This week, a viral podcast clip claimed that Ghislaine Maxwell had been cleared for work release from federal prison. The “evidence?” A misunderstood Bureau of Prisons document and an out-of-context line that said “OUT.”
This “OUT” does NOT mean she’s literally outside of the prison. An “out custody” inmate simply means the person in custody does not require armed security, meaning they can be moved by unarmed officers. It does NOT mean they are allowed outside of the prison and certainly does not mean they have been cleared for work release.
Let me be clear:
Ghislaine Maxwell has not been cleared for work release. She is in full federal custody, serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking minors.
The document that sparked this misinformation doesn’t mean what people think it means. Someone without legal training read a prison classification line and assumed it meant she could leave for work assignments. That assumption spread like wildfire—amplified by a tweet saying, “If it’s true that Ghislaine Maxwell has been approved for work release, that is fucking insane. HER LAST JOB WAS TRAFFICKING CHILDREN.” It felt like breaking news.
It’s infuriating. And it’s wrong.
Here’s the reality:
Federal inmates convicted of violent or sexual offenses—especially those serving long sentences—are rarely eligible for work release. That privilege is generally reserved for low-risk people nearing the end of their sentence.
Maxwell doesn’t come close to qualifying.
Even Newsweek, one of the few legitimate outlets to address this directly, debunked it clearly:
"Maxwell has not been cleared for work release... Transfers between facilities have been for administrative or security reasons, not to grant her work privileges outside prison."
— Newsweek, August 2025
This matters.
When false claims about people like Ghislaine Maxwell go viral, it makes it harder to hold real power to account. It undermines legitimate critiques of injustice and enables the worst bad actors to claim every accusation is fake news.
I say this all the time, but: Misinformation helps the powerful.
So the next time a post like this goes viral, don’t amplify it.
Fact-check it.
And if you’re unsure, ask someone who actually works in the legal system.
Or better yet—follow one.
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