Ghislaine Maxwell has been banned from playing with puppies at the soft-touch prison she was transferred to last week.

The British socialite and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein was quietly moved from a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to a less stringent minimum-security facility in Bryan, Texas.

Described as a “luxury” jail by Epstein’s victims, Federal Prison Camp (FCP) Bryan allows inmates to play with puppies under a partnership with Canine Companions for Independence to train service animals.

The programme, which involves prisoners playing with puppies throughout the day and even sleeping with them in their cells, is said to “boost the inmates’ morale, provide them with a sense of responsibility and improve overall behaviour”, according to the charity’s website.

However, Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking underage girls for Epstein, is prohibited from joining the programme owing to the nature of her crimes.

“Maxwell will never be allowed [to] raise or train a Canine Companions service dog puppy,” a spokesman for the programme told The Telegraph. “Our prison programme policy includes requirements for eligibility, many of which involve the individual’s conviction.

“None of our incarcerated volunteers have been convicted of a crime involving children, animals, or of a sexual nature.”

FCP Bryan, located 100 miles outside of Houston, is home to 635 inmates, according to the prison’s website. Most of its intake is serving time for non-violent offences and white-collar crimes.