Whistleblower Describes Maxwell In Prison
Ghislaine Maxwell received preferential treatment while incarcerated at a federal prison in Texas, according to a former nurse at the facility. Noella Turnage, who has worked for the Bureau of Prisons since 2019, identified herself Monday as the whistleblower who previously provided some of Maxwell’s correspondence to members of the House Judiciary Committee, Newsweek reported.
“I actually emailed them from work, from my Bureau of Prisons email address, and said, ‘Hey, this is who I am, this is where I work, and I have some things I think you might be interested in, and documents you may be interested in,’” Turnage told KBTX. “I didn’t even specify what it was.”
A staff member for Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, responded to Turnage within 30 minutes, she said. The 46-year-old added that she has since participated in multiple follow-up calls regarding her disclosures.
“I have not shared them with anyone other than the committee,” Turnage said of Maxwell’s emails, some of which she showed to a reporter this week, KBTX reported.
Over the summer, Maxwell confirmed to the Department of Justice during a series of sit-down meetings that she did not witness Donald Trump exhibit inappropriate behavior on the occasions that she met him.
Maxwell had met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for a total of nine hours late last month. According to her attorney, she had been forthright during questioning and did not “plead the fifth.”
According to ABC News’ sources, Maxwell reportedly said that Trump had “never done anything in her presence that would have caused concern.”
As for Turnage, she said she provided Maxwell’s correspondence after facing retaliation from Bureau of Prisons officials for reporting what she described as poor working conditions and the alleged mistreatment of inmates at Federal Prison Camp Bryan.
She said her complaints resulted in her reassignment to the facility’s “phone room,” where her responsibilities included monitoring inmate telephone calls and emails, Newsweek noted.
“They call it prison jail,” Turnage told KBTX. “I would be looking for any evidence that they’re doing something they shouldn’t be. Like, are they trying to smuggle in drugs? Are they doing this? Are they whatever? But these women aren’t risking that, not for the most part. And same as emails, you’re monitoring for anything they shouldn’t be doing. Usually on the phone, the biggest thing you run into is they’ll call a family member who then conference calls somebody else that they’re not supposed to be talking to.”
Turnage said that Tanisha Hall, the warden of the federal prison, personally handled all incoming mail addressed to Maxwell.
Maxwell — who is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s international sex-trafficking operation — also received “private, catered-style visitation arrangements” at the minimum-security facility, according to KBTX.
There was the whole thing about closing down the compound for her to have a visit,” Turnage told the outlet.
Maxwell’s relatives were permitted to attend private meetings, often disguised as legal consultations, claims Turnage.
“I guess maybe they can bring everybody and say it’s a legal visit?” she continued. “I don’t know, but they’re going to have an area cornered off for you, so it won’t be a problem coming in. They’re going to provide drinks, coffee, snacks, and all this stuff.”
Some of Ghislaine Maxwell’s outgoing correspondence appeared “coded,” with irregular spacing and formatting that differed from messages sent by other inmates, according to Turnage.
The veteran Bureau of Prisons (BOP) employee printed some of Maxwell’s messages and examined them at home. After noticing a Wall Street Journal report in early October about the favorable treatment that Epstein’s former associate allegedly received at the federal prison, Turnage shared the emails with Raskin’s office.
Mexican National Charged
A Mexican citizen is being charged by the federal government with trying to bribe a U.S. Border Patrol agent after being caught illegally entering the U.S. again.
Records from the court show that on February 8, 2025, 29-year-old Samuel Mendoza-Torres was arrested with another person near the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station. Mendoza-Torres is said to have asked the agent, “Can we fix this?” and offered $400 to get him out of jail while he was being taken to the station.
Mendoza-Torres admitted to helping illegal immigrants come to the U.S. from Mexico during an interview after he was arrested. He also said that he knew it was against the law to give money to the Border Patrol agent.
Mendoza-Torres will stay in jail until his trial, which has not yet been scheduled. Mendoza-Torres could spend 20 years in prison if found guilty of the current charges, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.
Uballez, Raul Bujanda, who is Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, and Chief Patrol Agent Walter “Neil” Slosar of the U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector.
This case is being looked into by the U.S. Border Patrol and the Las Cruces Resident Agency of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Trump administration has been busy lately with major arrests.
A man from Katy, Texas, was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a federal court in Del Rio for one count of assaulting, resisting, or getting in the way of police officers or employees.
“According to court documents, Kevin Dominguez, 26, drove a sedan to the U.S. Border Patrol immigration checkpoint, located on U.S. Highway 57, on Aug. 1, 2023. A USBP canine alerted the agents to the trunk, revealing an individual inside. Upon the USBP agent noticing the individual, Dominguez backed up and struck the agent with the vehicle before fleeing the checkpoint,” the FBI announced in a press release.
“A high-speed chase ensued and a USBP helicopter observed two occupants exit the vehicle into an open field. One of the individuals was located and confirmed to be an undocumented noncitizen from Honduras. Dominguez was indicted in a two-count indictment on Sept. 13, 2023, and was arrested on Sept. 14. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 24, 2024,” the press release added.
Separately, the FBI also announced that four people were arrested in El Paso, Texas, on criminal charges related to their alleged roles in a plot to smuggle people across the border.
Official court records say that agents from the Ysleta Border Patrol Station’s Disrupt Unit were watching a motel in El Paso when they saw a car with a temporary license plate. The vehicle had already been seen at several hotels that were known to house undocumented foreigners. According to court documents, the driver of the car briefly went into the motel lobby before getting back in and driving off.
Soon after, the agents supposedly saw three people carefully leaving one of the motel rooms and getting into a different car with a temporary license plate. Yair Alejandro Aguilar-Flores, the driver of the car, is said to have admitted that he is from Mexico and is living in the US illegally.
Angel Eduardo Carrillo-Carrillo and Jorge Alfredo Lopez-Acevedo, the two people who were with him, were also arrested because they were also caught illegally in the U.S. They also admitted that there were more undocumented foreigners in the motel room.
After looking into it, the agents found seven more undocumented foreigners. They all were arrested. As the police were wrapping up their investigation, they saw the driver of the first car going back to the motel. He walked up to the room where the migrants were being held and knocked on the door.
Jesus David Reyes-Villagran allegedly told the police that the motel room was his and that he was coming back from dropping off five other undocumented foreigners at another El Paso hotel.
It is the job of Aguilar-Flores, Carrillo-Carrillo, Lopez-Acevedo, and Reyes-Villagran to bring aliens in and move them around. They could each spend up to 10 years in prison if found guilty
The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors will be used by a federal district court judge to decide on any sentence.
Federal officials also arrested a Honduran citizen who had been deported and convicted of crimes before being taken into federal custody in Austin on criminal charges related to his alleged illegal re-entry.Court records show that Melvin Armando Funes-Canales was found in the Williamson County jail on or around July 16, 2024.
He had been there because he was suspected of having a controlled substance. After looking into it, Funes-Canales had been sent back to Honduras from the U.S. on or around October 9, 2020, and had also been sent back five other times.
Funes-Canales has also been found guilty of burglary, grand theft, and illegal re-entry in the past.
The charge against Funes-Canales is illegal re-entry. Funes-Canales could spend up to 10 years in prison if he is found guilty.
