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The surveillance Ghislaine Maxwell faces at a federal lockup in Brooklyn is so intrusive that it’s similar to the incarceration Dr. Hannibal Lecter was subjected to in the horror film “The Silence of the Lambs,” her attorney wrote in a court filing Wednesday.
Maxwell’s attorney Bobbi Sternheim made the comparison in a final, last-ditch effort to get the accused sex trafficker sprung on bond before her trial begins at the end of November.
Maxwell continues to face sleep deprivation, sexual abuse, constant surveillance and other harassment carried out by guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Sternheim wrote in the motion for reconsideration for bond.
“The surveillance rivals scenes of Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s incarceration as portrayed in the movie, ‘Silence of the Lambs,’ despite the absence of the cage and plastic face guard,” Sternheim wrote.
“Ms. Maxwell is subject to numerous pat searches per day, despite being completely isolated, during which she alleges to have been touched in a sexually inappropriate manner by corrections officers on multiple occasions. She declines recreation time to avoid being searched, which has negatively impacted her physical health,” she added.
In one particularly humiliating instance, a shackled Maxwell was forced to crawl on her hands and knees into a van when being transported from the MDC to Manhattan federal court earlier this week.
“Her leg shackles and arm restraints prevented her from raising her feet to enter the van upright, requiring her to climb into the van on hands and knees,” Sternheim wrote.
Maxwell has repeatedly requested to be released on bail pending trial, with her lawyers arguing she is not a flight risk and has no criminal record.
Maxwell is accused of procuring underage girls for multimillionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to abuse from 1994 to 2004. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Jury selection in the trial is scheduled to begin Thursday as hundreds of prospective jurors will fill out questionnaires, the first step in the process of selecting a panel.
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