Ghislaine Maxwell moved to cushier prison amid Trump pardon speculation

Just days after a meeting with Deputy Attorney Gen Todd Blanche, the federal Bureau of Prisons has moved Ghislaine Maxwell from FCI Tallahassee, a low-security facility in Florida, to a minimum-security women's camp in Texas, where conditions are notably better. The convicted associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.

Ms Maxwell - who has pressed the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction while also seeking a pardon from US President Donald Trump - has been at the centre of controversy surrounding the Mr Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files. The reasons for her transfer from the Florida prison are unclear. Earlier in July, Ms Maxwell held two meetings with Mr Blanche, the details of which have also not been made public.

"We can confirm Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas," the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) said in a statement on Friday (August 1).

Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, confirmed the transfer but declined further comment.

FPC Bryant is located about 100 miles from the Texas capital, Austin. Like other federal prison camps, inmates are housed in dormitories, with a low staff-to-inmate ratio compared to other, more secure federal prisons. It houses inmates serving time for non-violent offences and white-collar crimes, including disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence after being found guilty of defrauding investors in her blood-testing start-up in 2022.

Contact with family members is allowed through video calls and inmates are permitted visitors during weekends and holidays, according to a prison handbook published by authorities online, the BBC reported. While discipline is strict at the facility and all prisoners are expected to work, they also have access to foreign language and business classes, can play sports, watch television and attend religious services.

In a statement, the family of the late Virginia Giuffre - one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims - expressed their "horror and disgust" at what they described as the "preferential treatment" given to Ms Maxwell.

They further condemned the move as having been made "without any notification to Maxwell's victims".

"This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes," the statement added. "The American public should be outraged by the special treatment afforded to a pedophile and a criminally charged child sex offender."

Pressure has been growing on Mr Trump to release more files related to the Epstein case, after he frequently promised to do so during his election campaign last year. Mr Trump has instead accused political rivals of using the case to distract from his achievements since returning to office, including threatening to prosecute Barack Obama for allegedly manufacturing intelligence that showed Russia's interference in the 2016 election.