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Within days of her arrival at a Texas prison camp in early August, Ghislaine Maxwell gushed in emails to her friends and family over the cleanliness and safety of her new surroundings. “The institution is run in an orderly fashion which makes for a safer more comfortable environment for all people concerned, inmates and guards alike,” wrote Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting minors to be sexually abused by her longtime confidant, the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell’s unexpected move to the all-women’s Federal Prison Camp Bryan, which houses inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses and white-collar crimes in dormitory-style quarters, drew immediate condemnation from current and former federal Bureau of Prisons employees. They said it was very unusual for prisoners with sex offenses on their records to be incarcerated in such an unconstrained setting, indicating Maxwell was receiving preferential treatment. For more on this story, watch NBC's "Nightly News" tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT Maxwell, 63, had been in a low-security federal correctional institution in Tallahassee, Florida, following her conviction in December 2021 on federal sex trafficking charges. FCI Tallahassee is more restrictive than a camp like FPC Bryan, where inmates have access to work programs, recreation and other activities and are often serving shorter sentences. Maxwell was moved days after meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July. NBC News has reviewed emails Maxwell sent during her first few months at FPC Bryan, which were obtained by the House Judiciary Committee. The emails describe Maxwell’s relief at being in a calmer facility without violence, where staff was polite and the food was better. "My situation is improved by being at Bryan," she wrote in one email. “The kitchen looks clean too — no possums falling from the celling to fry unfortunately on ovens, and become mingled with the food being served,” she wrote in another, complaining about her previous prison. Maxwell also praised prison camp warden Tanisha Hall, whom Maxwell called a “true professional.” “I feel like I have dropped through Alice in Wonderlands looking glass,” Maxwell wrote to a relative, adding, “I am much much happier here and more importantly safe.” The emails were shared with the House Judiciary Committee after the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, wrote a letter to Hall on Oct. 30 asking about Maxwell’s perceived “VIP treatment.” The letter cited a Wall Street Journal report last month describing special accommodations for Maxwell’s visitors and other perks, such as meals sent to her dormitory room, late-night workouts and her ability to shower after other inmates were already in bed for the night. Raskin’s inquiry raised other accusations made by inmates to the Journal that they have been threatened with retaliation if they speak about Maxwell to the media. At least one inmate who spoke with the Journal was transferred out of FPC Bryan after speaking about Maxwell, the newspaper reported. “While prison officials may limit inmates’ First Amendment rights to preserve security and order, you have provided no such justification for why prison security requires a ‘Ghislaine Maxwell’ gag order,” Raskin wrote, asking Hall to respond to his inquiry by Nov. 13, provide documentation and coordinate a visit for his staff to speak with inmates about their experiences. The warden faces a similar inquiry and deadline from Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The emails provided to NBC News and the House Judiciary Committee included messages from several inmates who expressed fear that they would be moved to higher-security facilities for mentioning Maxwell in phone calls or emails and said they believe she is receiving more care and attention than the typical prisoner. “They are even delivering her meals to her and NO inmates is allowed to prepare her meals,” one said. Hall, who began her career as a correctional officer at FPC Bryan in 1994 and has been its warden since 2023, did not respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department, which oversees the BOP, declined to comment. David Oscar Markus, a lawyer for Maxwell, said in response to NBC News’ request for comment about the congressional inquiries and the contents of her emails that “there’s nothing journalistic about publishing a prisoner’s private emails, including ones with her lawyers.” “That’s tabloid behavior, not responsible reporting,” Markus said in a statement. “Anyone still interested in that kind of gossip reveals far more about themselves than about Ghislaine. It’s time to get over the fact that she is in a safer facility. We should want that for everyone.” Maxwell’s emails indicate she’s able to access the warden for help, including arranging visits and communicating with her lawyers. In an email Maxwell sent to one of her attorneys in September, she noted that she spoke with the warden when she had a problem receiving documents by a deadline in her appeal before the Supreme Court. “Her creative solution was that you EM/scan it to