In this July 2 file photo Southern District of New York acting US attorney Audrey Strauss points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during a news conference. Photo / AP
In this July 2 file photo Southern District of New York acting US attorney Audrey Strauss points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell during a news conference. Photo / AP
A lawyer for the one-time girlfriend of US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein says that her client, who is again seeking release on bail, has lost weight and hair as she suffers under onerous jail conditions.
The claims by defence attorney Bobbi Sternheim were made on Ghislaine Maxwell's behalf today after lawyers for the Metropolitan Detention Centre warden in Brooklyn, New York, defended conditions at the facility in a letter that was publicly filed today.
"Ms Maxwell remains in good health," the lawyers wrote in the letter as they defended her treatment as standard protocol to ensure the safety of all federal prison inmates.
The letters were filed on the same day that a November 25 letter was unsealed in which two of Maxwell's lawyers said they were renewing her application to be released on bail after compiling information not available when her initial request was rejected in July.
Judge Alison J Nathan said she will decide later this month whether to conduct a hearing.
Ghislaine Maxwell has been held since her July arrest on charges that she procured teenage girls for Epstein to abuse in the mid-1990s. The British socialite has pleaded not guilty and is preparing for a trial next July.
The Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York. Photo / US Federal Bureau of Prisons
Seeking bail for Maxwell, attorneys Mark S Cohen and Christian Everdell wrote that they have assembled a "comprehensive bail package" including financial information and letters from family members and close friends who have agreed to support Maxwell but want to keep their identities secret.
"They are legitimately afraid that if their identities become public, they will be subjected to the same relentless media scrutiny and threats that Ms Maxwell has experienced for more than a year," the lawyers wrote.
In her letter, Sternheim wrote that Maxwell was being treated harshly in part because the Bureau of Prisons wants to repair its reputation after failing to prevent the August 2019 suicide of Epstein in a Manhattan federal lockup as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
She cited recent comments that US Attorney General William Barr made to ABC News when he said he was keeping a close watch to make sure Maxwell makes it to trial after Epstein's death.
"It is obvious that Ms Maxwell is bearing the brunt of BOP incompetence," Sternheim wrote. "The Department of Justice is seeking to repair the BOP's tarnished reputation by placing Ms Maxwell under extraordinarily harsh conditions, not in any response to Ms Maxwell's requirements, but rather in response to the failed handling of a completely different inmate."
Sternheim said Maxwell, 58, has lost hair and over 6.8kg while she has been detained.
She also maintained that her client has not been properly protected from an outbreak of the coronavirus, has been subjected to repeated unnecessary searches, has been awakened by flashlight-laden guards throughout the night when she sleeps, has had her legal emails erased and has not always received the vegetarian diet she has requested.
"The conditions under which she is detained are punitive, unwarranted, deleteriously impacting her ability to prepare her defence, and interfering with counsel's ability to provide the legal representation to which she, and any other detainee, deserves," Sternheim said.
In their letter, prison lawyers wrote that Maxwell's weight has not fluctuated more than 1kg from her current weight of 61kg. They said her dietary needs have been addressed and other conditions are standard to maintain "a safe and secure environment" for inmates.
A message seeking additional comment was sent to the Bureau of Prisons.
