How prison changed Julian Assange – and me

Julian Assange was a changed man when he walked free from Belmarsh prison in south London this week. The Wikileaks founder’s appearance was radically different from when he was arrested outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2019. It was a striking example of what prison can do to a person.

The images of Assange – whose relief at being free was palpable – made me revisit my own time behind bars and what it did to me. Even the looming prospect of being locked up – the eighteen months from charge to sentencing had been very hard – changed me beyond recognition. I went back to my own photos from the day I was finally sentenced in February 2020. I struggle to remember that scared, fat, clean-shaven man.

I’d been in limbo for a year-and-a-half: a feeling that Assange will no doubt know well.