Unlimited toilet paper and special privileges: Inside Ghislaine Maxwell’s life in prison

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The female inmates serving time at the minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, are each provided the typical allotment of two rolls of toilet paper per week. Some of them take special care to avoid running out by ordering extra rolls of Scott — at $2.25 a pop — from the prison’s commissary on their once-a-week shopping day.

But not Ghislaine Maxwell. She doesn’t have to worry about using up all of her supplies because she is given as much toilet paper as she needs. All she has to do is ask.

This benefit that is afforded to Maxwell, described to CNN by sources familiar with her life in prison, is just one of many examples of how some of the rules that apply to her fellow inmates at Federal Prison Camp Bryan simply do not appear to apply to the late Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous right-hand woman, a convicted sex trafficker.

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“You don’t understand the value of toilet paper in prison. It is hoarded. It is hidden from staff,” said Sam Mangel, a prison consultant and former federal prison inmate who currently has multiple clients at Bryan. “Because if you think about it, you can go without shampoo for a day or two. You can’t go without toilet paper.”

Maxwell, who has emerged as a central figure in one of the biggest political controversies of President Donald Trump’s second term, has been allowed to largely isolate from the rest of the inmate population. While a typical cell at Bryan sleeps four inmates, at least at one point some of Maxwell’s roommates were moved out. When she raised a concern that other inmates were sitting at the tables nearby and looking into her cell, those tables were moved.

Since being transferred to Bryan — home to other high-profile women like Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and ex-cast member of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” Jen Shah — Maxwell has also had her meals and mail delivered to her cell. She’s been given special arrangements for guests, including the private use of a chaplain’s office in the prison’s chapel outside of normal visitation hours.

The accounts in this story were shared with CNN by sources with knowledge of Maxwell’s life at Bryan as well as individuals who are in contact with current inmates at the camp. Some details were also echoed this week by a whistleblower who reached out to the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

“BOP has a duty to ensure no inmate is treated any different from the next and that no inmate is subject to acts of violence while in custody,” a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said when asked for comment on the details of this story.

Another Trump administration official said that some of the details of Maxwell’s treatment at Bryan — including being able to use the prison’s chapel for private meetings — were “necessary” for ensuring the safety of Maxwell as well as that of her fellow inmates. The official also noted that Maxwell’s meals were delivered to her cell for a period of a month, and that she was no longer eating her meals alone.

Maxwell was thrust back in the spotlight Wednesday after the House Oversight Committee released a trove of documents obtained from the Epstein estate. Democrats on the panel highlighted email messages that Epstein sent to Maxwell and author Michael Wolff that mentioned Trump multiple times. In July, Maxwell sat for a prolonged two-day interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, during which she praised the president and said she had never seen him in an inappropriate setting.

Some of Maxwell’s fellow inmates have complained about Maxwell’s transfer to Bryan — and they have learned that doing so carries a price.

Soon after Maxwell arrived at Bryan from a higher-security facility in Florida more than three months ago, the prison warden gathered the inmates in a town hall-style meeting. She warned that they must not speak to anyone about Maxwell and also insisted that the famous felon would be treated just like any other inmate there.

Julie Howell, a former professor at Tarleton State University in Texas who was sentenced to a year in prison for stealing from the school, had barely been an inmate at Bryan for five weeks when Maxwell arrived in early August. That weekend, Howell’s husband shared a question from a reporter for the Daily Telegraph about Bryan’s newest inmate. After consulting a prison handbook to see if there were prohibitions on talking to journalists, Howell responded with a comment for her husband to relay back to the journalist, according to sources with knowledge.

Howell’s own daughter had been sex-trafficked, so Maxwell’s arrival at the minimum-security facility — which is not meant to house felons convicted of charges such as Maxwell’s — had been especially troubling to Howell. “This facility is supposed to house non-violent offenders. Human trafficking is a violent crime,” she told the Telegraph. “As a mother of a sex-trafficking victim, I’m absolutely disgusted she’s in this facility.”

