Fact Check: Bureau Of Prisons Inmate Search DID Say Ghislaine Maxwell Was 'Not In BOP Custody' On August 1, 2025 -- But Only Temporarily

Fact Check

  • by: Alan Duke
Fact Check: Bureau Of Prisons Inmate Search DID Say Ghislaine Maxwell Was 'Not In BOP Custody' On August 1, 2025 -- But Only Temporarily Real Image

Did the Federal Bureau of Prisons' inmate search database say that Ghislaine Maxwell was "Not in BOP custody" on Friday, August 1, 2025? Yes, that's true: A search for Maxwell by Lead Stories at 2 p.m. EDT showed a page that indicated she was not in the custody of the federal prison system. A statement from the BOP to Lead Stories a few minutes later said Maxwell was in their custody at its prison in Byron, Texas. The database was set to be updated at midnight, the spokesman said. News reports earlier said she had been moved there from a federal prison in Florida.

The claim that the BOP website indicated Maxwell was released appeared in a post (archived here) shared by the @IamCassandraEsq account on X on August 1, 2025: The caption above the image of the BOP search result read:

Trump officials say Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved from Jacksonville to Federal Prison Camp Bryant in Texas, but BOP says otherwise. WHERE IS GHISLAINE?

This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:

Screenshot 2025-08-01 111823.png

(Image source: Screenshot of August 1, 2025, post by x.com/IamCassandraEsq)

When Lead Stories conducted the search of the Federal Inmate Search page, we confirmed the image was real:

Screenshot 2025-08-01 112203.png

(Image source: Screenshot of bop.gov by Lead Stories)

The Federal Bureau of Prisons' public affairs office quickly responded to Lead Stories' inquiry about Maxwell's status with this emailed statement:

We can confirm Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas.
You may check our website's locator here https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ for any future updates.
The locator function should update at midnight tonight to reflect this location.
To learn more about FPC Bryan, you may visit our public website here https://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/bry/.
Thank you,
Benjamin O'Cone

We will update this article after 12:01 a.m. EDT on August 2 when we check the inmate database to verify whether Maxwell's status was indeed updated, as the spokesman indicated it would be.

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  Alan Duke

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

Read more about or contact Alan Duke

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