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Inside ‘digusting’ Florida prison where Ghislaine Maxwell is serving 20 years: moldy bread, bug-infested cereal, leaks plugged with feminine pads

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Social Links for Shannon Thaler
Published Nov. 9, 2023, 11:50 a.m. ET

Jeffrey Epstein’s former lover and convicted sex predator Ghislaine Maxwell is serving out her 20-year sentence in a low-security Florida prison that has been subjecting inmates to disgusting conditions — including moldy food, rodent infestations, and leaks, according to the government.

In a revolting, 49-page report on FCI Tallahassee’s living conditions by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), inspectors said the windows and ceilings of all five housing units at the federal lockup were so run down that inmates were using feminine products to plug leaks.

Shocking photos in the US Bureau of Prisons’ report also pointed to the facility’s 294 male and 846 female inmates being served disgusting food, including moldy bread, a rotting cucumber, spoiled celery stalks, and warped containers of mayonnaise plagued by flecks of mold.

Cereal bags were infested with bugs, according to another photo, while food containers in storage were seen leaking and seemingly left to rot, according to photos in the report that was earlier reported on by the Daily Mail.

Other bags and boxes of dry goods appeared to be littered with vermin droppings and spider webs, or ripped open by rodents. Inmates are left to sit down to a tray of the revolting fare in the cafeteria, where a slew of plastic barstools were cracked or entirely broken, according to the shocking photos.

In a 49-page missive of the conditions at FCI Tallahassee, the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that inmates are being served rotting bread and vegetables.
In a 49-page missive of the conditions at FCI Tallahassee, the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that inmates are being served rotting bread and vegetables. DOJ OIG
Insects were pictured inside a bag of cereal at the low-security prison, which is home to 294 male and 846 female inmates, including Ghislaine Maxwell.
Insects were pictured inside a bag of cereal at the low-security prison, which is home to 294 male and 846 female inmates, including Ghislaine Maxwell. DOJ OIG
Maxwell, known as the "prison Karen" for all of her complaints, even whined in her first televised jailhouse interview with TalkTV in January about her prison diet and 6 a.m. wakeup time.
Maxwell, known as the “prison Karen” for all of her complaints, even whined in her first televised jailhouse interview with TalkTV in January about her prison diet and 6 a.m. wakeup time. Talk TV

The OIG’s findings substantiate Maxwell’s gripes that the food quality is bad. The 61-year-old, who’s been nicknamed the “prison Karen” over her incessant complaints, which she shared in her first televised jailhouse in January.

Speaking to Britain’s TalkTV, Maxwell moaned about her prison diet and 6 a.m. wakeup time, according to the Daily Mail.

The OIG’s prison inspectors also reported how jail bosses failed to curtail the flow of contraband among inmates, who were found with cigarettes, vapes, opioids, and even synthetic cannabis drugs known as K2 and Spice.

The inspectors noted that 38% of the jobs in the health unit at FCI Tallahassee were unfilled, and there weren’t enough security cameras and officers on site to fend off contraband and drug use, or acts of violence and self-harm.

OIG officials suggested that inmates who have permission to leave the facility as part of the prison’s sanitation and landscaping crews could have brought contraband in, as they’re “not routinely searched when they reenter the institution.”

When these sanitation and landscaping workers are on duty, they are allowed to go to the outer perimeter of the prison grounds, the report said, where there’s “a shirt single fence, large portions of which are easily accessible to the public from a municipal park.”

Containers of food in storage were pictured leaked, warped and rotting.
Containers of food in storage were pictured leaked, warped, and rotting. DOJ OIG
Stools in the cafeteria were cracked or entirely broken and rendered unusable.
Stools in the cafeteria were cracked or entirely broken and rendered unusable. DOJ OIG
Prison inspectors also found copious amounts of contraband including cigarettes and synthetic cannabis.
Prison inspectors also found copious amounts of contraband including cigarettes and synthetic cannabis. DOJ OIG

And in housing areas, inspectors said they found “fire damage, a sink that was detached from the wall, and a black substance on walls and ceilings,” though officials seemingly couldn’t identify this substance.

There were also signs of fire damage, showers that were flooded with discolored water or were leaking, as well as “inoperable toilets…worn bedding, rusted inmate storage lockers, and unlocked supply closets.”

When The Post reached out to the OIG for comment, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) replied, noting that inspectors did not make any specific recommendations about how to fix the slew of problems at FCI Tallahassee.

“The FBOP will carefully evaluate and implement any necessary corrective actions to ensure that our mission of operating safe, secure, and humane facilities continues to be fulfilled,” the spokesperson added.

Grim findings by prison inspectors are detailed in a scathing report that rates the beleaguered Federal facility, housing 846 women and 294 men in a small satellite facility, as 'high risk.'
Grim findings by prison inspectors are detailed in a scathing report that rates the beleaguered Federal facility, housing 846 women and 294 men in a small satellite facility, as ‘high risk.’ DOJ OIG
During the OIG's inspection, feminine pads were seen being used to plug leaks in run-down windows and ceilings.
During the OIG’s inspection, feminine pads were seen being used to plug leaks in run-down windows and ceilings. DOJ OIG
Stomach-turning images also showed a flooded shower with filled with some sort of black liquid and a clogged toilet.
Stomach-turning images also showed a flooded shower filled with some sort of black liquid and a clogged toilet. DOJ OIG

Maxwell has also reportedly made a fuss about the prison’s battered bedding and lack of timely access to medical care within the 400-plus complaints she’s filed against the two prisons she’s been locked up in since she was arrested in July 2020, per the Daily Mail.

Once a British socialite, Maxwell’s fall from grace ended in six charges related to her role in an abusive sex regime with late pedophile Epstein — who died by suicide while in jail awaiting trial in 2019 — and a 20-year prison sentence.

She was first locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she was reportedly kept in the worst parts of the jail, where she whined about having to use a bathroom with an open sewer drain and rats running around, noshing on rotten and maggot-infested food and being unable to shower in the facility because guards would stare at her.

Maxwell was arrested in July 2020 for her involvement in an abusive sex regime with Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019.
Maxwell was arrested in July 2020 for her involvement in an abusive sex regime with Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019. ZUMA24.com

She was transferred to FCI Tallahassee in Florida’s capital in July 2022.

On its website, the prison boasts that it offers a wide range of classes and activities to its inmates, including art, ceramics, yoga, and musical instrument classes, as well as team sports such as softball, basketball, and volleyball.

Representatives for FCI Tallahassee declined to comment.