Maxwell’s attorneys said the former British socialite is isolated, under 24-hour video surveillance and subjected to constant observation by multiple guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, the Bureau of Prison facility where she is being held before trial.
In a letter to US District Court Judge Alison Nathan filed late Monday, Maxwell’s lawyers say they recently learned that “some of these prison guards were, in fact, BOP psychologists who were observing Ms. Maxwell and evaluating her for hours each day without her knowledge. We are aware of no other pretrial detainee receiving such treatment.”
Maxwell’s lawyers have argued that Maxwell has never been diagnosed as suicidal and the current conditions treat her unfairly.
Maxwell has been limited to 30 minutes a month for personal phone calls, compared with 500 minutes given to other inmates awaiting trial, her lawyers said in the letter. She does not have a desk or surface to take notes when she is reviewing evidence for her case and was recently denied access to the jail’s commissary, they added.
Maxwell “will be placed into the general population if and when BOP is assured that such placement would not pose a threat to the orderly operation of the institution,” prosecutors wrote in the court filing at the time.
Maxwell’s lawyers also renewed their request to be told the identities of the three accusers named in the indictment. Prosecutors have objected to the request at this point in the litigation process citing the privacy of the victims.