Why is Ghislaine Maxwell getting the Club Fed treatment? | Arwa Mahdawi

Ghislaine Maxwell at Club Fed

I don’t know what, if anything, keeps Ghislaine Maxwell up at night. But it’s certainly not the prospect of running out of toilet paper in the minimum-security prison where she’s residing. Maxwell is serving a 20-year-sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. Rather than doing hard time, however, it seems Maxwell is having a relatively easy go of it. While most inmates get an allocation of two rolls of toilet paper per week, for example, CNN reports that Maxwell gets an unlimited supply.

Bountiful bog roll isn’t the only privilege being extended to Maxwell. The very fact that she was transferred to the federal prison camp (FPC) in Bryan, Texas, has prompted uproar and claims of special treatment. Maxwell, to jog your memory, was originally held at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn, New York, then sent to a Florida facility in 2022, where she complained about poor conditions and “possums falling from the ceiling”.

It’s not entirely clear why she was transferred out of the possum prison, but it may have had something to do with a visit paid to her in July by Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, who was previously Trump’s personal defense attorney. What did the pair talk about? I’m so glad you asked! In the interests of transparency, which the Trump administration is very keen on when it suits them, the chat between Blanche and Maxwell was recorded and released to the public. And, what do you know, Maxwell was emphatic that she “never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way”. She was moved from the Florida facility within days.

Ever since the transfer, which a prison consultant called “unprecedented”, there have been reports that Maxwell is being treated like a VIP. Earlier this month, for example, the Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin sent a letter to Trump noting that “the deference and servility to Ms. Maxwell [at FPC Bryan] have reached such preposterous levels that one of the top officials at the facility has complained that he is ‘sick of having to be Maxwell’s bitch’”.

Raskin’s letter also claims that “FPC Bryan Warden Hall, has heaped favorable concierge-style treatment on Ms. Maxwell since her bizarre arrival at the institution,” including special meals, access to technology, puppies to play with, and special use of the exercise facilities.

Emails written by Maxwell that were recently seen by the Atlantic further reinforce the idea that the disgraced socialite is having a relatively comfortable time behind bars. “The food is legions better [than at the facility in Florida], the place is clean, the staff responsive and polite,” Maxwell wrote in one email to her brother reviewed by the Atlantic. “I am much much happier.”

Well, good for you, Ghislaine. But the fact that the US seems to have a two-tiered legal system should make everyone else very unhappy indeed. This isn’t really about Maxwell: it’s about who our legal system protects and who it punishes.

Maxwell, it cannot be stressed enough, is no victim or unwitting accomplice. She came from a world of power and privilege and used her status to prey on vulnerable young girls. Maxwell hasn’t just been accused of procuring girls for Epstein to abuse; she’s been accused of actively participating in the abuse. In 2021, for example, a woman identified by the pseudonym “Jane” testified in Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial that she’d met the socialite when she was 14. At first Maxwell and Epstein made her feel special. Then, according to Jane, the abuse started, and Maxwell would occasionally join in.

The fact that she has been accused of serious crimes isn’t to say that Maxwell should be thrown into a dungeon and left to sustain herself on foraged possum. I strongly believe that all incarcerated people should be held in humane conditions and given a chance to rehabilitate themselves. Alas, that’s far from the case. While Maxwell apparently does pilates and plays with puppies, prisoners without the sort of connections she has are rotting away.

This is particularly true of women in the US, who are disproportionately locked up in jails rather than state prisons. According to a 2024 report by the Prison Policy Initiative, more than 60% of women in jails under local control haven’t been convicted of a crime yet and are awaiting trial. This, the Prison Policy Initiative posits, is because “incarcerated women, who have lower incomes than incarcerated men, have an even harder time affording money bail.” Local jails tend to offer fewer services and programs than prisons do and offer more limited communication options; it’s significantly more expensive to call people from jail than prison, for example.

The lesson from all this? If you’re going to be a criminal, make sure you’ve got a lot of money and the right connections. Worst case scenario you end up in a plush correctional facility with unlimited toilet paper. Best case scenario, you end up president of the US.

South Carolina fails (for now) to advance the most restrictive abortion bill in the US

The state currently has a six-week abortion ban with limited exceptions for rape, incest and the mother’s health. That’s not enough for some anti-abortion advocates, who recently advanced a bill that would repeal exceptions for the rape, incest and fetal anomalies and, as ABC News put it, “make abortion a felony comparable to ‘the homicide of a person born alive’”. The bill, which was discussed on Tuesday, also contained language which might be used to ban hormonal birth control and limit in vitro fertilization. While this particular bill has now stalled, expect more efforts to criminalize abortion.

Donald Trump told a female reporter: ‘Quiet, piggy’

Trump didn’t just lash out at the Bloomberg reporter. The president also lashed out at another female journalist after she asked Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (sometimes nicknamed Mohammed Bone Saw) about the brutal murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “These incidents are not isolated; they are part of an unmistakable pattern of hostility – often directed at women – that undermines the essential role of a free and independent press,” the Society of Professional Journalists said in a statement Wednesday. As Karen Attiah wrote for the Guardian, “the Saudification of America is under way”.

ICE employee arrested in sex-trafficking sting allegedly told police: ‘I’m ICE, boys’

This didn’t turn out to be the get-out-of-jail-free card he clearly hoped it might be. “Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up,” the police officer in charge said.

Rachel Maddow faces backlash for attending Dick Cheney’s funeral

The 46th US vice-president championed sweeping surveillance, advocated for the invasion of Iraq and defended “enhanced interrogation” techniques. He has a very bloody legacy and arguably helped pave the way for Trump. So it caused a few raised eyebrows when Rachel Maddow, the most influential host on MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), who has been very critical of Trump, paid her respects at his funeral.

Former Obama speechwriter is upset that people are siding with ‘weak’ Palestinians

“You have TikTok just smashing young people’s brains all day long with video of carnage in Gaza,” Sarah Hurwitz lamented in a video that has gone viral. Hurwitz added that Holocaust education has backfired because now young people are siding with “weak, skinny Palestinians”. This is a fascinating argument to make considering very little information is still coming out of the ruins of Gaza – which Israel continues to bomb while it displaces record numbers of Palestinians in the West Bank. Foreign journalists are still not allowed unfettered access to Gaza and members of the Israeli parliament recently voted to move forward with a bill that would allow the government to permanently shut down foreign media outlets if deemed a threat to national security. If Israel’s advocates truly believe that the far-right government is being portrayed in the wrong light, then demand independent investigations into alleged war crimes and free access to the press! Weird how this isn’t happening.

The week in pawtriarchy

A 57-year-old ramen chef in Japan recently fought off a bear using judo moves and then calmly went back to making broth – albeit with blood running down his face. A real life souper-hero.

• Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist