Inmates screamed at and punished for speaking out at Maxwell's cushy prison treatment: CNN

Inmates at a Texas federal prison were punished for speaking to reporters about Ghislaine Maxwell — including one who says the warden told her she had "ruined her weekend," according to a new CNN investigation.

Julie Howell, a former inmate at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, told CNN she was transferred to a higher-security federal detention center in Houston later that day after sharing her views about Maxwell's arrival at the minimum-security camp with a British reporter last August. Howell, who had recently begun serving a one-year sentence for financial crimes, said she consulted the prison handbook before speaking to the press and believed she was within her rights to do so.

After the story was published, Howell said warden Tanisha Hall came to see her.

"She came in and asked what I was thinking, said that her phone was blowing up all weekend; I ruined her weekend; I shouldn't have talked to them," Howell told CNN.

A second inmate, who spoke to CNN anonymously, said she was similarly shipped to Houston after speaking to a reporter about Maxwell even though she had been careful not to criticize her. That inmate said the warden screamed at her in front of the cafeteria.

"I was diverted to listen to the warden scream at me in front of the main cafeteria area," this inmate said. "I told her I wasn't sharing her business, I was speaking on my behalf. And she just basically berated me there and told me that I was jeopardizing the safety of her staff and interfering with an FBI investigation, of which I knew nothing about."

Maxwell's transfer to the minimum-security camp was itself highly unusual, as convicted sex offenders are not typically eligible for such facilities. Maxwell has since gushed about her special treatment there, calling her privileges "fantastic." One prison consultant called the transfer "the most unusual case ever, period."