NEW YORK _ A judge rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's request that she be transferred to the general population of a Brooklyn federal jail, ruling Tuesday that the accused madam for Jeffrey Epstein was justifiably under special surveillance.
Maxwell, 58, had said earlier this month that she's monitored around the clock by staff at the Metropolitan Detention Center on the Sunset Park waterfront and subjected to "uniquely onerous conditions." She had asked Manhattan Federal Judge Alison Nathan to order the Bureau of Prisons to remove her from isolation.
But the judge wrote she would not second-guess jail officials.
"The Court credits BOP's duty to ensure the safety and security of the Defendant as justifying the measures BOP has adopted," Nathan wrote.
"The Defendant has provided the Court with no evidence, and no reason to believe, that the surveillance measures are motivated by improper purposes."
The feds previously said that Maxwell was held separately from other inmates for the "safety, security, and the orderly functioning of the facility."
Nathan also rejected a request from Maxwell's defense team to order the government to reveal the names of victims in her case. Maxwell's lawyers said they were at an unfair disadvantage because the feds have not yet disclosed the identities of the British socialite's three alleged underage victims in the mid-1990s.
Nathan wrote that the request was "premature."
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to grooming girls for Epstein's sexual abuse. She's also accused of lying under oath.
The New York Daily News previously reported that Maxwell is held alone on a floor of MDC, separated from other female inmates. Sources said she's routinely moved to different cells to prevent her from stashing contraband. She reportedly has been outfitted with paper clothes to reduce the risk of suicide.
Maxwell has argued that jail officials are going overboard to prevent her from committing suicide behind bars, as Epstein did last year.
