{"id":199652,"date":"2021-11-22T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=199652"},"modified":"2021-11-18T06:04:39","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T06:04:39","slug":"revealed-the-shocking-conditions-at-belmarsh-prison-that-julian-assange-is-exposed-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/11\/revealed-the-shocking-conditions-at-belmarsh-prison-that-julian-assange-is-exposed-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Revealed, the Shocking Conditions at Belmarsh Prison That Julian Assange Is Exposed to"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Julian Assange \u00a9 REUTERS \/ Henry Nicholls; (inset) Stickers with an image of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are seen outside HMP Belmarsh prison, where Assange is held, in London, Britain, January 6, 2021.
\u00a9 REUTERS \/ Paul Childs<\/p><\/div>\n

17 Nov 2021 – <\/em>As Julian Assange waits to find out if he will be extradited to the US, a new report has painted a bleak picture of the London prison he is being held in, highlighting concerns over inmates\u2019 welfare in particular.<\/p>\n

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On 12 November, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons published an investigation on conditions in London\u2019s Belmarsh high security prison \u2013 dubbed\u00a0\u2018Britain\u2019s Gitmo\u2019<\/a> \u2013 which spells out in some detail the nightmarish environment WikiLeaks founder Assange has been forced to call home since his expulsion from the Ecuadorian Embassy in April 2019.<\/p>\n

The report was based on two \u201cunannounced inspections\u201d<\/em> conducted in July and August this year. Assange has\u00a0remained in Belmarsh since\u00a0Britain\u2019s rejection<\/a> of the US extradition case in January, which hinged on a psychological assessment\u00a0that found\u00a0his risk of committing suicide if sent to face trial in Washington \u2013 where he\u00a0could face up to 175 years in solitary confinement at a supermax jail \u2013 was \u201csubstantial.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Read more<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"French <\/picture> <\/a><\/div>\n

French politician wants asylum for Assange<\/span> <\/a><\/div>\n

Investigators found Belmarsh staff \u201chad not paid sufficient attention to the growing levels of self-harm,\u201d \u201cand there was not enough oversight or care taken of prisoners at risk of suicide,\u201d<\/em> meaning \u201curgent action needed to be taken\u201d<\/em> in order to ensure prisoners were kept safe. Since the Inspectorate\u2019s last visit in 2018, there had been four suicides, while recorded incidents of self-harm were four times higher. Figures for attempted suicides weren\u2019t cited, although internal probes into such incidents were said to be \u201cvery poor.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Prisoners judged to represent a self-harm or suicide risk were subject to welfare checks, but wider support for these individuals was said to be \u201climited,\u201d<\/em> while assistance provided through the\u00a0official<\/a> Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork process was \u201cweak,\u201d<\/em> with inspectors \u201cnot assured that prisoners subject to constant supervision were always kept safe,\u201d<\/em> no safeguarding processes in place, and the prison\u2019s internal\u00a0\u2018Safer Custody hotline\u2019<\/a> checked rarely by staff.<\/p>\n

The number of recorded incidents of self-harm had doubled due to Covid-19 restrictions, with 315 recorded incidents, involving 94 prisoners, in the 12 months to June 2021.\u00a0It\u2019s possible Assange is among this number \u2013 as Judge Baraitser\u2019s extradition ruling noted, he called the Samaritans, a UK charity helpline providing emotional support to those in emotional distress, struggling to cope, or at risk of suicide, on a \u201cvirtually\u201d<\/em> nightly basis, and when unable to reach them, slashed his thigh and abdomen to distract from his sense of isolation.<\/p>\n

The Inspectorate paints a disquieting picture of prison officers almost asleep at the wheel in respect of vulnerable inmates. \u201cMany staff\u201d <\/em>were said to have \u201croutinely failed to collect or turn on body-worn cameras,\u201d<\/em> over the course of the investigators\u2019 visit, and \u201cofficers who were supposed to be supervising the most vulnerable prisoners\u201d <\/em>were spotted \u201csitting reading the paper.\u201d<\/em> Moreover, only 50% of inmates hadn\u2019t experienced any victimisation by prison officers, and \u201csignificantly more prisoners than in similar prisons\u201d<\/em> had received verbal or physical abuse from staff.<\/p>\n

\"UK <\/picture> READ MORE: <\/b>UK caves, allows Assange to get married in jail<\/span> <\/a><\/div>\n

