Ghislaine Maxwell will ask to serve sex trafficking sentence in British prison

Ghislaine Maxwell will ask to serve her sex trafficking sentence in a British prison, sources have revealed.

The former socialite, and the daughter of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell, faces up to 55 years in jail after being convicted of procuring young girls for the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

She will be sentenced in New York on June 28.

Maxwell, 60, then plans to make a formal application to the US authorities to be transferred back to the UK for the bulk of her jail term.

Under US law, she must spend the first three years in an American prison, but can then apply to return to the UK to be closer to her family.

Maxwell’s brother Ian, 66, told The Telegraph: “She is going to be sentenced and obviously we are going to challenge the conviction on appeal.

“We are going to see what the sentence is. Inevitably, we want her to serve the sentence here in the UK. You can’t visit if she’s in the US.

“There is a programme where overseas nationals can serve their time in the country of their nationality. There are precedents.”

The family has said British prisons are “far superior” to those in the US and treat prisoners more humanely. They branded the American system “a disgrace.”

Maxwell has already spent almost two years in custody since her arrest in July 2020 and until recently, was kept in solitary confinement at the maximum-­security Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn because officials feared she would kill herself before her trial.

Last month, she was moved into an area with 40 other inmates and is now allowed social visits.

However, Mr Maxwell revealed that he had been prevented from visiting her last week after the prison went into lockdown following a fight. It remained in lock­down this weekend.

He had made a 3,000-mile trip for the arranged visit but was turned away following an incident in the male wing of the jail.

It would have been Maxwell’s second visit since being convicted in December of grooming and procuring underage girls for Epstein, the billionaire financier who was found hanged in his prison cell a year before Maxwell was arrested.

The family believes Maxwell has been kept in “inhumane” conditions with inadequate food.

'It is inhuman'

Whilst awaiting trial, her living conditions were said to have "weakened" her "physically and psychologically", placing her in a "seriously imbalanced position" to defend herself against the charges.

She was kept in isolation in a cell measuring 9ft by 7ft and was "awakened constantly at night" during more than 500 days of detention.

Maxwell has previously described spending her days in confinement surrounded by vermin and under the constant gaze of prison guards.

Mr Maxwell added: “In two years this girl [Maxwell] has had one family visit. It is unreal. It is really horrible.

"It is inhuman. For me it's just tiring. I flew 6,000 miles for no reason. But for her it's just terrible."