Ghislaine Maxwell, identified as prisoner 02879-509, was guided out of cell-block unit ‘B’ under the burden of heavy iron chains around her waist and ankles, with her bruised and bleeding wrists restrained by painful ‘box’ handcuffs.

Since her conviction in 2021 on child sex-trafficking charges, Maxwell has been held in the harsh environment of Tallahassee Federal Prison, where she faced the taunts of “Paedo!” and “Molester” from the general jail population as she was paraded past them.

On Thursday morning, the 63-year-old emerged from the prison for the first time in four years, transported a short distance to Tallahassee Federal Courthouse for what she recognized could be a pivotal meeting of her life.

For the first time she would be telling her story to the US Government.

Today, The Mail on Sunday can give an extraordinary and detailed insight into the negotiations, which took place over nine hours on Thursday and Friday, as Maxwell, dressed in prison khakis and a brown T-shirt, was grilled by US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Blanche – who was Donald Trump’s personal lawyer before being appointed one of America’s most powerful lawmakers – flew down to Florida from Washington DC ‘on the spur of the moment’ late on Wednesday night.

The Epstein crisis has engulfed the Trump presidency and dominated global headlines at a time when the President would prefer to focus on his achievements during the first six months of his second term in office.

A source familiar with the events of the past few days said: ‘Todd is a great guy, a fantastic lawyer and knows the President as well as anyone. He wanted to go and see Ghislaine as soon as possible to hear what she had to say.

‘This is the first time, in all the years the Epstein case has been going on, that anyone from the Government has asked to speak to her directly. Todd is the one who will talk to the President, and he is planning to do that once the President returns from Scotland.’

Maxwell is thought to have signed a one-and-a-half page ‘proffer immunity’ agreement which allowed her to speak freely. But she could be prosecuted if it is found that she lied to Blanche, who bombarded her with ‘hundreds’ of questions during six hours on Thursday and another three hours on Friday morning.

Events unfolded in a nondescript 10ft by 20ft conference room on the courthouse’s fourth floor.

The facility was arranged by John ‘Jack’ Heekin, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, described as ‘a Southern gentleman’ by someone familiar with the arrangements. The two sides sat opposite each other across a 12ft-long polished wooden conference table.

On one side sat Blanche, who will report to President Trump this week, senior FBI agent Spencer Horn, who took detailed notes, and Diego Pestana, Acting Associate Deputy Attorney General. Opposite sat Maxwell with her lawyers David Oscar Markus, Leah Saffian and Melissa Madrigal.

Coffee and sandwiches were on offer but Maxwell gravitated towards a bowl piled high with fresh fruit. She has repeatedly complained about the ‘brutal and inhumane’ conditions inside jail.

A recent Bureau of Prisons report condemned Tallahassee for having rat droppings in food, using feminine sanitary products to fix leaks in the roof, having mould in the kitchen and an air-conditioning system which rarely works, despite Florida’s year-round high temperatures.

Maxwell has told family members that she is fearful for her life, with her brother Ian saying: ‘She has a target on her back.’

A source said: ‘Ghislaine has not eaten proper food since she has been there. The fruit bowl was what she gravitated towards. She had watermelon for the first time in years.

‘In jail the fruit is always mouldy and the food is mostly inedible.’ 

On Friday, the gathering had Chick-fil-A, a hugely popular US fast-food chain founded by devout Christian S. Truett Cathy, who insisted his restaurants remain closed on a Sunday. Maxwell’s testimony was clear and concise. She answered every question in what was a formal, professional and unprecedented meeting.

Some have criticised this week’s interview saying it is ‘highly unusual’ for the Deputy Attorney General to meet a convicted prisoner without having at least one of the lawyers involved in the conviction in the room.

Trump fired Maurene Comey, the lead prosecutor on Maxwell’s case, and none of the original team from the Southern District of New York’s attorney’s office remains in their jobs.

Blanche, who Trump last week called ‘a great attorney’, came prepared with a long list of questions containing more than 100 names, including Prince Andrew’s.

‘It was comprehensive and it was long,’ said a source familiar with the proceedings.

Maxwell’s lawyer David Markus said outside the courtroom on Friday: ‘Ghislaine was asked maybe about 100 different people.

‘She answered questions about everybody and she didn’t hold anything back. They asked about every single, every possible thing you could imagine –everything. No person and no topic were off-limits.

‘We are very grateful. The truth will come out.’

Asked about possible clemency from Trump, Markus replied: ‘I am not going to comment on what we’re hoping for.

‘We haven’t spoken to the President or anybody about a pardon just yet. The President this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way.’

It is likely Maxwell will soon be moved from Tallahassee to another jail, possibly Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia, a minimum-security women’s jail also known as ‘Camp Cupcake’.

Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart served a five-month sentence for insider trading there in 2004.

A source told the MoS: ‘They cannot keep her safe in Tallahassee. At the moment she is with 140 prisoners. It is a dorm-style room with prisoners in pods of four, separated by a little 4ft pony wall. ‘There is safety in numbers and she likes many of the women in her unit. But there are fears they might throw her in solitary confinement and then anything could happen because there is no one around. Look what happened to Epstein.’

The 66-year-old financier killed himself while he was alone in his jail cell awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges in 2019. However, many – including his brother Mark – remain convinced that he was murdered.

Blanche has said he will release details of the meetings with Maxwell ‘when the time is right’.

For now, she remains in Tallahassee Federal Prison, working on her legal cases in the library.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide if it will agree to hear her appeal by the start of October. She also has the right to a habeas corpus appeal which she has not yet filed.

The source added: ‘She has yet to exhaust all her legal options. Was the meeting welcome? Of course it was.

‘Ghislaine is relieved that someone from the Government finally wants to hear what she has to say.

‘She has been in a hell-hole of a prison for five years. Now there is very real hope that things may be happening to get her out of there.’

Critics of the meeting, including many of Epstein’s victims, have called it an outrage.

Annie Farmer, who testified against Maxwell at her trial, questioned why she was meeting with the US Deputy Attorney General in the first place.

‘It’s very disappointing that these things are happening behind closed doors without any input from the people that the Government asked to come forward and speak against her in order to put her away,’ Ms Farmer said.

‘There were so many young girls and women that were harmed by her.’