logo
Ghislaine Maxwell moved to low-risk jail as inmates bombarded her with death threats and accusations she was a 'snitch'

Ghislaine Maxwell moved to low-risk jail as inmates bombarded her with death threats and accusations she was a 'snitch'

Daily Mail​2 days ago
Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to another prison under cover of darkness after being 'bombarded' with death threats from rapists and murderers who accused her of being a 'snitch', The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The convicted sex offender was moved from Tallahassee Federal Jail in Florida to 'cushy' low-security Bryan prison camp 100 miles outside Houston, Texas, amid fears she would be killed.
The move – which has been condemned by Maxwell's victims – came after the disgraced socialite spent two days speaking to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche about more than 100 men connected to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, including Prince Andrew.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 – his death was ruled a suicide but many, including his brother Mark, believe he was murdered – before he could be prosecuted on multiple child sex charges.
During a nine-hour interrogation with Mr Blanche, Maxwell was grilled about men including Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates and 'several billionaires'.
The source said: 'As soon as Ghislaine spoke to the government she was considered a snitch by other inmates at Tallahassee. There were very real and very credible threats on her life. The prison had dangerous inmates serving time for serious crimes like rape and murder.
'Tallahassee has not had a permanent governor in some time and is chronically under-staffed. She has faced death threats before but after meeting with the government she was bombarded with them. She had a target on her back.
'There were real fears inside Tallahassee that they could not guarantee her safety, which is why she was moved.'
Maxwell was moved early on Thursday morning in a two-car convoy that drove 'for 16-hours straight' to Bryan, Texas.
She was not shackled during the drive and stopped once for a toilet break in Louisiana.
It is unprecedented for a convicted sex offender such as Maxwell – sentenced to 20 years – to be moved to a minimum-security facility like Bryan, nicknamed 'Camp Fed'.
The source explained: 'There is a different class of people at Bryan so she is less likely to be attacked. It is an all-female facility.
'These are non-violent, white-collar criminals. It is a professionally run prison camp with a great warden, working cameras everywhere and properly trained staff. She is far safer there.'
The source said reports Maxwell was in an 'honour dorm' in Tallahassee and already receiving preferential treatment were untrue.
Bryan prison allows inmates to freely roam its 37-acre grounds which have 'limited or no perimeter fencing', according to the US Bureau of Prison's website.
Inmates can take part in activities including training guide dogs for the blind, which allows them to keep a puppy for much of the day for 'socialisation'. There are yoga classes and a state-of-the-art gym.
Maxwell will mix with white collar criminals including Elizabeth Holmes, the Silicon Valley fraudster convicted of stealing tens of millions through her now defunct blood-testing company, and Jen Shah, a former Real Housewife of Salt Lake City who was convicted of a telemarketing scam.
The family of Virginia Giuffre expressed outrage over the move.
Ms Giuffre died by suicide in April aged 41. She claimed Maxwell recruited her from the spa at Donald Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club and she was 'passed her around like a plate of meat' for Epstein and his friends to abuse.
In a statement on Friday, Ms Giuffre's family said: 'Trump has sent a clear message today. Paedophiles deserve preferential treatment... Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life.'
Mr Trump's administration was plunged into a storm after promising to release files on Epstein but failing to do so.
In an interview with Newsmax on Friday he said he will release them 'as long as they don't hurt anyone'. He added: 'I'm allowed to give her (Maxwell) a pardon but, right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.'
Maxwell was set to testify before Congress on August 11 but it has been postponed while the US Supreme Court decides whether to hear her appeal.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Girl's family give heartbreaking update after she was severely injured in Miami boat crash that killed her 3 young friends
Girl's family give heartbreaking update after she was severely injured in Miami boat crash that killed her 3 young friends

Daily Mail​

time24 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Girl's family give heartbreaking update after she was severely injured in Miami boat crash that killed her 3 young friends

