AP source: Feds feared Epstein confidante might kill herself
By MICHAEL BALSAMO
an hour ago
Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, center, speaks alongside William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, center right, and New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, right, during a news conference to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell for her alleged role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, July 2, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) —
Federal officials were so worried Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell might take her own life after her arrest that they took away her clothes and sheets and made her wear paper attire while in custody, an official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The steps to ensure Maxwell’s safety while she’s locked up at a federal jail in New York City extend far beyond the measures federal officials took when they first arrested her in New Hampshire last week.
The Justice Department has implemented additional safety protocols and federal officials, outside of the Bureau of Prisons, have been specifically tasked with ensuring there’s adequate protection and the prisons protocols are being followed, the official said. The protections are in case she harms herself, and in case other inmates wish to harm her.