A prisoner with special privileges - How Ghislaine Maxwell has flung the gates to freedom wide open

It is a piece of news that stands out even in the bizarre world of the American prison system: Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted human trafficker for the sexual abuse of minors, is allowed to leave prison - not because her sentence has been reduced or overturned, but as part of what is known as a "work release." The British socialite and former confidante of Jeffrey Epstein, whose name is inseparably linked to one of the largest abuse scandals in recent US history, is thereby granted a freedom that is almost categorically denied to other prisoners with comparable offenses. It is to be assumed that her release will take place within the next 12 months. Internal documents available to us show that Maxwell received a special exemption for sex offenders. This made it possible for her to be transferred to a minimum-security prison in Texas - a step that, according to the official guidelines of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) - the federal prison authority of the United States - is actually excluded for offenders of her profile. Particularly explosive: Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island has taken up the case in a letter to the leadership of the BOP. He demands clarification on whether Maxwell was given preferential treatment after a meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche - formerly personal attorney to President Donald Trump. The question of whether political influence penetrated the walls of a correctional facility remains unspoken, but unmistakably hangs in the air.

The reviewed documents reinforce this suspicion. Maxwell received a base security score of seven points - the highest possible, as she is classified as a sex offender and considered a danger to the public. Her total score was 27, which according to the BOP's (Federal Bureau of Prisons) calculation models would correspond to a minimum security level. But a clear rule prohibits persons with the so-called Public Safety Factor "Sex Offender" from serving their sentence in a minimum-security facility. To bypass this, that factor must be explicitly waived - and that is exactly what apparently happened.

Even more explosive: The documents list Maxwell's custody status as "OUT" - a category that allows her to leave the prison for work assignments. That a person convicted of sexual abuse of minors is granted this freedom of movement is a rare, almost grotesque exception.

This constellation has a well-known precedent: Jeffrey Epstein himself was allowed during his prison sentence in Florida to leave the facility during the day to supposedly work - made possible by a "sweetheart deal" negotiated by prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz and approved by Alexander Acosta, later Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush and Donald Trump. This deal is considered today a prime example of how wealth, influence, and political connections can undermine the balance between law and justice. The parallels between Epstein then and Maxwell now are unmistakable. Both cases raise the central question: Does the law apply equally to everyone in the United States - or is there an invisible parallel track on which influential offenders can move almost unhindered? The official reference to "work release" programs can hardly disguise the fact that Maxwell's special status could be the result of targeted influence.

For the victims of the Epstein-Maxwell network, the prospect that one of the main perpetrators could soon be spending her days outside the prison walls is a slap in the face. It recalls all the moments in which the justice system in this case favored not the victim but the perpetrator - from the scandalous failure to indict entire complexes to procedural errors that always worked in favor of the accused. Ghislaine Maxwell did not dispute her guilt in court, but has consistently downplayed her role. That she may now hope for a relaxation of her prison conditions is seen by many not as an expression of successful rehabilitation, but as further proof of a profoundly unequal system - one that for some not only opens doors, but hands over the key to the prison gates altogether.

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