London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2026

Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers want her in general jail population, say Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide is affecting her treatment

Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers want her in general jail population, say Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide is affecting her treatment

Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of abetting sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged abuse of underage girls, is being intensely watched in a New York City jail in an apparent effort to keep her from killing herself as Epstein did in another jail last year, her lawyers told a judge in a new court filing.

That scrutiny until recently included Maxwell, 58, being “subjected to suicide watch protocols.”

Those have included “being woken up every few hours during the night and being forced to wear special clothing” as she is kept alone in a special housing unit at the Metropolitan Detention Center, her lawyers wrote.

And “she continues to be surveilled 24 hours a day by security cameras and by multiple prison guards, many of whom do not appear to be regular MDC personnel,” the filing said.

“These prison guards constantly observe Ms. Maxwell and take notes on her every activity, including her phone conversations with defense counsel.”

And, “her cell is searched multiple times a day and she has been forced to undergo numerous body scans,” the lawyers wrote Manhattan federal Judge Alison Nathan.

The letter asks Nathan to order that Maxwell, who is being held without bail, be moved into the general inmate population at the Brooklyn, New York, jail “so that she can meaningfully participate in her defense.”

They also asked that she be given “significantly increased access to a computer terminal in order to review” evidence in the case.

The lawyers wrote that “Maxwell does not seek special treatment at the MDC; but she does ask that she not be specially disfavored in her treatment in detention, especially when it comes to preparing her defense to conduct that allegedly took place over 25 years ago.”

Maxwell was arrested last month on federal criminal charges that accuse her of recruiting and grooming several underage girls in the mid-1990s so that they could be sexually abused by the wealthy investor Epstein, sometimes with Maxwell’s participation.

Both she and Epstein for years had socialized with rich and powerful people, including former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, and Britain’s Prince Andrew.




Maxwell’s lawyers, in their letter to Nathan, wrote that “Maxwell has been treated less favorably than a typical pretrial detainee, and this has impacted her ability to assist in her defense.”

“It has become apparent that the [Bureau of Prison’s] treatment of Ms. Maxwell is a reaction to the circumstances surrounding the pretrial detention and death of Mr. Epstein.”

Epstein died from suicide by hanging on Aug. 10, 2019, in the federal jail in Manhattan, where he was being held without bail on child sex trafficking charges.

Two guards at that jail have been criminally charged with trying to cover up their failure to monitor him and other inmates on the day of his death, which came weeks after he apparently attempted suicide in the same jail for the first time.

“As a result of what occurred with Mr. Epstein, Ms. Maxwell is being treated worse than other similarly situated pretrial detainees, which significantly impacts her ability to prepare a defense and be ready for trial on the schedule set by the Court,” Maxwell’s lawyers wrote the judge.

The lawyers said that unlike Epstein, Maxwell has never been suicidal or diagnosed with showing risk factors for suicide.

Trump recently said of Maxwell, “I wish her well.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
Maduro’s Arrest Without The Hague Tests International Law—and Trump’s Willingness to Break It
German Intelligence Secretly Intercepted Obama’s Air Force One Communications
The U.S. State Department’s account in Persian: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know it until now, now you do—do not play games with President Trump.”
Fake Mainstream Media Double Standard: Elon Musk Versus Mamdani
HSBC Leads 2026 Mortgage Rate Cuts as UK Lending Costs Ease
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Outlines How Operation Absolute Resolve Was Carried Out in Venezuela
Starmer Welcomes End of Maduro Era While Stressing International Law and UK Non-Involvement
Korean Beauty Turns Viral Skincare Into a Global Export Engine
UK Confirms Non-Involvement in U.S. Military Action Against Venezuela
UK Terror Watchdog Calls for Australian-Style Social Media Ban to Protect Teenagers
Iranian Protests Intensify as Another Revolutionary Guard Member Is Killed and Khamenei Blames the West
Delta Force Identified as Unit Behind U.S. Operation That Captured Venezuela’s President
Europe’s Luxury Sanctions Punish Russian Consumers While a Sanctions-Circumvention Industry Thrives
Berkshire’s Buffett-to-Abel Transition Tests Whether a One-Man Trust Model Can Survive as a System
Fraud in European Central Bank: Lagarde’s Hidden Pay Premium Exposes a Transparency Crisis at the European Central Bank
Trump Announces U.S. Large-Scale Strike on Venezuela, Declares President Maduro and Wife Captured
Tesla Loses EV Crown to China’s BYD After Annual Deliveries Decline in 2025
UK Manufacturing Growth Reaches 15-Month Peak as Output and Orders Improve in December
Beijing Threatened to Scrap UK–China Trade Talks After British Minister’s Taiwan Visit
Newly Released Files Reveal Tony Blair Pressured Officials Over Iraq Death Case Involving UK Soldiers
Top Stocks and Themes to Watch in 2026 as Markets Enter New Year with Fresh Momentum
No UK Curfew Ordered as Deepfake TikTok Falsely Attributes Decree to Prime Minister Starmer
Europe’s Largest Defence Groups Set to Return Nearly Five Billion Dollars to Shareholders in Twenty Twenty-Five
Abu Dhabi ‘Capital of Capital’: How Abu Dhabi Rose as a Sovereign Wealth Power
Diamonds Are Powering a New Quantum Revolution
Trump Threatens Strikes Against Iran if Nuclear Programme Is Restarted
×