WikiLeaks founder Assange would be sent to America's most notorious prison if extradited

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange currently faces the prospects of going to one of the most notorious prisons in the United States, the Colorado Supermax jail. As per reports, Assange may end up at Colorado Supermax jail if he is convicted on espionage charges and deported back to the United States.

Colorado's supermax prison a 'fate worse than death'

According to reports, Assange’s legal team has claimed that he is entitled to First Amendment protections for the documents that Wikileaks released and in the process exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. His defence team has also stated that he is suffering from a wide range of mental health issues like suicidal thoughts and these issues could be greatly exasperated if he is sent to the US.

Maureen Baird, a former warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York has stated that if Assange is sent back to the US that he will most likely face the worst prison conditions in the US and that these conditions can lead to negative mental health issues like anxiety and paranoia. Baird has also stated, “From my experience, of close to three decades of working in federal prisons, I would agree that long term isolation can have serious negative effects on an inmate’s mental health”. Baird has also claimed that the only way Assange could escape these conditions is if was ‘almost dying’.

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As per reports, a court at London's Old Bailey on Tuesday, September 29 also heard statements from a former warden at the prison, Robert Hood. Hood claimed that being incarcerated in that prison was a “fate worse than death” and that the prison was not built for humanity. Lawyers representing the US government has on the other hand argued that Assange’s condition is not as bad as described by his lawyers. Assange’s extradition hearing which decided if he is to be sent to the United States has been delayed to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic but is due to end this week. Assange has been indicted in the US on 17 charges of espionage, and if sent back to the US he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

(With AP inputs, Image: AP)

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