Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell is enjoying cushy new digs at a prison camp that has no cell blocks or guard towers but does offer a full gym, yoga classes, and a “puppy program.”
Maxwell, 63, was quietly transferred last week from a prison in Florida to a minimum-security camp in Bryan, Texas. Oversight at her new facility is so lax, it partially relies on the honor system to keep inmates from—quite literally—walking off its wall-free campus, as three women did in 2017.
Federal Prison Camp, Bryan has been nicknamed “Club Fed,” as its inmates have access to an outdoor running track, music programs, intramural competitions, social and cultural events, and activities like table tennis, prison consultant Michael Santos says.
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At the facility, Maxwell will be permitted to buy mascara ($13.10), eyeliner ($1.70), concealer ($7.75), powder ($17), lip gloss ($3.40), makeup wipes ($9.25), and, the priciest luxury available, L’Oréal Revita anti-aging cream ($26.00), according to a comissary list obtained by the Daily Beast. Inmates are allowed to spend $360 a month there.
If she wishes, Maxwell can also buy materials for hobbies like painting, crocheting, and sewing, all of which are offered for sale. If she is tight on cash, she is also free to enjoy the camp’s free classes for weightlifting, yoga, and even Pilates.
Julie Howell, a 44-year-old who self-surrendered to Federal Prison Camp, Bryan last month on a theft charge, told her loved ones she was accepted into a “puppy program” that allows her to spend her days training a “12-week-old yellow lab named Louise” to become a service dog, she posted to Facebook on July 22.
“The program is really fantastic, and they are very strict about adhering to the rules and training,” she posted. “This is my ‘job’ while I’m here, and it’s literally 24/7 as the puppies stay in the room with us. It’s me, my bunkie, and a puppy, and we have to supervise the puppy at all times.”
She added of her prison gig, “I absolutely love it.”
Convicted sex traffickers like Maxwell are not typically permitted in a minimum-security camp, and the family of one of her victims, Virginia Giuffre, slammed Trump for granting Maxwell such “luxury” accommodations. Maxwell’s transfer came shortly after she spoke with Justice Department officials about Epstein for two days.
It remains unclear exactly how Maxwell is spending her time in Texas. She now lives in dormitory-style housing on the same property as disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and reality TV star Jen Shah.
Maxwell is no ordinary inmate. However, a handbook obtained by the Daily Beast lays out what her day-to-day life would look like if she were treated as one at the Texas facility.
The handbook adds that Maxwell would be required to be awake by 6 a.m. for work each day, with breakfast beginning at 6:30 a.m. most days. Her work in the kitchen would not stop there. An early lunch is served between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. on weekdays, followed by dinner that is served between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.
According to the protocol outlined in the handbook, last updated in 2023, Maxwell would spend her first three months working in the prison camp’s kitchen, where she would be required to wear an all-khaki prison outfit and a lanyard identifying her by name.
Maxwell would earn between 12 cents and $1.15 an hour for her work and would be eligible to seek a new prison job—perhaps practicing carpentry or training service dogs—after 90 days.
FPC Bryan is often heralded as one of the most laid-back places to be a prisoner in the United States.
Prison Pink Lady Consultants writes on its website that, save for Maxwell, who is British, its population is made up of “non-violent female federal inmates” from the Southern United States, many of whom are serving time for financial crimes. It adds that inmates usually sleep in two-person bunk beds in a room of four in dormitories where guards have limited oversight. The property is 37 acres and is surrounded by residential neighborhoods. A public park and basketball court are just a half-mile away.
Inmate Aid, another prison consultant, writes that FPC Bryan offers “grounds with unsecured perimeters, generally unrestricted or open movement within those perimeters, and low inmate-to-staff ratios.”
It adds that inmates there can “expect relatively relaxed monitoring of mail, Corrlinks email, telephone calls, and visits, as well as fairly unsupervised and unmonitored recreational and leisure activities.”
Still, FPC Bryan is a prison, and it is safe to assume that the majority of its population does not want to be there. A former inmate described the camp to Fox Business as “close” to being the “hellhole” of the U.S. prison system.
Maxwell is sure to face challenges that most others do not have to face. While former FPC Bryan inmates note that inmates at the camp regularly rally behind each other and become friends, Maxwell carries significantly more baggage than someone convicted of wire fraud.
A report by The Telegraph claims that Maxwell is already an outcast in Texas.
“Every inmate I’ve heard from is upset she’s here,” Howell told the paper. “This facility is supposed to house non-violent offenders. Human trafficking is a violent crime.”
Howell expressed fear that the facility—which reportedly has no razor wire, watch towers, and has fewer guards per inmate than the majority of federal prisons—may not be equipped to protect Maxwell and other inmates from outside harm.
“This is a camp you can literally walk out of,” she told the Telegraph. “I don’t care how many people she turns in; it doesn’t take away from her actions. As a mother of a sex-trafficking victim, I’m absolutely disgusted she’s in this facility. Regardless of her reasoning, I don’t think she belongs here.”
