Officials at the Bureau of Prisons moved convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to a cushier jail after an order came from “well above their heads,” a federal prison consultant revealed on the Daily Beast Podcast.
Sam Mangel, a former inmate turned prison consultant for high-profile names like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, explained that the BOP determines where each incoming inmate should serve their time using what’s called a public safety factor.
In the case of Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, the BOP took the rare step of waiving the public safety factor related to her sex crime conviction to overcome “a very severe restriction” that would have prevented her transfer to a minimum-security prison in Texas from a federal prison in Florida.
“Anything involving a sexual act is the most serious—or one of the most serious—public safety factors someone can have on them, and that specifically precludes an individual from serving their time in a camp,” Mangel told host Joanna Coles.
“I’ve helped thousands of people… They will not waive that public safety factor,” he said of the BOP. “So getting your transfer to a camp is crazy.”
The notorious partner in crime of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was quietly transferred in August from a Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida, to a Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, that is known for its comforts relative to other jails.
Maxwell, 63, has been staying at a dorm-style facility closer to her family that houses other high-profile criminals, including Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes and former The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah. In September, Maxwell was spotted heading to yoga class.
The transfer came after Maxwell sat down for an hours-long interview with Trump-appointed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, sending the rumor mill into overdrive about a possible deal struck with the administration.
Mangel said BOP Director William Marshall and Deputy Director Joshua Smith, who were appointed by Trump earlier this year, “really tried to clean everything up, get things moving in the proper direction.”
“So it’s my understanding that the directive to move her to a minimum security camp, Bryan, came from well above their heads,” he said.
Mangel also believed safety concerns played a role in Maxwell’s transfer, citing violent offenders jailed at the low-security prison in Tallahassee.
“I truly believe that once she started cooperating, the Bureau of Prisons had to move her,” he said. “It was the only solution for the Bureau of Prisons if their goal was to keep her safe and alive. If they moved her to another low-security [facility], they would have had the same challenges.”
The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment on Sunday. An automatic response from the BOP indicated that it was unavailable for inquiries due to the government shutdown. The Daily Beast also reached out to the White House for comment.
President Donald Trump left the door open to a possible Maxwell pardon—while pretending not to know her—earlier this month.
As for the question of a possible deal struck behind the scenes by Maxwell and the Trump administration, Mangel said he can only speculate.
“I have to imagine that getting her to Bryan was the starting point to getting her out of custody, whether through commutation or pardon. It just seems to me that you don’t move someone to that type of facility with this kind of protection and precautions if you’re not overly concerned about her safety and what she has to say and offer,” Mangel said.
“So my guess, and purely speculation, is that at some point she will receive some form of clemency.”
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