WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) is demanding a formal explanation from the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) after Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, was moved to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas last week.

Ms. Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in child sex trafficking and abuse, was transferred just days after a suspicious two-day meeting with President Trump’s Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Before President Trump nominated Blanche to be his Deputy Attorney General, he had previously represented Trump as his personal lawyer.

Senator Reed has previously called Maxwell’s transfer “highly unusual,” and blasted the move saying: “Sexual predators shouldn’t be afforded preferential treatment.”

In a letter to BOP Director William Marshall, Reed said: “BOP has exclusive authority to place Federal inmates into prison at the appropriate security classification to reflect the seriousness of the crimes they have committed and to protect the public… A serious felon can be transferred to a minimum-security prison camp only after the personal approval by the Chief of the BOP’s Designation and Sentence Computation Center, who ultimately reports to you.”

Senator Reed noted that the minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas where Maxwell was moved is the least restrictive facility operated by BOP, reserved for non-violent first-time offenders or inmates who are at the tail end of longer sentences and are slated for release.

Reed says he is calling for answers because “Ms. Maxwell’s victims and the taxpayers are owed an explanation of why BOP undertook this highly unusual transfer of Ms. Maxwell, who was convicted in court of sexually abusing and trafficking children and is only three years in to a 20-year term.”

Senator Reed’s letter explained that the Trump Administration needs to come clean about the suspicious circumstances surrounding Maxwell’s transfer: “These circumstances raise serious questions of whether Ms. Maxwell is being given special treatment in exchange for providing favorable information. They also raise serious questions about whether BOP is being politically pressured into reclassifying a violent felon as a low security risk against all evidence, which seems to elevate protection of President Trump’s personal reputation above public safety.

Reed requested that the BOP Director provide all documents related to the justification of Maxwell’s transfer and a written explanation by August 20, 2025.

The full text of Senator Reed’s letter follows:

The Honorable William K. Marshall III, Director

Federal Bureau of Prisons

320 First Street NW

Washington, DC 20534

Dear Mr. Marshall:

I write to ask for the explanation behind convicted child trafficker, Ghislaine Maxwell’s, transfer to a minimum-security prison camp and whether the Federal Bureau of Prisons approved this transfer in response to a request from President Trump or any official in the Administration.

BOP has exclusive authority to place Federal inmates into a prison at the appropriate security classification to reflect the seriousness of the crimes they have committed and to protect the public. After Ms. Maxwell’s sentencing for child sexual abuse and trafficking in 2022, BOP placed her in a correctional institution in Florida consistent with BOP rules for violent sex offenders. But earlier this week, BOP transferred Ms. Maxwell to a prison camp in Texas. This is the least restrictive facility operated by BOP, reserved for non-violent first-time offenders or inmates who are at the tail end of longer sentences and are slated for release. A serious felon can be transferred to a minimum-security prison camp only after the personal approval by the Chief of the BOP’s Designation and Sentence Computation Center, who ultimately reports to you.

Ms. Maxwell’s victims and the taxpayers are owed an explanation of why BOP undertook this highly unusual transfer of Ms. Maxwell, who was convicted in court of sexually abusing and trafficking children and is only three years in to a 20-year term. Ms. Maxwell’s transfer occurred days after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed her in prison to have her clear President Trump for his own ties to Ms. Maxwell and her accomplice Jeffrey Epstein. These circumstances raise serious questions of whether Ms. Maxwell is being given special treatment in exchange for providing favorable information. They also raise serious questions about whether BOP is being politically pressured into reclassifying a violent felon as a low security risk against all evidence, which seems to elevate protection of President Trump’s personal reputation above public safety.

I request your written response, including any documents justifying Ms. Maxwell’s transfer, no later than August 20, 2025. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,