her and she will scan back my changes!” Maxwell wrote, referring to her lawyer emailing the warden. “Of course that is fantastic as it saves days and days.” Patrick McLain, a Dallas criminal defense attorney who has represented women at FPC Bryan, said it would be unusual for any warden to get involved with inmates’ cases and that “no way” would he expect Hall to give his clients at FPC Bryan the same personal attention as Maxwell described in the emails. “That’s a rare occurrence,” McLain said. “It would be like the head of a large corporation of a manufacturing plant regularly having contact with people on the assembly line.” FPC Bryan, located in a residential neighborhood and ringed with razor wire, houses about 635 prisoners. In other emails, Maxwell, a socialite and the daughter of a British media mogul, voiced her continued frustration with the media and “people selling rubbish stories and making money from their lies.” In October, when Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison on two counts of transporting former girlfriends for prostitution, Maxwell was paying attention, writing in an email: “What an intersting sentence for Diddy! Hmm.” Maxwell has been a central figure in the Epstein saga that has morphed into a major and ongoing political dispute. Epstein died by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. While President Donald Trump initially said he supports full disclosure of investigative files in Epstein’s case, his administration has said it would not release all of the documents, prompting outcry from Democrats, some Republicans and parts of the president’s own base who have fueled conspiracy theories and pushed unfounded narratives surrounding Epstein's death. The intrigue around Epstein only grew when Blanche met with Maxwell in July for nine hours over two days in a federal courthouse in Tallahassee. The details of their discussion were not immediately made public, but in the days that followed, Maxwell was moved from her Florida prison to FPC Bryan. The Justice Department in late August released transcripts from Maxwell’s meeting with Blanche, in which she said she never witnessed any inappropriate conduct by Trump or any other prominent figures in Epstein’s orbit. Trump, whose name appeared in the unsealed records as a friend of Epstein’s before they had a falling out, has not been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing. Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, has previously said that she is “innocent and never should have been tried, much less convicted, in this case.” In October, the Supreme Court declined to hear Maxwell’s appeal of her criminal conviction, leaving presidential clemency as her best shot at being freed before her projected 2037 release date. Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump told reporters that he would speak with the Justice Department and “would have to take a look” at whether he would consider a pardon. Maxwell’s arrival at FPC Bryan — a camp described by employees as being lax with security — led prison officials to ramp up protective measures, including patrol cars and surveillance cameras along the perimeter. Members of the BOP’s Special Operations Response Team, who are highly trained on disturbances and security breaches at federal prisons, arrived to check IDs at the front entrance. A BOP official attributed the enhanced security to Maxwell’s presence, but could not say whether there had been any direct threats to her, other inmates or FPC Bryan itself. Maxwell’s transfer also rankled some community members, who questioned why she was selected to come to Bryan, given her conviction on a sex offense. “We want a better prison system for all, but why is she being shown privilege when there are other people who are trying and putting in the work, and they don’t get to be moved here?” asked Raequel Rogers, a co-organizer of the Brazos Valley Community Coalition, a grassroots group that demonstrated in front of FPC Bryan in August. “It’s brought a lot of attention to our town that we haven’t consented for. We don’t want a child sex trafficker here.” The BOP’s policy indicates Maxwell should be ineligible for incarceration at a minimum-security prison camp because she is a convicted sex offender. Sex offenders must be in at least a low-security prison, as Maxwell was in Tallahassee, unless a waiver is granted by the administrator of the BOP’s Designation and Sentence Computation Center. McLain, the Dallas defense attorney, said one of his clients, Julie Howell, was transferred out of FPC Bryan after she was quoted in a news article saying inmates were angry about Maxwell’s placement among them. McLain said Howell was vocal because she has helped law enforcement find sex traffickers. Maxwell’s arrival also disrupted the other inmates’ routines, McLain said. “It’s made their lives all topsy-turvy,” he said. Howell was initially transferred from FPC Bryan to a detention center in Houston. But on Friday, McLain said, he learned Howell had finally been moved to a halfway house to complete her sentence. It was a silver lining after what happened to her in Bryan, McLain added: “Fortunately, the system is not totally rife with corruption.”