The family of one of three survivors from a horrific Miami boat crash has provided a heartbreaking update on the young girl's recovery. Calena Areyana Gruber, seven, was onboard a sailboat with five other campers at the Miami Youth Sailing Foundation summer camp and their 19-year-old counselor, when it collided with a 60-foot barge being pulled by a tugboat in Biscayne Bay on July 28. The impact from the crash left the 17-foot Hobie Getaway sinking underneath the barge, but Gruber was able to swim out to save her life, an attorney representing the family told the Miami Herald. She was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition, but has since been released and is now recovering at home. Her family, though, says they still have a long road ahead of them as Gruber continues to have 'open lacerations and scrapes' all over her body. 'This little 7-year-old girl is devastated by what happened, both physically and emotionally,' attorney Justin B. Shapiro said in a statement, according to NBC South Florida. 'She was acutely aware that she could have died and she repeats that to her parents, and so it's going to be a long and difficult road for her. 'Her parents, of course, are committed to getting her all of the help and care that she needs,' he added, 'but seven-year-old children are not equipped to deal with this kind of trauma and so it's going to be a lot of work.' Still, he said, Gruber's parents - Karina Gruber Moreno and Enrique Areyan Viqueira - 'know that we could have been having a very different conversation today' and 'know that we're fortunate to still have Calena with us.' Two other young girls onboard the sailboat, Erin Co, 13, and seven-year-old Mila Yankelevich, died on their way to Ryder Trauma Center, with a Medical Examiner declaring they died of accidental drowning despite wearing life jackets. A third girl, Arielle Mazi Bucham, 10, was rushed to the trauma center in critical condition alongside Gruber, but has since succumbed to her injuries. The camp counselor and another girl, aged 12, walked away unharmed. In their own statement on Monday, Gruber Moreno and Areyan Viqueira said they are 'deeply moved and incredibly grateful for the outpouring of prayers and kindness we have received from the community.' They added that they were heartbroken for the families who lost their daughters in the crash, as they shared a photo of Calena arriving to camp on the fateful day. 'This is a deeply harrowing reminder of how suddenly and senselessly life can change,' the family's statement read. 'In an instant, what should have been a day of joy and connection on the water turned into a source of unimaginable grief,' the couple said, as they 'respectfully' asked for privacy 'as we focus on healing and processing this difficult situation.' The United States Coast Guard is now continuing to investigate what may have caused the fatal collision. Officials have already determined that both boat captains' toxicology reports came back negative, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed on Friday. 'I can confirm alcohol and drug testing was completed for both individuals onboard the tug and barge as well as the sailboat operator. All results were negative,' a spokesperson with the federal agency said. Authorities also previously stated that the barge was supporting construction work in the Miami Beach area before the fatal collision. It was transporting a large crane parked in front of the pilot house at the time of the collision, leading to speculation the crane may have obstructed the tugboat operator's vision, the Herald reports. A loophole in Coast Guard boating regulations may have also contributed to the crash. According to the regulations, commercial tugboats that are under 26 feet in length do not require an operator to be a licensed captain. Coast Guard officials have not yet confirmed how large the tugboat was, but a review of photos and an analysis by two AI tools estimate the ship was under 26 feet. The sunken sailboat is seen after being recovered from the water The Coast Guard's navigation rules also stipulate that sailboats generally have the right of way over motorboats - but must yield to a vessel that is 'restricted in its ability to maneuver.' It is now believed Coast Guard officials will work to determine whether the tugboat was restricted in its movement as part of the investigation. Yet Miami Yacht Club member Katie Flood-Reiss has said that the sailboat's 19-year-old instructor would have had no chance of evading the barge in the bay. 'In those conditions, with almost no wind, it would have been impossible to turn that sailboat around quickly,' she explained. The investigation into the fatal collision may now take several months to complete. In the meantime, Gruber's family is pushing for changes to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. Attorney Shapiro noted that waterways in Florida, the boating capital of the world, have become a 'lawless sanctuary.' 'Our clients want answers of course, but first and foremost our clients want this to never happen again,' he said. 'We need to shine a spotlight on this so that we can learn every possible lesson from this. 'We cannot have this collision in vain, we need to learn from it and we need to make our waterways safer by any means necessary,' he urged.

Prisons days away from collapse under Tories, claims Labour-backed report
Prisons days away from collapse under Tories, claims Labour-backed report

Telegraph

time27 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Prisons days away from collapse under Tories, claims Labour-backed report

