Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘highly irregular’ move to prison camp led other inmates to be punished, former convict reveals

A former convict has said the detention of Ghislaine Maxwell has caused resentment among other inmates due to efforts to accommodate her presence. Julie Howell served a year behind bars for financial crimes. When she was housed at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, she shared her concerns with a reporter from The Telegraph. She was then moved to Federal Detention Centre Houston in late July 2025 shortly after. Howell said inmates felt resentment towards rotten Maxwell, of lured young girls to massage rooms for paedophile-billionaire Jeffrey Epstein to molest, because her being there reportedly led to heightened security measures and triggered lockdowns. “Every inmate I’ve heard from is upset she’s here,” Howell told a Telegraph reporter in an email.. “This facility is supposed to house non-violent offenders. Human trafficking is a violent crime.” She said she was summoned to see Bryan’s warden Tanisha Hall after her comments and told it had “ruined her weekend”. Howell was then moved to the Houston detention centre. Her lawyer said she was put in a solitary confinement cell with no window where she remained for three months before being moved to a halfway house. Following her release, she told CNN: “There are some women in there who literally have no one. They don’t have family support. They don’t know what to advocate for. They make it so difficult, I think, so that you don’t put that work in.” The US Bureau of Prison’s report regarding Howell spoke of “contacting the public without authorisation” and “disruptive conduct”. The report also noted that Howell’s communications involved sensitive information pertaining to the the facility’s security operations, The Independent reported. Another inmate also spoke to CNN under the condition of anonymity and alleged she was moved to Houston after she spoke with a journalist. The prison bureau said inmates are allowed to talk to the media but generally provide permission from the warden. A spokesperson told CNN said staff are not allowed to give “preferential treatment” and while it did not discuss individual inmates, was “committed to “integrity, impartiality and professionalism”. Further reports suggested Maxwell has received perks since she had arrived, such as private meal deliveries to her dormitory and custom food options. And whistleblowers have alleged Maxwell has been given ‘VIP’ access to the gym and showers, as well as the companionship of a training service dog. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal last year, inmates were confined to their dormitories after breakfast on one occasion in August as Maxwell held meetings in the camp's chapel. Some prisoners claimed they had been told the lockdown had been necessary because of the importance of her visitors. The high-profile inmate had told fellow prisoners she did not know why she was transferred there. Her lawyer has said it was for her safety. The Journal also said prisoners had been warned not to threaten Maxwell after claims she had been heckled as a child abuser. Maxwell was being held at the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee, Florida, but went to the Houston jail in the summer of last year after giving two days of interviews to the Justice Department. Victims of Epstein, once Maxwell’s boyfriend, raised concerns over how she came to be transferred from the high-security Florida jail to the campus-style facility in Texas. Earlier this month, a Congressman investigating the Epstein scandal has said granting Maxwell a pardon would be “absolutely outrageous”. Controversy recently erupted after reports some Republican members of an influential committee holding an inquiry into Epstein were open to Maxwell being given clemency in return for her giving evidence before them. This has sparked strong opposition from Democrats. Speaking on Capitol Hill, representative Suhas Subramanyam, who sits on the committee, said “I have not met one oversight committee member, Democrat or Republican, who supports a Ghislaine Maxwell pardon. “I would love to meet them, and I would love to hear them say it publicly, but I don’t really know if that’s true. “But if it is true, I would love to meet that person and understand why “I think a Ghislaine Maxwell pardon is absolutely outrageous and should never happen – that would be the worst outcome of this investigation.” The White House has previously referred back to comments made by Donald Trump at the end of last year when he said he “hadn’t even thought” about a pardon. He said at the time: “I don’t rule it in or out. I don’t even think about it.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also insisted it was “not something he’s talking about or even thinking about”.