Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is taking a literacy test as she looks to land a 99p-an-hour job ($1.12) working in a prison call centre. If she passes the test, the former accomplice of disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein will spend part of her 20-year sentence selling cut-price internet, TV and phone services for a telecommunications company.
The Oxford graduate, 61, is imprisoned at Florida’ low security FCI Tallahassee prison after being convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021.
She will earn roughly three times more than in her current role in the jail’s library, but the money will barely make a dent in the £644,000 ($797,000) fine imposed by her trial judge.
A prison insider told the Mirror: “Many of the girls work in the call centre. Customers would never know they are talking to a drug dealer, armed robber, killer or in Ghislaine’s case, a sex trafficker.
“The girls have been joking if she does move jobs, callers will think they’ve called Buckingham Palace with her posh accent.
“Being on the phones allows the girls contact with the outside world. Some find it a lifeline.”
It comes after reports claim the former socialite holds twice-weekly etiquette lessons for her fellow inmates.
A flyer, pinned up inside the prison promoting the course, reportedly says: “Taught by Mrs Maxwell, this course teaches the three principles of etiquette – focusing on respect, consideration and honesty.”
They told Daily Mail: “It’s less about balancing books on heads and being ladylike, and more about having confidence in yourself – how to behave and talk in a professional manner, the secrets of success in the corporate world, that sort of thing.”
READ MORE: Jailed Ghislaine Maxwell hosting ‘etiquette’ classes for inmates
Insiders also claim the convicted sex trafficker – who procured young girls for her ex-lover Jeffrey Epstein with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity – hosts yoga class inside the prison.
Maxwell’s potential new career as a prison call centre worker is a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle and career she once knew.
Before being locked up behind bars, Maxwell enjoyed a lucrative career as the director of Oxford United football club.
She also founded a private members’ club for women, was a director at Jemma Kidd’s make-up company, and had her own consulting business and a charity called Terramar.
Maxwell was convicted of five charges in December 2021 for recruiting victims for Epstein, her boyfriend, between 1994 and 2004 following a month-long trial.
In a New York court, she was found guilty of sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts
Maxwell expressed remorse following her conviction, publicly telling her victims: “I hope my conviction and harsh incarceration brings you closure.”
However, she has since appealed her conviction and sentence, with her spokesperson saying: “Her spirits are holding up well as you might expect of an innocent woman.”
Maxwell is expected to appear in a television interview on Monday night, in which she talks with broadcaster Jeremy Kyle from her prison cell.