The prison system was 'within days of collapse' on several occasions under the Tories and ministers feared riots on the streets, a review commissioned by the Government has claimed. Dame Anne Owers, a former chief inspector of prisons during the New Labour years, found spare prison capacity in England and Wales fell to fewer than 100 cells at one point in 2023, and that the then government was days away from telling police to stop arresting criminals. Her independent review into prison capacity, commissioned by Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, and published on Tuesday, criticised Rishi Sunak's administration for presiding over a 'permacrisis' on the prison estate. But a Conservative source dismissed the report as a 'hoax' and said it was a 'politically motivated smear written by a Leftie bureaucrat'. The review says officials discussed invoking emergency powers during last year's election to release prisoners and free up space, because ministers were unable to act during the campaign. Civil servants convened Cobra, the Government's emergency committee, and planned to use civil contingencies legislation to release prisoners during the campaign, 'in order to avert the risk of public disorder', Dame Anne reports. Sources told The Telegraph that officials were concerned that a prison riot, fire, or even an outbreak of bed bugs could be enough to tip the system into collapse. That would have resulted in rioting on the street, civil servants believed, because the public would no longer have trusted the justice system. The report was commissioned in February and is designed to explain why prison capacity has reached critical levels so often in the last two years. It acknowledges that much of the overcrowding in prisons is a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which put additional pressure on courts and left alleged offenders on remand for longer, awaiting trial. But it also criticises Mr Sunak's Downing Street team for refusing to agree to a structured early release scheme for prisoners in late 2023 and early 2024, despite pleas from Alex Chalk, the former justice secretary. Dame Anne wrote: 'From 2023 onwards, prisons were running very close to the edge of capacity. 'On three occasions, this was only pulled back at the last minute by the use of early release schemes, gradually decreasing the amount of time many prisoners spent in custody, using powers designed to allow release on compassionate grounds.' She said that Mr Chalk had 'energetically but unsuccessfully' tried to persuade Mr Sunak to reduce the custodial segment of most sentences from 50 per cent, but Downing Street refused. That policy was ultimately put in place by Ms Mahmood when she took office in July. Instead, the previous government released prisoners only when the system was within days of collapse, which Dame Anne said was 'just enough to avert breakdown and buy time until the next predictable cliff edge was reached'. Labour's decision to allow most prisoners to serve just 40 per cent of their sentence behind bars has been criticised by the Conservatives, who argue it will increase the number of dangerous criminals on the street. Although the Government has excluded those convicted of sexual offences, terrorism and serious violent crimes carrying more than four years' imprisonment from the scheme, lower-level violent criminals have already been released back into communities. The Telegraph previously reported that under plans being examined by David Gauke, a former Tory justice secretary and lord chancellor tasked by Sir Keir Starmer with reviewing prison overcrowding, the proportion of sentences served behind bars could be reduced to one third. 'Danger to the public' Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has said the plan would 'put the public in danger and victims in jeopardy' and argued for emergency powers to deport foreign nationals instead. Dame Anne said the early release scheme had provided 'breathing space, but not a solution' to overcrowding, pointing to the fact that prisons became almost full again by the spring of 2025. A Conservative source told The Telegraph: 'This report is a hoax – a politically motivated smear written by a Leftie bureaucrat and designed to distract from Labour's dismal record on law and order. 'It was this Labour Government that let out violent criminals early, only for them to go on and commit more crimes, and nothing will absolve them of that.'

Tennessee readies for execution of man with working implanted defibrillator
Tennessee readies for execution of man with working implanted defibrillator

The Independent

timean hour ago

  • The Independent

Tennessee readies for execution of man with working implanted defibrillator

Tennessee is gearing up for an execution on Tuesday that experts say would likely mark the first time a man has been put to death with a working defibrillator in his chest. Gov. Bill Lee declined Monday to grant a reprieve, clearing the way for Byron Black's execution after a legal battle and ongoing uncertainty about whether the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator will shock his heart when the lethal drug takes effect. The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it's unaware of any other cases in which a person on death row made similar claims to Black 's about defibrillators or pacemakers. Black's attorneys said they haven't found a comparable case, either. Lee said the courts have "universally determined that it is lawful to carry out the jury's sentence of execution given to Mr. Black for the heinous murders of Angela Clay and her daughters Lakeisha, age 6, and Latoya, age 9." The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Black's appeals. The execution would be Tennessee's second since May, after a pause for five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of missteps by state corrections officials. Twenty-seven men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and nine other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death. Black's condition Black, 69, is in a wheelchair, and he has dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions, his attorneys have said. The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator he has is a small, battery-powered electronic device that is surgically implanted in the chest. It serves as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. Black's attorneys say in order to be sure it's off, a doctor must place a programming device over the implant site, sending it a deactivation command, with no surgery required. In mid-July, a trial court judge agreed with Black's attorneys that officials must have his device deactivated to avert the risk that it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution. But the state Supreme Court intervened July 31 to overturn that decision, saying the other judge lacked the authority to order the change. The state has disputed that the lethal injection would cause Black's defibrillator to shock him. Even if shocks were triggered, Black wouldn't feel them, the state said. Black's attorneys have countered that even if the lethal drug being used, pentobarbital, renders someone unresponsive, they aren't necessarily unaware or unable to feel pain. Kelley Henry, Black's attorney, said the execution could become a 'grotesque spectacle.' The legal case also spurred a reminder that most medical professionals consider participation in executions a violation of health care ethics. Black's case Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters. Prosecutors said he was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time for shooting Clay's estranged husband. Linette Bell, whose sister and two nieces were killed, recently told WKRN-TV: 'He didn't have mercy on them, so why should we have mercy on him?' Intellectual disability claim In recent years, Black's legal team has unsuccessfully tried to get a new hearing over whether he is intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. His attorneys have said that if they had delayed a prior attempt to seek his intellectual disability claim, he would have been spared under a 2021 state law. Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk contended in 2022 that Black is intellectually disabled and deserved a hearing under that 2021 law, but the judge denied it. That is because the 2021 law denies a hearing to people on death row who have already filed a similar request and a court has ruled on it 'on the merits." In Funk's attempt, he focused on input from an expert for the state in 2004 who determined back then that Black didn't meet the criteria for what was then called "mental retardation.' But she concluded that Black met the new law's criteria for a diagnosis of intellectual disability. Black also sought a determination by the courts that he is incompetent to be executed.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store