Ghislaine Maxwell, accused of enabling financier Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuses, has endured jail conditions comparable to Hannibal Lecter's in 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, her lawyer said in a court filing today.
The lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, offered the assessment as she renewed Ms Maxwell's request for bail ahead of her 29 November trial.
She called the British socialite's 16 months at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn "reprehensible and utterly inappropriate for a woman on the cusp of turning 60 with no criminal record or history of violence.
"The surveillance rivals scenes of Dr Hannibal Lecter's incarceration," Ms Sternheim wrote, "despite the absence of the cage and plastic face guard."
Lecter is a fictional serial killer who eats his victims. Anthony Hopkins secured an Oscar for portraying him in The Silence of the Lambs - the movie won a further four Academy Awards.
The office of US Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan, which is prosecuting Maxwell, declined to comment.
Ms Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and other charges for helping recruit and groom underage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.
She likely faces an uphill battle for bail given that US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan, who oversees her case, has rejected it three times, calling her a "significant risk of flight".
A federal appeals court has also rejected bail.
Epstein died aged 66 in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, in what a medical examiner called a suicide.
Prospective jurors will tomorrow begin filling out questionnaires to assess whether they can fairly judge Ghislaine Maxwell, who faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted.
Her trial may last about six weeks.
