Within days of her arrival at a Texas prison camp in early August, Ghislaine Maxwell gushed in emails to her friends and family over the cleanliness and safety of her new surroundings.

“The institution is run in an orderly fashion which makes for a safer more comfortable environment for all people concerned, inmates and guards alike,” wrote Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting minors to be sexually abused by her longtime confidant, the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell’s unexpected move to the all-women’s Federal Prison Camp Bryan, which houses inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses and white-collar crimes in dormitory-style quarters, drew immediate condemnation from current and former federal Bureau of Prisons employees. They said it was very unusual for prisoners with sex offenses on their records to be incarcerated in such an unconstrained setting, indicating Maxwell was receiving preferential treatment.

Maxwell, 63, had been in a low-security federal correctional institution in Tallahassee, Florida, following her conviction in December 2021 on federal sex trafficking charges. FCI Tallahassee is more restrictive than a camp like FPC Bryan, where inmates have access to work programs, recreation and other activities and are often serving shorter sentences. Maxwell was moved days after meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July......

Maxwell’s emails indicate she’s able to access the warden for help, including arranging visits and communicating with her lawyers. In an email Maxwell sent to one of her attorneys in September, she noted that she spoke with the warden when she had a problem receiving documents by a deadline in her appeal before the Supreme Court......

Patrick McLain, a Dallas criminal defense attorney who has represented women at FPC Bryan, said it would be unusual for any warden to get involved with inmates’ cases and that “no way” would he expect Hall to give his clients at FPC Bryan the same personal attention as Maxwell described in the emails.