AOC urges authorities to avoid Epstein failures and ensure Ghislaine Maxwell’s safety in prison
British socialite arrested on multiple counts of sex exploitation and abuse of minor girls
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US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has insisted that police ensure the safety of Ghislaine Maxwell in light of the suicide of Jeffery Epstein last year.
Ms Maxwell, a British socialite, and confidante of disgraced financier Epstein, was charged by the FBI on Thursday with multiple counts of sex exploitation and abuse of minor girls.
Epstein killed himself while in Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York City last year while awaiting trial on charges of sex-trafficking.
“Maxwell’s arrest is a significant development,” AOC tweeted.
“I hope the SDNY and all relevant parties have conducted an extensive review of the failures of Epstein’s custody to ensure Maxwell’s safety as this case bears out.”
Epstein's suicide provoked a demand for explanations on how such a high profile prisoner was able to commit suicide while under supervision at one of the most secure jails in the country.
“How on earth is he not under special protection? What's really going on here? I think that's a question that we must get a full answer to,” New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said at the time.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse said in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that the Department of Justice had “failed” by not keeping him alive.
“The Department of Justice failed, and today Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirators think they might have just gotten one last sweetheart deal,” Mr Sasse said.
“Every single person in the Justice Department - from your Main Justice headquarters staff all the way to the night-shift jailer - knew that this man was a suicide risk, and that his dark secrets couldn't be allowed to die with him,” he added.
The FBI has since opened a formal investigation into how Epstein was able to apparently kill himself.
With Ms Maxwell being charged just over a month from the anniversary of Epstein’s 10 August death, Rep Ocasio-Cortez urged police not to make the same mistakes this time around and protect her from harm to ensure that the case can be followed through.
Ms Maxwell, who has kept a low-profile since 2016, was arrested in New Hampshire on Epstein-related charges.
The indictment against her, passed up by a grand jury in Manhattan, stated that she “assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse the victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18.”
In a pre-trial hearing in July, Maxwell pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was denied bail.
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