The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, will probably be sent to the federal prison Supermax in Colorado if he is extradited to the United States and convicted of espionage, the former warden of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York, Maureen Baird, said today before the British court.
She testified at the court deciding Assange's extradition to the US that he would have to "die" to get out of what is arguably the most notorious prison in the United States.
US prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Australian on 18 counts of publishing classified government documents, which carries a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
In June, the US Department of Justice expanded the impeachment against Assange, in which it was stated that he conspired with members of a hacking group and that he sought to recruit other hackers to provide his WikiLeaks with classified information.
Assange's lawyers say the US charges are politically motivated and represent an abuse of power that will stifle press freedom. They argue that Assange, as a journalist, is entitled to protection under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and say that the released documents have exposed US military injustice.
Among the documents released by WikiLeaks was a video of a 2007 attack by US forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.
The lawyers also stated that Assange suffers from a wide range of mental problems, including suicidal tendencies, which the harsh prison conditions in the US would further aggravate. Bejird said Assange would likely face the harshest prison conditions the US could impose, conditions that could lead to a range of mental health problems, including anxiety and paranoia.
"From my experience, from almost three decades of working in federal prisons, I would agree that prolonged isolation can have serious negative effects on the mental health of inmates," she said.
She said Assange would likely be held under special administrative measures if extradited to the US, both in pretrial detention and after conviction, because of the US government's national security concerns.
Under these measures, which are at the discretion of the US Attorney General and have been used for convicted terrorists, prisoners spend most of the day locked in their cells without contact with other prisoners or the outside world.
With special administrative measures likely to be required, Bejird said he will likely end up in the Colorado Correctional Facility (ADX), "unless there are serious changes in his medical status."
Citing the example of convicted terrorist Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, Bejird said Assange would have to be "almost dying" to be moved to another facility. Mustafa, who is also known as Abu Hamza and was once a priest at a mosque in London, was extradited from the UK to the US in 2012. Both his hands were amputated and he is blind in one eye. Special administrative measures were imposed on him shortly after his extradition, and he has been placed in a special security unit (ADX) for the past five years.
Assange's extradition hearing, which has been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, is due to end this week. Supermax is considered America's most secure penitentiary.
Some of the country's most notorious criminals are housed here. Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Zacarias Moussaoui, Al Qaeda member who helped plan the 11/1993 attacks, Ramzi Youssef, responsible for the XNUMX bombing of the World Trade Center, are serving time in this prison.
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