Crime

Jeffrey Epstein Associate Held In Pre-Trial Solitary, Pushing Envelope Of Cruel And Unusual

It really doesn't have to be either-or.

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Ghislaine Maxwell is accused of recruiting underaged girls for Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous exploitation ring. After the hammer finally started to fall on the Epstein empire many years too late, Maxwell went into hiding, not even telling her lawyers where she was and enjoying the freedom from law enforcement that having millions of dollars can provide. The FBI ultimately apprehended her through stingray technology to pinpoint her based on cell phone use.

Criminal defense attorney David Oscar Markus, also author of the Southern District of Florida blog and host of the For the Defense podcast, represents Maxwell’s family and wrote an op-ed in the New York Daily News arguing for her pre-trial release as a woman presumed innocent with no past criminal history. “Others accused of more serious sexual crimes, but not saddled by the Epstein effect, have traditionally been released on bond.” Which is true, though others accused of more serious sexual crimes don’t have access to millions of dollars and a demonstrated propensity for going dark to evade authorities.

A recently filed third effort to get her out on bail involves her renouncing her citizenship of other countries and home detention. It’s probably going to fail because Maxwell has empirically proven herself to be a flight risk over the last few years. Pre-trial detention is overused in the American legal system, but it’s an uphill battle to suggest the release of someone who has demonstrated — to quote prosecutor Alison Moe — the “ability and willingness to live off the grid indefinitely.”

But there’s a middle ground between opening the door for Maxwell to abscond to any number of extradition-free countries and her current conditions. Markus outlines her detention in his piece:

For seven months, Maxwell has been detained by herself in a 6 foot by 9 foot room with a toilet and a mattress. The water from the sink is brown. She does not have the ability to interact with other detained individuals, exercise outside or even have any exposure to the outside world. Guards point a flashlight into her isolation cell every 15 minutes during the night, making sleep highly difficult. She is under 24-hour surveillance by guards and 18 cameras.

This is not because of any prison misbehavior by her, but because the prison was negligent with respect to Jeffrey Epstein and he died.

It’s not inconsistent to believe that Maxwell should remain in custody awaiting trial and that she has the basic right to humane treatment. Solitary confinement has certain perks in the world of COVID, where prisons have become unchecked superspreader sites, but that doesn’t make up for it being an internationally recognized torture tactic. Prolonged sleep deprivation fits that bill too.

America cares far too little about the conditions within its prisons. It’s quite literally out of sight and out of mind for most. That prisons are, ideally, home to society’s worst only makes it less of a priority. But that’s a skewed view of the system, which also houses the unlucky and the innocent — and the presumed innocent as the case may be. They need to be held to the bare minimum standards of humane treatment.

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Ghislaine Maxwell should be released: She should await her trial outside confinement [NY Daily News]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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