Inmates at Ghislaine Maxwell’s low-security prison camp in Texas claim they were transferred to a higher security detention center as punishment for speaking out against the convicted sex trafficker and her cushy treatment.
Several prisoners serving time at Federal Prison Camp Bryan — the minimum-security lockup known as “Club Fed” — told CNN they were shipped off to a federal detention center in Houston immediately after they gave interviews to various news outlets about Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator.
Others claim they were also screamed at and berated by the prison’s warden after they complained about the infamous inmate’s alleged favorable treatment.
Julie Howell, who had been serving a year-long sentence for stealing nearly $1 million from the university where she worked, said she was punished for telling a Telegraph reporter last August that most inmates were “upset” about Maxwell’s sudden arrival at the lockup.
Howell, who argued that other white-collar crime prisoners were furious that a notorious sex trafficker was allowed in the low-security prison, said she was hauled into a cell where the warden, Tanisha Hall, ripped into her.
“She came in and asked what I was thinking, said that her phone was blowing up all weekend; I ruined her weekend; I shouldn’t have talked to them,” Howell said.
“[Hall] rolled her eyes and flipped her hair back and she was like, ‘It’s too late for apologies,’ and walked out,” she added.
Howell said she was carted off to the Houston prison, which has male and female inmates of varying security levels, later that day.
Prison incident reports later detailed that Howell had been reprimanded for disruptive conduct, mail abuse and contacting the public without authorization.
Howell said more and more of her former Bryan camp inmates slowly started arriving at the Houston prison — and all claimed they were moved because they spoke out about Maxwell.
One white-collar inmate, who is still locked up for financial crimes, said the warden made it crystal clear to prisoners that speaking out about Maxwell was off-limits.
“Somebody in my [dorm] made a comment: ‘You know, this is what happens when you bring a pedophile to a camp.’ And [the warden] started screaming: ‘Don’t ever make that comment. I never want to hear you say that again,’” the inmate said.
Another prisoner, who didn’t want to be identified, said she was also carted off to the Houston prison after she spoke to a reporter last September about Maxwell’s arrival.
Despite insisting she never said anything negative about Maxwell, the inmate said the warden screamed at her in the main cafeteria area in front of scores of other prisoners.
“I told her I wasn’t sharing her business, I was speaking on my behalf. And she just basically berated me there and told me that I was jeopardizing the safety of her staff and interfering with an FBI investigation, of which I knew nothing about,” she said.
The federal Bureau of Prisons faced backlash last year after it was revealed that Maxwell was being transferred to Club Fed — despite her serving 20 years for helping Epstein groom and abuse underage girls.
Minimum-security federal prison camps, like the one Maxwell is housed in, are known for having criminals that the Bureau of Prisons considers to be the lowest security risk.
Maxwell is slated to be behind bars until 2037.
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