A British court has ruled that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could be extradited to the US, where he faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing top-secret diplomatic cables by Wikileaks
The High Court has overturned District Judge Vanessa Baraitzer’s January 4 ruling that the Wikileaks founder could not be extradited on grounds of mental health following a US appeal.
On 11 August 2021, the court allowed the US to widen the scope of its appeal, and on 27 and 28 October the court heard arguments from both sides.
Baraitzer said Assange could not cope with the harsh US prison system and was at risk of suicide if extradited.
But the High Court overturned that decision after the US gave assurances of Assange’s conditions in the detention centre.
Wikileaks quoted Assange’s fiancee on Twitter as calling the decision “a serious miscarriage of justice”.
A journalist who dared to go against the system is being murdered before our eyes.
But nobody cares.
The US assures Assange will receive “appropriate clinical and psychological treatment” at a US prison in Colorado.
“Florence ADMAX prison has been called the ‘Rocky Mountain Alcatraz’. The American super-prison houses some of the world’s most notorious criminals.”
The high security wing holds 422 inmates. Many of them will never be released.
The lifeless, dry, official name of this hellish structure in Colorado is the Maximum Security Correctional Facility in Florence. But it also has unofficial, shorter names: ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax and “Mountain Alcatraz”.
Prisoners in the high risk unit are kept in strict isolation and are only allowed out of their cells for one hour a day, during which time they are closely monitored. Those who try very hard to behave are allowed out for two hours.
Only the most exemplary have access to radio and simple black-and-white televisions, on which only certain approved TV channels are broadcast.
They spend all their time in their cells, and the days must be perceived as endlessly long and incredibly monotonous. This prison is not as densely populated as many others in the US, filled to capacity with criminals. Local inmates are allowed only minor contact with one another, which is what punishment is all about.
The cells are 3.5m by 2m. Most of the furnishings – a table, a bed and a chair without a backrest – are cast in concrete. Everything is fixed.
The prisoner has a washbasin, a toilet, a lamp, a mirror and a shower with a timer.
A window, ten centimetres wide, lets in some light, and the prisoner can only see the sky – the place he probably dreams of going to as soon as possible.
There is no canteen, and all meals are taken in the cell.
Those who are well-behaved are allowed out of their cell for a few hours a week, to wander around in the isolated yard or do some sports in the concrete room, which resembles an empty swimming pool.
The inhumane conditions drive many prisoners insane. Despite constant supervision, several prisoners have managed to commit suicide.
Many prisoners scream and climb the walls. Others cut themselves with razor blades, glass splinters, sharpened pens or even chicken bones.
Fantasy knows no bounds.
Some have swallowed razor blades, nail clippers, TV and radio components. Some prisoners talk to themselves or to the voices they hear in their heads. Some smear faeces on the walls or throw poo at the guards. Those who go on hunger strike are fed by force.
Most of those who arrive here have only one last glance over their shoulder before the prison doors close behind them forever.
There are many high-security institutions in the US. But ADX Florence is something special. In 2013, Mother Jones called ADX Florence the worst prison in the United States.
ADX Florence is a world-famous gallery of criminals that knows no equal…
Now there will be another celebrity in this hell, doomed to die a horrible death…
Yulia Vityazeva