Ghislaine Maxwell is sharing her cell with serial gun-toting drug traffickers with convictions for aggravated battery and threatening someone with a foot-long machete.
The sex offender, 60, is serving her sentence at Florida’s FCI Tallahassee prison and is sharing her sleeping quarters with Manda May Rowell and Shacara Bryant, who have led very different lives to the wealthy British socialite.
Rowell and Bryant have more than 70 convictions between them and are each serving five years for drug trafficking at the low security federal prison.
Ghislaine Maxwell is sharing her cell with serial gun-toting drug traffickers with a very different upbringing to hers
Shacara Bryant, a 36-year-old mother-of-two, was first arrested at the age of only 14 for aggravated battery
Manda May Rowell, 30, found with two pounds of methamphetamine and a loaded .380 semi-automatic pistol in a motel room in 2018
Rowell, 30, found with two pounds of methamphetamine and a loaded .380 semi-automatic pistol in a motel room in 2018, according to The Mirror.
US attorney Marc Krickbaum wrote in the sentencing report for the former Taco Bell worker: ‘She has been on probation on at least three different times and has not been successful once.
‘She has a very significant conviction for using a “machete with about a foot long blade” to threaten a person.
‘The need to protect the public from the criminal acts of this defendant is very real and should be considered heavily by this court in determining a sentence.’
Bryant, a 36-year-old mother-of-two, was first arrested at the age of only 14 for aggravated battery and was convicted for throwing a deadly missile into a building.
The former KFC worker has been arrested 37 times and was caught selling 100 grams of crack cocaine.
During sentencing in 2019, Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich gave Bryant the lowest term sought by prosecutors because of her difficult upbringing.
A source told The Mirror: ‘Ghislaine’s bunk mates could not have come from more different and difficult upbringings than her.
‘Whereas she was given anything and everything she wanted, life was not great for both Manda and Shacara.
‘Both their trial judges told them they were the owners of their own fates after being given numerous chances to change, but it is impossible to imagine a more different childhood from all the privileges Ghislaine was given.’
Rowell (pictured) and Bryant have more than 70 convictions between them and are each serving five years for drug trafficking at the low security federal prison
Maxwell sleeps in a dormitory of 120 beds in Unit B South, which are separated into small ‘cul-de-sacs’ of two bunk beds.
The area has no door and each inmate has their own locker which everything they buy has to fit inside.
Maxwell works in the prison’s law library and is able to visit the store every two weeks where she can spend a maximum of $360.
In the facility, the sex trafficker has become best friends with infamous double killer Narcy Novack.
The pair are reported to have spent long hours talking, laughing and joking around.
Their similar ages – Maxwell being 60 and Novack, 65 – as well as their wealthy backgrounds and long sentences is said to have cemented their bond.
Maxwell was sent to the prison late last month after being sentenced to 20 years for helping billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein abuse underage girls.
Novack was jailed in 2012, having been convicted of orchestrating the beating deaths of her millionaire husband and mother-in-law.
The Tallahassee jail is designated a low-security prison which means the inmates are able to take on various courses and even complete work placements.
But it can sound more like a holiday camp with inmates encouraged to take on gardening, baking, cooking, and housekeeping, yoga, pilates, weights, softball and frisbee.
Prison consultants said that Maxwell will clean toilets, bathrooms or wash dishes before being assigned a long term job like managing payroll or reading water meters.
Both Maxwell and Novack’s day begin at 5am when the lights come on. Breakfast is served at 6am and lunch at 10.30am – the early time is to enable to kitchen to feed the whole population.
The Bureau of Prisons website indicates Maxwell will be eligible for release on July 17 2037.
The choice of prison was against the recommendation of Judge Alison Nathan, who oversaw the trial, following a request from Maxwell’s lawyers to send her to FCI Danbury in Connecticut.
Maxwell is at FCI Tallahassee (pictured) where she will serve out her 20-year sentence. It is only a few hours from Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, where she helped him sexually abuse young girls
An interior photo of the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee where the pair now are
Maxwell is required to wear khaki clothes at FCI Tallahassee, and she will be woken up at 5am every day for breakfast at 6am
The socialite complained bitterly about her treatment at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she was held after her arrest in July 2020.
Her lawyers accused prison authorities of breaching her rights by shining a torch in her cell every 15 minutes and subjected her to invasive searches while filming her at all hours.
FCI Tallahassee, which opened in 1938, has a population of 755 inmates and only houses women.
According to the prison handbook, Maxwell is woken up at 6am every day and is issued an inmate identification card that she must wear at all times.
Each period of the day is announced over the tannoy and includes exercise sessions and work periods.
The prison handbook says that the only approved uniform is: khaki pants, khaki shirt, underwear, bra, socks, and authorized shoes.
A khaki dress is also permitted.
According to one prison consultant, Zoukis Consulting Group, yoga is available to inmates at FCI Tallahassee as well as pilates, weights, softball, flag football and frisbee – English is also taught for those who want to learn.
There is also a track for running – Maxwell is known to be a keen jogger.
Cosmetology is also offered as a trade for inmates to learn, a pursuit which may include massage. Maxwell’s convictions were based on underage girls being brought to Epstein for sexualized massages.
FCI Tallahassee has suffered controversy in the past and in 2007 six guards were convicted for a sex-for-contraband scandal.
The guards would exchange items like gum, perfume, makeup and bras for sex with women inside.
In 2021 the BOP settled a lawsuit in which 15 women alleged sexual abuse by corrections officers at the facility.
Notable inmates at FCI Tallahassee include the terrorist Colleen LaRose and Earth Liberation Front member Chelsea Gerlach.