Within days, Howell was summoned to the lieutenant’s office — such a rare occurrence that she wondered as she walked over whether something bad had happened to her husband. Sources said she was scolded by officials, including the warden, for having commented about Maxwell to the press, and was informed that she was being transferred.

Soon after arriving at a higher-security prison in Houston, Howell would be joined by others. Several inmates who had been at Bryan with her were also eventually moved to the Houston prison after raising concerns about Maxwell.

Patrick McLain, Howell’s lawyer, said in response to CNN’s request for comment: “I want to make sure that the Bureau of Prisons is held accountable by their own rules, and that they do not treat our fellow citizens who are serving their time arbitrarily or unfairly.”

The Trump administration official told CNN that Howell was removed from Bryan because her discussion of Maxwell had posed a security risk to the high-profile convicted felon. And the warden’s town hall, they said, had been prompted by threats that were made against Maxwell’s life.

CNN has reached out to Maxwell’s lawyer for comment.

The Trump administration has not provided an explanation for why Maxwell was transferred to the minimum-security camp despite the nature of her crimes. The transfer came soon after Maxwell’s interview with Blanche.

Maxwell has privately celebrated the move. NBC News reported this week that Maxwell wrote in an email to a relative: “I feel like I have dropped through Alice in Wonderlands looking glass. I am much much happier here and more importantly safe.”

Maxwell is almost always alone, sources said, as she keeps herself busy with walks and jogs on the camp’s track and significant time devoted to reading.

The whistleblower who spoke with the top House Judiciary Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, told him that Maxwell has received additional privileges like having guests visit with computers, and that the warden has been personally helping Maxwell send documents and emails.

The whistleblower also told Raskin that Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison, is in the process of preparing to file an application for commutation. According to an email that the whistleblower shared with the committee, Maxwell wrote to her lawyer Leah Saffian in early October that she planned to send materials “through the warden.”

“I am struggling to keep it all together as it is big and there are so many attachments,” Maxwell’s email, viewed by CNN, says. “More coming to replace others…hopefully it will all make sense.”

Susan Giddings, who worked at the Federal Bureau of Prisons for over 30 years, told CNN that she finds some of the details that have emerged about Maxwell’s life in prison problematic or odd — including the suggestions that the warden has been helping facilitate Maxwell’s email communications, that Maxwell was having special meals delivered to her and that some of her visitors were being greeted with an assortment of snacks.

Giddings stressed, however, that it is difficult to deliver judgment in the absence of key details — like whether the emails the warden was helping Maxwell send were legal in nature, and what kinds of concerns, if any, might have been raised about fellow inmates’ treatment of Maxwell at Bryan. She also said the background and motivation of the whistleblower were significant factors.

“Even though there could be the appearance of something preferential, there could be grounds for it, in terms of what else is going on. That’s the challenge: What else is going on?” Giddings, who now advises incarcerated individuals through the Federal Prison Authority, said. “Yes, they’re in prison, they’re serving a sentence, but the bureau is responsible for their protection as well.”

Fellow inmates and House Democrats are hardly alone in raising concerns about Maxwell’s standard of living at Bryan. Victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking — many of whom describe Maxwell as having been his most important enabler — have expressed dismay. They are also alarmed by Maxwell seeking a commutation, especially since Trump has not ruled out the possibility of a commutation or pardon.

Annie Farmer, an Epstein victim who has testified that she was recruited and sexually assaulted by Maxwell as a teenager, said in a statement this week that Maxwell’s actions so far show that she has “no remorse for her crimes.”

“Any special legal treatment for Maxwell would not only be profoundly insulting — it would be downright dangerous for survivors,” Farmer said. “We ask the Department of Justice to permanently close the door on any pardon or commutation for Maxwell. Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell, who endured years of abuse and trafficking, deserve to know that the people responsible will be held accountable.”

Epstein survivors had last gathered together as a group on Capitol Hill in September, and sources told CNN they will do so again next week on the heels of Democrat Adelita Grijalva being sworn into the House.

Just after she was sworn in Wednesday afternoon, Grijalva provided the pivotal final signature that was required on a petition to force a vote on legislation compelling the federal government to release the Epstein case files. Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the vote would take place next week — earlier than originally expected.