"She has hundreds, maybe thousands pages that she has written in jail," Driscoll said.
The US authorities arrested Butina in mid-2018 and sentenced her to 18 months in prison. She is scheduled to be released on 25 October. Butina signed a plea agreement after being held in solitary confinement for a prolonged period of time and requested a sentence of time served.
Driscol said Butina handwrote the texts in Russian and may eventually produce a book.
"If I would find the time, I would do it because it is very interesting," he said.
Driscoll said he is unaware of Butina’s plans after being released from prison and returning to Russia.
"When she was in the jail in Alexandria, Virginia, she was exploring studying at the monastery and teaching," he said.
Speaking about Butina's prison conditions in Tallahassee, Florida, Driscoll said they were better than in Alexandria, Virginia. He said Maria was running 5 miles a day, and worked in cafeteria, serving food and cleaning up.
She also was able to talk to her parents and friends through videoconference and listen to music on a CD-player, the lawyer added.
"She looked much better when I saw her in Tallahassee than she did in Alexandria," Driscoll said.
The attorney said he had advised Butina not to make any decisions about her future yet, but enjoy home-made food, sleep and relax for a while once she returns to Russia, and then decide what to do.
Butina was arrested in mid-2018 and sentenced to 18 months in prison last April on a single charge of conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent in the US.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has called Butina's sentence a disgrace of the US judicial system and has accused the court of carrying out a political order. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Butina’s indictment is unjustified because she was not tasked to perform any mission on behalf of the Russian government.
