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Ghislaine Maxwell moved to minimum-security Texas prison camp

Epstein associate’s transfer comes after DOJ interview and amid Trump’s comments that he can pardon her

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Donald and Melania Trump with the late Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the early 2000s. Maxwell was moved Friday to a minimum‑security federal prison camp in Texas just two days after talking to the Deputy Attorney General. (Davidoff Studios / Getty Images)
Donald and Melania Trump with the late Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the early 2000s. Maxwell was moved Friday to a minimum‑security federal prison camp in Texas just two days after talking to the Deputy Attorney General. (Davidoff Studios / Getty Images)

Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein now serving a 20‑year sentence for child sex trafficking, has been moved from a low‑security federal prison in Florida to a minimum‑security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, her lawyer confirmed Friday, according to media outlets. The reason for the move were not immediately explained by her lawyer or the Bureau of Prisons. 

The New York Sun first reported the transfer. 

The decision comes shortly after Maxwell was interviewed over two days by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche about the Epstein case. The high‑level meeting followed growing public anger over a Justice Department and FBI announcement last month that it would not release any further documents from its Epstein investigation.

Minimum‑security prison camps, like the one in Bryan, typically house inmates considered the lowest security risk, sometimes without perimeter fencing, according to an Associated Press report

Her transfer has drawn sharp criticism from survivors and their families. “It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received,” wrote Maria and Annie Farmer, who have accused Epstein and Maxwell of abuse.

They are joined by the relatives of Virginia Giuffre, a victim who died by suicide this spring, in a statement: “She should never be shown any leniency.” They accused President Trump of sending “a clear message: Pedophiles deserve preferential treatment and their victims do not matter.”

The House Oversight Committee has also expressed interest in speaking with her. The committee voted to subpoena Maxwell in July, but on Friday, the committee’s chairman agreed to postpone the meeting until after her pending Supreme Court appeal is ruled on. 

Trump has urged his supporters to move on from the Epstein case, calling it a distraction propagated by his political enemies. In recent weeks, the president has repeated that he would be “allowed” to pardon Maxwell or commute her sentence without indicating whether or not he would do so. 

By Blaise Malley

Blaise Malley is a national affairs fellow at Salon.

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