US Incarceration System Deemed Too Cruel For Julian Assange
In Judge Vanessa Baraitser's ruling, she said the detention conditions in
which Assange would likely be held were relevant to his mental health and
risk of suicide.
Kevin Gosztola
Jan 5
ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Colorado (Bureau of Prisons)
The mass incarceration system in the United States is cruel and inhumane,
and as a result, the U.S. government had their extradition request against
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denied by a British district judge.
As Judge Vanessa Baraitser declared [PDF], "The detention conditions in
which Mr. Assange is likely to be held are relevant to Mr. Assange's risk of
suicide."
She additionally found there was "a real risk" that Assange would be subject
to "restrict special administrative measures" or SAMs if confined in a U.S.
prison.
Even more specifically, Baraitser determined Assange would be designated to
ADX Florence in Colorado, a supermax facility notorious for its conditions
and how their effects on mentally ill prisoners.
"I find that the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be
oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America," Baraitser
concluded, after noting he was diagnosed with a recurring depressive
disorder and autism spectrum disorder.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) was involved in producing a
report in 2017 called "The Darkest Corner." It was referenced by the judge
and outlined the conditions prisoners face at ADX Florence if designated for
SAMs.
.[P]risoners are generally allowed a total of 10 hours outside their cell
per week; however this time is spent alone in a small indoor room or a cage
hardly bigger than their cell; inmates are forbidden from communicating with
other prisoners, for example, by yelling though the walls; communications
with people outside the prison are usually restricted to their lawyers and a
few immediate family members who must be cleared by the US government; SAMs
typically restricts prisoners to writing one letter per week to a single
family member and this may not exceed three double-sided sheets of paper,
forwarded to FBI agents for approval; over time, the delays in receiving
mail can degrade the quality of communication between a prisoner and his
family to the point where it can feel worthless; phone calls are severely
restricted and contemporaneously monitored; during non-legal in-person
visits no physical contact is allowed, with conversations taking place
thorough a thick glass barrier and prisoners shackled and chained at their
wrists, ankles and to the ground; 14-days advance notice is required for
visits, and these can take months to coordinate because SAMs prisoners
cannot use a visiting room when any other prisoner is present.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg, whose defense of the allegations
were relied upon heavily by the Crown Prosecution Service, did not offer any
assurances that Assange would not be placed under SAMs before or after
trial.
As Baraitser acknowledged, "This case was opened on the basis that it
related to one of the largest compromises of classified information in the
history of the U.S. The views of the intelligence community are articulated
by Mike Pompeo, then head of the CIA, in a speech on April 13, 2017. He
described Wikileaks as a 'hostile non-state intelligence service.' He told
the audience that Russian military intelligence had used Wikileaks to
release data it had obtained through cyber operations against the Democratic
National Committee and that Russia's primary propaganda outlet had actively
collaborated with Wikileaks."
"He stated that Mr. Assange 'and his ilk' make common cause with dictators
and that "Wikileaks will take down America any way they can.' He told the
audience "we have to recognize that we can no longer allow Assange and his
colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us. To give them
the space to crush us with misappropriated secrets is a perversion of what
our great Constitution stands for. It ends now.'"
"I have rejected the defense submission that this hostility translated into
improper pressure on federal prosecutors to bring charges," Baraitser
stated. "However, it does demonstrate that as recently as 2017, Mr. Assange
and Wikileaks were viewed by the intelligence community as an ongoing threat
to national security."
The spying operation conducted against Assange represented a "high level of
concern by the U.S. authorities regarding Mr. Assange's ongoing activities."
To the judge, this was evidence he would be put in extraordinarily
restrictive jail or prison conditions that would impact his health and
potentially drive him to commit suicide.
Maureen Baird, a former warden for the federal Bureau of Prisons, testified
as a defense witness, and Baraitser referred to her summary of conditions
she recalled from her time overseeing the Metropolitan Correctional Center
in New York.
