Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator and confidant, was moved to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas, prison officials said Friday.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in recruiting and trafficking minors for sex, was being held at a low-security facility in Tallahassee, Florida, that housed men and women.
The camp in Bryan, Texas, houses only women. A majority of its inmates are serving time for nonviolent offenses and white-collar crimes.
The move comes a week after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell and her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, for nine hours over two days.
Blanche has made no public statements about what Maxwell said or about next steps in the current Justice Department investigation into Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019.
But the meetings came amid public furor over a July 6 announcement from the DOJ and the FBI that a review of the Epstein case had found, contrary to conspiracy theories, "no incriminating 'client list'" and "no credible evidence" that Epstein had been blackmailing famous men, and that he did in fact kill himself.
That furor escalated when Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino did not report to work earlier this month as he considered resigning over the department's handling of the Epstein files.
The issue persisted leading up to Blanche's meeting with Maxwell and Markus, and is still dogging President Donald Trump, a former friend of both Epstein and Maxwell.
In a statement released after the news of Maxwell's being moved broke, the family of Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre, joined by Epstein and Maxwell accusers Annie and Maria Farmer, said, "It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received. Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency. Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas."
The statement went on to say, "The Trump administration should not credit a word Maxwell says, as the government itself sought charges against Maxwell for being a serial liar. This move smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better."
Other famous prisoners at the Texas camp
Markus confirmed to NBC News that Maxwell had been moved to a facility in Texas, but declined to comment further.
Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is housed in Bryan after she was convicted of defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars. So is "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star Jen Shah, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for running a telemarketing scheme that defrauded elderly people.
"We can confirm, Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas," the bureau said in a statement.
The BOP did not specify why she was transferred.
But according to the bureau's designation policy, Maxwell appears ineligible to be housed at a minimum-security prison camp because she is a convicted sex offender.
Sex offenders must be in at least a low-level security prison like FCI Tallahassee, unless she received a waiver.
Only the administrator of BOP's Designation and Sentence Computation Center can make that decision, according to the waiver policy.
Prison camp employees react to Maxwell
Federal Prison Camp Bryan houses about 635 female inmates, according to the BOP.
Two current employees who spoke with NBC News said inmates are not kept under strict watch and they are given freedoms within the camp because they are considered low-level security risks.
"What we mostly have are illegal transport of aliens, drug offenses, white-collar crimes, to give you the best idea of the so-called security level," said one employee, who asked not to be named for fear of job reprisal. "If they have a history of a sex offense or violent crime, they are not supposed to be there."
The employees described security as being generally lax: While there is chain-link fencing around the property, there is no security at the gate to stop people from getting on the grounds.
There are buildings on the property that house administrative offices, an area for processing new inmates and another with a chapel and indoor recreation.
Maxwell arrived overnight Friday, the employee said, and her appearance at the prison was immediately noted at the facility, where inmates and staff members were talking about her in the morning.
The employee said inmates at Bryan have "got a ton of freedom" as compared to other higher security prisons.
"You can't go into another inmate's room. You can't go into the other housing unit," the employee said. "But there's a huge sitting area right between the housing units. They can go out there. They can sit and talk. They can go out to the rec yard. They can go to hobby/crafts."
Another employee who asked not to be named said she was surprised to learn that Maxwell was sent to Bryan, given her sex offense charges and how high-profile she is within the system.
"We don't have that kind of security," the employee said. "It's not like ones at the penitentiary or medium [security]."
