A whistleblower who came forward to House Democrats alleging convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell received preferential treatment at a federal prison camp in Texas says she was not motivated by politics.
Instead, “this was about common human decency and doing what’s right for all inmates,” Noella Turnage, a nurse who worked at Federal Prison Camp Bryan since 2019 until she was fired last week, told NBC News on Monday.
She added that when even one inmate is wrongly retaliated against, “and influence gets another one protected, somebody had to say something.”
Maxwell’s time at FPC Bryan, an all-women’s minimum-security facility, has come under scrutiny since her transfer there in early August from a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida. Her relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has become a focal point as Democrats and some Republicans renew their push to compel the Justice Department to make all investigative files surrounding Epstein’s case public.
Turnage said she was not driven by public outrage surrounding Epstein, Maxwell or any other public figures, but acted because she felt “failed by the institution” when colleagues and others have spoken out about alleged leadership misconduct and retaliation.
She said the federal Bureau of Prisons fired her on Nov. 10. The decision came a day after the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, wrote a letter to President Donald Trump saying they had received information from a “whistleblower” indicating Maxwell was working on filing a “commutation application” and receiving special treatment not typically afforded to inmates at Bryan. The information obtained by the House Judiciary Committee included email correspondence that Maxwell sent during her first few months at the prison camp.
Leah Saffian, an attorney for Maxwell, said Friday that employees at FPC Bryan lost their jobs in light of Maxwell’s emails being shared.
There have been employees “terminated for improper, unauthorized access to the email system used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to allow inmates to communicate with the outside world,” Saffian said in a statement.
NBC News previously reviewed Maxwell’s emails which indicated she was “happier” with her move to a facility that was cleaner and where staff were friendly.
Maxwell’s emails also suggested she had direct access to Bryan’s warden, Tanisha Hall, for help, including arranging visits and communicating with her lawyers — actions that are highly unusual, other attorneys with clients at the prison say.
The BOP and Hall did not respond to requests for comment about employees terminated in connection with Maxwell.
Turnage said she was in contact with the House Judiciary Committee after Raskin wrote a letter to Hall on Oct. 30 asking about Maxwell’s perceived “VIP treatment.”
In that letter, Raskin said he was alarmed by news reports that the prison was giving special accommodations to Maxwell’s visitors and other alleged perks, such as meals sent to her dormitory room, late-night workouts and the ability to shower after other inmates were already in bed for the night.
His inquiry also raised other accusations made by inmates that they have been threatened with retaliation if they speak about Maxwell to the media. At least two inmates have been transferred out of Bryan after doing so, according to media reports that reviewed BOP records. NBC News has not confirmed the reason for the transfers.
Turnage and another former Bryan employee, Ashley Anderson, said they spoke with House Democratic committee staff about allegations that BOP policy has been repeatedly violated and retaliation exists against those who report wrongdoing.
Anderson, who had been a senior specialist officer at Bryan for a decade before she was terminated in August, said that she has tried to speak out in support of inmates who’ve reported alleged abuse but that there remain “flaws in a system that often lacks transparency, accountability, and fairness.”
Saffian has called the release of Maxwell’s emails “improper” and denied that a pardon application had been made to the Trump administration. She also said she would be filing a habeas petition with the Southern District of New York to challenge Maxwell’s 20-year prison sentence for recruiting minors to be sexually abused by Epstein.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell’s transfer to FPC Bryan in early August came days after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July. At that meeting, Maxwell told Blanche she never witnessed any inappropriate conduct by Trump or any other prominent figures associated with Epstein’s orbit, according to a transcript. Trump, whose name appeared in the unsealed records as a friend of Epstein’s before they had a falling out, has not been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing.
Trump initially supported the release of documents related to Epstein before sparring with Democrats and some members of his own party, saying not all files should be made public.
Last week, thousands of emails from the Epstein estate were released by the House Oversight Committee, including many that referenced Trump. On Sunday, Trump unexpectedly changed his stance on the issue, writing on his Truth Social account that House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files “because we have nothing to hide.”
Turnage and Anderson said in a further statement that speaking to members of Congress about their time at Bryan was not about swaying the political narratives in the larger Epstein saga.
“This was about truth, and nothing else,” they said. “It was about telling the truth about how both staff and inmates were treated.”