Ghislaine Maxwell says it’s not her fault her Brooklyn jail cell is filthy
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NEW YORK – Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers have fired back at claims that she’s letting her jail cell become filthy, and argue that the entire Brooklyn facility where she’s being held is a disgusting cesspool.
The letter filed Thursday in Manhattan Federal Court is the latest in an increasingly hostile dispute over the conditions of the British socialite’s confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park.
Prosecutors and Maxwell’s legal team don’t even agree whether she frequently flushes the toilet.
“At times the stench in Ms. Maxwell’s isolation cell has been overwhelming due to overflowing of toilets in the cellblock above. Due to lack of privacy, Ms. Maxwell refrains from using the toilet in the isolation cell and, as directed by the guards, she flushes frequently to avoid plumbing problems,” Maxwell’s attorney Bobbi Sternheim wrote.
“Blaming Ms. Maxwell for the filth of her severely restricted environment is utterly misplaced. To suggest she willingly lives in squalor is absurd,” said the attorney.
Sternheim’s account came in response to prosecutors’ claims that Maxwell had been ordered to clean her cell after allowing it to become “very dirty.” The feds are required to file regular updates on conditions at the MDC.
Maxwell’s lawyers argue the sorry state of the jail is another reason the 59-year-old should be granted bail while awaiting trial for sex trafficking and grooming underage victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
“The MDC — especially the East Building where Ms. Maxwell is held — is permeated with mold and vermin. Cockroaches and rodents are plentiful and glue (traps) have been placed in Ms. Maxwell’s day area to help remediate the problem,” Sternheim wrote.
Even Maxwell’s weight is disputed. The feds say she’s remained around 130 lbs. while in custody. But Sternheim wrote that the weight scales “are erratic and not set to zero.”
“Her eyesight is failing, and her hair is thinning,” Sternheim continued.
Maxwell claimed the federal Bureau of Prisons ignored an incident of “physical abuse” in which a jail guard shoved her into her isolation cell.
She has pleaded not guilty to her charges. Her attorneys will argue to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals later this month that she should be granted bail.