Inmates are also at enhanced risk of harm from other inmates. The Inspectorate recorded significantly heightened levels of violence since its last visit, despite Covid-19 restrictions limiting the time most prisoners were out of their cells. Data had been collected on violence and use of force, but it wasn\u2019t put to any tangible use, such as developing a strategy for reducing violence. There had been no formal strategic meeting to address violence for over 18 months.<\/p>\n

In all, 341 violent incidents had been recorded over the previous 12 months, a year-on-year increase of almost 70, most of the rise attributable to prisoner-on-prisoner violence. This created an environment in which \u201ctoo many prisoners felt unsafe,\u201d<\/em> with 60% saying they\u2019d felt at risk at some point during their incarceration, and one in four concerned about their wellbeing when the Inspectorate came unexpectedly knocking. Furthermore, internal figures had been fudged to suggest violence had reduced due to fewer incidents, but in reality, this was due to fewer prisoners being in the jail.<\/p>\n

Given this grim environment \u2013 in which Assange will shortly be\u00a0married<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 it is perhaps unsurprising that a psychological assessment diagnosed him with severe recurrent depressive disorder, typified by frequent suicidal thoughts, \u201closs of sleep, loss of weight, impaired concentration, a feeling of often being on the verge of tears, and a state of acute agitation in which he was pacing his cell until exhausted, punching his head or banging it against a cell wall.\u201d <\/em>He thought about taking his own life \u201chundreds of times a day,\u201d <\/em>and had a \u201cconstant desire\u201d<\/em> to self-harm or commit suicide.<\/p>\n

The assessment concluded that, were Assange held in solitary confinement in the US for a prolonged period, his mental health would \u201cdeteriorate substantially, resulting in persistently severe clinical depression and the severe exacerbation of his anxiety disorder, PTSD and suicidal ideas.\u201d<\/em> At the recent extradition appeal hearing, Biden administration lawyers offered \u201cassurances\u201d<\/em> that Assange would neither be jailed in the notorious\u00a0ADX Florence<\/a> in Colorado, America\u2019s most extreme prison, nor subject to excessively harsh \u2018Special Administrative Measures\u2019 (SAMs).<\/p>\n

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Read more<\/strong><\/div>\n

\"Assange <\/picture> Assange & fianc\u00e9e sue \u2018creepy elements of UK government,\u2019 and here\u2019s why<\/span> <\/a><\/div>\n

Contradictorily though,\u00a0Washington\u2019s official legal submissions<\/a>\u00a0to the court state that the US \u201cretains the power\u201d<\/em> to do both. The fate of Joshua Schulte, charged with providing WikiLeaks sensitive CIA documents \u2013 the release of which led to then-Agency director Mike Pompeo\u00a0designating<\/a> the organization a \u201cnon-state hostile intelligence service\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 offers a snapshot of what could await Stateside.<\/p>\n

Court papers<\/a> filed in January by Schulte\u2019s lawyers outlined how their client had not been outside since entering New York\u2019s Metropolitan Correction Center more than two years prior, and had been held under conditions usually reserved for terrorism defendants, to prevent them communicating with others. Accordingly, when Schulte is moved outside his cell, he is \u201cshackled from head-to-toe\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Schulte\u2019s cell was said to be \u201cfilthy\u2026 the size of a parking space, [and] infested with rodents, rodent droppings, cockroaches and mold,\u201d<\/em> with no heating, air conditioning, or functioning plumbing, \u201cwhile sunlight is blocked by a blacked out window,\u201d<\/em> temperatures fall so low \u201cwater in his cell turns to ice and he shivers despite wearing four sets of clothing, five sets of socks, two blankets and three sets of socks on his hands,\u201d <\/em>and \u201cbright lights are on nonstop.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A ruling on Assange\u2019s extradition is expected in December; until then he remains in Belmarsh.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

Kit Klarenberg, an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – rt.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

17 Nov 2021 – A new report has painted a bleak picture of the London prison where Julian Assange is being held. On 12 Nov, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons published an investigation on conditions in London\u2019s Belmarsh Prison \u2013 dubbed \u2018Britain\u2019s Gitmo\u2019 \u2013 which spells out the nightmarish environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":199653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[229,918,2732,2709,910,942,487,378,651,234,911,454,572,639,292,70,126,921,113],"class_list":["post-199652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","tag-activism","tag-assange","tag-belmarsh-prison","tag-belmarsh-tribunal","tag-big-brother","tag-ecuador","tag-human-rights","tag-journalism","tag-justice","tag-media","tag-surveillance","tag-sweden","tag-torture","tag-uk","tag-un","tag-usa","tag-violence","tag-whistleblowing","tag-wikileaks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}