"She's got a 25% to 40% chance of getting out due to coronavirus," said David Weinstein, a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, told the paper. "She's got a much better chance than Epstein had of getting out."
Some high-profile inmates — like President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, Michael Avenatti, and Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine – have benefited from these policies.
Maxwell, 58, arrived at the troubled Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Monday, according to Reuters. It's not clear why she's being held there rather than Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center, which is where Epstein was held and is typically the jail for people being prosecuted by the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York.
"You go from living a life like Maxwell to all of a sudden being in a situation where you're being strip-searched and having people look into your body cavities," said Cameron Lindsay, a former warden at the MDC, told Reuters."That is a crushing experience."
A grand jury indictment from Southern District prosecutors, which includes Manhattan, accuses Maxwell of enticing minors to travel to engage in sexual acts, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in sexual acts, and perjury.
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Prosecutors say that beginning in at least 1994, Maxwell had befriended young victims of Epstein and groomed them, talking to them about their lives, interests, and school.
After building a rapport with them, she'd normalize sexual abuse by discussing sexual topics with them, undress in front of them, and being present as convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused them.
She, too, participated in some of the abuse, prosecutors said.
The crimes are said to have taken place at Epstein's homes on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; in Palm Beach, Florida; and in New Mexico, as well as at Maxwell's home in London.
Epstein died by suicide in an MDC Manhattan jail cell last August while facing sex trafficking charges.
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Since Epstein's indictment on those charges last July, Maxwell has laid low, moving between locations in New England, the FBI said last week.
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