Inmates were in solitary confinement, technically, for 24-hours per day.
There was absolutely no communication, by any means, with other inmates. The
only form of human interaction they encountered was when correctional
officers opened the viewing slot during their inspection rounds of the unit,
when institution staff walked through the unit during their required weekly
rounds, or when meals were delivered through the secure meal slot in the
door. One-hour recreation was offered to inmates in this unit each day;
however, in my experience, oftentimes an inmate would decline this
opportunity because it was much of the same as their current situation. The
recreation area, in the unit, consisted of a small barren indoor cell,
absent any exercise equipment.
CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months at a federal
correctional institution in Loretto, Pennsylvania, after pleading guilty in
a leak prosecution. He has spent the last five years following federal
prison issues closely.
"There is a precedent for British courts not sending prisoners back to the
United States, and it's specifically because of the way the U.S. uses
solitary confinement. The UN considers the U.S. practice of solitary to be a
form of torture. The British courts have held that it is a form of torture,
and if somebody is fragile, it's very, very easy to commit suicide in
prisons," Kiriakou commented.
Jeffrey Sterling, another CIA whistleblower who was sentenced to prison
after a leak prosecution, said he found it interesting that the judge
thought a U.S. prison was "the most dangerous thing Assange [would] face if
extradited."
"She is correct in her assessment of the harsh conditions in U.S. prisons,
but she fails to explain how that aspect is wholly separate from the overall
system that Assange would be subject to. One cannot and should not be
separated from the other. If he cannot be treated justly in prison, he will
not be treated justly in the U.S. courts," Sterling added.
Sterling sounded an alarm. "What Baraitser has actually done is legitimize
the U.S. effort to use the Espionage Act to reach any dissenting opinion
anywhere. The danger to press freedom and whistleblowers worldwide remains,
and the threat has in fact been increased."
"If the aspect of mental health is not a factor in any future efforts, there
apparently will be nothing to stop the U.S."
This is what made the decision bittersweet for press freedom organizations,
advocates, and supporters, who have opposed Assange's extradition.
***
It is worth mentioning some further examples of inhumanity that were
referenced by the judge.
According to a report from the Corrections Information Council that
described conditions at ADX Florence in April 2017, psychological services
were limited to "self-help packets and information provided by video." Only
five individual therapy slots were available and participants in group
therapy were kept in "individual cages and remained shackled."
"It expressed concern that those self-harming or who have attempted suicide
were describe d by staff as 'just getting attention many times' and that
'inmates who are disciplined are less likely to commit self-harm again.' It
noted that rates of documented instances of inmates 'threatening bodily
harm' was 8.7/100 compared to the overall BOP rate of 0.9/100."
Baraitser also highlighted:
The report documents one inmate reporting that he suffered from depression
and bipolar disorders but who was taken off medication in January 2017
following which he attempted suicide and, by April 2017, he had yet to
receive any medication. It documents another inmate being taken off
psychotropic medication following his attempted suicide by swallowing pills.
At the time of the inspection one inmate was on suicide watch. Staff
reported that the facility had two or three suicide attempts in the past
year and the last completed suicide was on December December 25, 2015...
A series published by The Atlantic in 2012 called attention to the horror
that unfolds daily. "Prisoners interminably wail, scream, and bang on the
walls of their cells. Some mutilate their bodies with razors, shards of
glass, writing utensils and whatever other objects they can obtain. Some
swallow razor blades, nail clippers, parts of radios and televisions, broken
glass, and other dangerous objects."
On May 5, 2019, "during a routine search of the cell solely occupied by Mr.
Assange, inside a cupboard and concealed under some underwear, a prison
officer found 'half of a razor blade,'" the judge wrote.
The decision is ominous for journalists, who engage in the same
newsgathering practices that the Justice Department criminalized through the
Espionage Act and computer crime charges brought against Assange.
At the same time, it is rather clear that a life was saved. If Assange were
incarcerated in a federal prison, it would be a death sentence.
