Grim footage has emerged showing the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s confidante Ghislaine Maxwell pacing her squalid jail cell in a vision of her spectacular descent. The privileged daughter of millionaire newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine enjoyed a life of plenty that saw her become a close friend of disgraced financier Epstein.
Having once rubbed shoulders with royalty and future and former presidents, Maxwell is shown in a new video released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) shuffling around her cramped prison room in a bright orange jumpsuit. The footage is dated July 1, 2020, when Maxwell was awaiting a decision as to whether she would be granted bail.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for sex trafficking as part of her relationship with the convicted paedophile Epstein. When this footage was filmed of Maxwell, her former friend Epstein had already been found dead in a jail in New York around 11 months earlier.
The startling newly released footage charting Maxwell’s own time behind bars shows the former socialite, now 64, in a tiny room with a small wall separately a toilet from an untidy mattress lying on the floor and strewn with white sheets.
Above the toilet there appears to be a vanity mirror and sink from where Maxwell looks to have poured herself a glass of water. She then shuffles towards her mattress bed and tries to pull the sheet over it before using what looks like clothing to form a pillow.
The convicted sex trafficker, who is wearing glasses, then gingerly lays down on her back and picks up a book off the mattress to read as she moves back her black bobbed hair. By the side of the depressing bed is a small grey box which looks like it contains some meagre possessions. A pair of flip-flops are on the floor next to it.
On a small wall separating the head of the bed from the toilet, there is a collection of sanitary items, cups and toilet rolls.
Posting the clip on its X page, Channel 4 News said it was part of a “10-hour long surveillance video inside Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison cell was released in the recent batch of Epstein files”.
The news broadcaster said the video had been verified, adding: “Maxwell, who was an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for sex trafficking. This video is dated July 2020 when Maxwell was waiting to hear whether or not she’d be granted bail.”
Maxwell is due to testify under oath in front of US lawmakers in Congress on Monday as part of an ongoing investigation into US authorities and how they handled the Epstein files.