Ghislaine Maxwell Wants to Serve Sentence in UK

Ghislaine Maxwell will face a maximum federal sentence of 55 years when she is sentenced for sex trafficking and other offenses later this month—and she wants to spend as little as possible of that time in an American prison. Friends and relatives say the British former socialite plans to formally apply for a transfer to a British prison. Maxwell is currently in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where she was recently shifted to the general population after more than two years in solitary confinement, the New York Post reports. Ian Maxwell, her older brother, says she has only had one family visit in two years and he recently flew to the US but wasn't allowed to visit because the jail had been locked down after a fight.

Ian Maxwell describes the situation as "unreal" and "horrible." "She is going to be sentenced and obviously we are going to challenge the conviction on appeal," he tells the Telegraph. "There is a program where overseas nationals can serve their time in the country of their nationality. There are precedents." Sources close to Maxwell have told the British media that she considers US jail conditions "inhumane" and "disgraceful." Maxwell, a longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate, was denied a new trial earlier this year and is due to be sentenced June 28. (More Ghislaine Maxwell stories.)