whom are serving time for nonviolent offences and white-collar crimes, Sky’s US partner NBC News reports.
Minimum-security federal prison camps house inmates considered to be the lowest security risk and some facilities do not even have fences.
A senior administration official told NBC: “Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd.
“Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to significant safety and danger concerns.”
Maxwell has received renewed attention in recent weeks, after the US Justice Department said it would not be releasing the so-called ‘Epstein files’.
The department said a review of the Epstein case had found “no incriminating ‘client list'” and “no credible evidence” the jailed financier – who killed himself in prison in 2019 – had blackmailed famous men.
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Officials from the Trump administration have since tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case.
Last month, they lodged a request to unseal grand jury transcripts – which was denied – and Maxwell was last week interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
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Epstein survivor’s family criticises move
Maxwell’s move to a lower security facility has been criticised by the family of Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre, who died in April, and accusers Annie and Maria Farmer.
They said in a statement: “It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received.
“Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency.
“Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas.”
The statement concluded: “This move smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better.”
