Julian Assange's bleak life in jail - 'prison pale', health battle, wife's fears
WikiLeaks website co-founder and writer Julian Assange has been locked up inside HM Prison Belmarsh, London for almost five years, most of which he's spent completely alone.
Assange - who is fighting against his extradition to the US this week - reportedly sees few people aside from the occasional visit from his family and friends.
Prison by its very nature is no social event but most inmates do get to take part in educational programmes for self-improvement and communal activities. Not so for Julian, who is said to spend 23 hours most days alone in his cell thanks to being in a Category A jail for the most dangerous prisoners on remand. The one hour's recreation he is allowed is spent inside.
"There are many, many hours in the cell," his wife, Stella, told Newsweek.
Reportedly he hasn't seen the sun since his April 2019 imprisonment, and before then could only view it through a window in the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he took refuge in 2012 and never stepped outside. So it's no wonder that writer and broadcaster Charles Glass says Julian describes himself as "prison pale".
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Fellow journalist Charles visited him in December last year and as well as noting his washed-out complexion, said the 52 year old had "flowing white locks with trimmed beard". Writing for Le Monde, he provided a fascinating insight into the bleak life of the Australian former hacker who faces up to 175 years in jail on espionage charges for publishing classified military information about operations and alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During their meeting, he said Julian asked him to get him some treats from the snack bar and requested two hot chocolates, a cheese-and-pickle sandwich and a Snickers bar. He's usually given a budget of £2 per day to spend on food, which generally consists of "porridge for breakfast, thin soup for lunch and not much else for dinner." Unfortunately that day they'd run out of sandwiches, so he was left with the junk food and whatever was left of his daily allowance.
On a normal day, the report claimed he eats his food alone inside his cell, rather than the long tables of inmates we might imagine inside a prison. Assange told Charles his days are spent reading one of his "232" books, including controversial Tory Minister Alan Duncan's autobiography, In the Thick of It. The plug on his radio has broken so the "news addict's" only way to keep in touch with the world is by reading printouts of news stories and letters friends write to him. His wife says he is teaching himself to speak and read Chinese.
Christmas isn't celebrated inside Belmarsh but he was allowed to attend Catholic mass and has apparently become friends with the Polish chaplain. Most days are the same but he is allowed visits, which Stella, 40, does when she can with their two sons, Gabriel, six and Max, four.
Stella wearing a Vivienne Westwood designed dress with sons Max and Gabriel on her wedding day in 2022 (PA)The couple first met in 2011 when South-African born lawyer and human rights advocate, Stella Moris as she was at the time, became a part of his legal team. She never imagined they would become romantically involved but said she immediately found him attractive. "He's extremely intelligent with an intense gaze and he's tall – I like tall men. He was the best version of what I imagined he'd be," she said of her first impressions.
By the following year he had claimed asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which have since been dropped. He remained there for seven years where she often visited him, spending hours together.
By 2015, they had begun a sexual relationship and got engaged in 2017. Their first son was born that year and a second followed in 2019 but she tried to keep their paternity a secret in case it was used as leverage to get Julian out of the Embassy. He was eventually arrested there by the Metropolitan Police and consequently sent to prison where the couple were granted permission to marry, almost two years ago. The bride wore a dress designed by the late Vivienne Westwood, who was a supporter of Julian's.
Julian's wife outside court in 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)Stella takes the boys to visit most weeks for around an hour and a half where they are allowed to read and have a cuddle with their dad: "There is no restriction on physical contact between him and the kids, although Julian has to remain seated," she has revealed. "He has an assigned seat that he can't move from, but the boys can sit on his knee. There is a children's area with books in there, so he can sometimes read to them too."
Stella has previously claimed that her "resilient" husband is "very strong and keeps his mind engaged," thanks to reading a lot. However at the start of his two-day extradition trial at the High Court she raised fears for his life.
In October 2021 he suffered a "transient ischaemic attack" — a mini-stroke - during a High Court hearing about his extradition. He has since reportedly been diagnosed with nerve damage and memory problems and must take blood thinners. Stella says his physical and mental health has deteriorated.
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"Julian's life is at risk, every day he is imprisoned his life is at risk," she told Sky News outside the court. "I saw Julian on Saturday and I realised afterwards that I don't know if I will see him again, so it is just impossible to explain what we are going through," she said.
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