Julian is in the harshest prison in the UK; he’s not serving a sentence. And the US want to put him in prison for 175 years, about publishing to the truth about the Iraq and Afghan wars The Imprisonment of Julian Assange, wife, Al Jazeera 25.00, 2023
These publications were a game-changer. This really opened the eyes of the public to what was going on. ibid.
In 2019 the US charged him with publishing classified materials and has been fighting to extradite him. ibid. commentary
Assange was dragged out of the embassy and arrested by British police on a US extradition request in 2019. ibid.
This is a film about injustice, injustice on a scale most of us wouldn’t imagine possible in this country. It’s a film about the imprisonment of people without trial, of innocent people – first offenders, petty offenders and children. John Pilger, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, ATV 1974
Many thousands who almost unnoticed in the last few years have been caught in a system which has become almost as chaotic and repressive as in countries without even the pretence of our bill of rights. ibid.
Out of 50,00 people whom magistrates remand in custody every year, more than half of 25,000 people are later proved completely innocent or are merely fined or are given conditional discharge. ibid.
For a free nation we sure have a lot of people behind bars. Why the US Prison System is the Worst in the Developed World, Youtube 15.32, Second Thought online 2021
A system that is by just about every metric the worst in the developed world. ibid.
All the countries the US likes to cast as authoritarian hell-holes – every single one of them incarcerates fewer people and often in far more humane facilities. ibid.
Companies have always been eager to work with prisons to increase their profits … The practice of modern-day slavery. ibid.
America finds new ways to extract profits from human life. ibid.
This system is absurd by any reasonable estimation. ibid.
The United Nations has condemned them as abusive and torturous. ibid.
Modern Norwegian prisons are some of the very best in the world. ibid.
Here lies the dust of time spent cast
In forms of regulated lives,
Moulded by the mass have past
The ones the mass could not drive,
Rich law courts play – the poor are tried –
If wrong hands hold the gambling dice
Then history will ever lie,
Shields and spears can’st ne’er entice
The free to end their search in vain,
Reward the patient ones with gold,
When dying echoes Life’s refrain
We may one day know or be told.
Here lies the dust of some waif’s dream
They turn their own to mix with strife,
Plagued with sorrow will ever seem
They cannot win the game of Life. esias ryder, Down on the Ones, 1981
If you’re a prisoner with a history of violence there’s a good chance you’ll end up in here. HMP Long Lartin: A maximum security prison with a fearsome reputation. HMP Long Lartin holds some of Britain’s most brutal men. And many of them have little chance of release. It’s a place where harsh conditions and brute force have been commonplace. HMP Long Lartin: Maximum Security, Channel 5 2023
Drug debt and addiction have been a major cause of violence. ibid.
Several fatalities in Long Lartin over the years. ibid.
This is the story of what’s life like inside filmed by people who had been through it. There are knives, drugs, and a lot of violence. And there’s a load of mobile phones that have been smuggled in. Untold: The Secrets of UK Prisons, Channel 4
There are over 94,000 people locked up in prisons across the UK. ibid.
It is against the law to punish children by sending them to prison. But 4,000 under-17s spent time behind bars next year. Tonight World in Action looks at how they came to be there. World in Action: The Prison Children, ITV 1977
They were being remanded in custody before trial. After trial 2,000 were not put back behind bars. ibid.
With two other inmates Frederic Rashko is locked in a twelve foot by nine foot cell at Strangeways Prison Manchester for twenty-three hours a day. World in Action: Banged Up, ITV 1979
Prisons in Britain are in crisis. In the last two years Victorian conditions, overcrowding, allegations of mistreatment, have brought riots and demonstrations at Walton, Gartree and Hull. ibid.
A prison officer at HMP Bronzefield disabled the call bell to her cell after first-time mum Rianna Cleary asked twice for help as she went into labour. Baby Aisha was found dead in the 18-year-old’s arms by fellow prisoners the next morning when they found the pair covered in blood. BladeoftheSun tweet 30th July 2021
Ghislaine Maxwell’s life in prison isn’t going too well. She is giving the New York Metropolitan Detective Centre one star … Complaining about the way she has been treated behind bars. True Crime Recaps: Ghislaine Maxwell Update, Youtube 11.46 short, 2021
In March 2021 new charges were filed against her alleging that she groomed a 14-year-old girl with shopping trips and other treats.
She has already proven to be a flight risk. ibid.
A trusted female corrections officer in Alabama falls for an accused killer: chaos ensues. True Crime Recaps: Officer Helps Prisoner Escape! Vickey & Casey White Case, Youtube 9.38, 2022
In April of 2022 while Casey was awaiting trial for the 2015 murder of Connie Ridgeway, Vicky helped him escape from prison. But their getaway was short lived. They were captured after a high-speed chase. ibid.
Vicky took her own life when they got caught. ibid.