‘I WAS admitted into A&E on Tuesday afternoon and was returned to Pentonville by Friday evening,’ said pro-Palestinian hunger striker Kamran Ahmed yesterday.
Ahmed, one of the Filton 24 being held on remand, continued: ‘I was refused any communication from the moment the emergency services were called by Pentonville staff.
‘To the point where, when the option of treatment was offered at A&E and I wished to speak to my next of kin or solicitor, the officer replied: “You either get treated or go back to prison, you can’t make a phone call.”
‘It’s odd, I feel more free in prison than I did at hospital, which really sums up my treatment there.
‘I still remember a statement made by one of the prison officers when I returned walking through the gravel in socks, still handcuffed to another officer: “What? No Footwear?”
‘The statement rings in my head. Writing this, I wonder what the general public thought of me when they saw me dressed – in a banana coloured prison jumpsuit and socks.
‘I was classed an escape risk on the Thursday which lead to my outfit, but before that, I wore hospital clothes, and of course socks. My footwear and clothes had been taken a couple days prior.
‘The whole experience felt like I was being punished. Maybe it was procedure, but it didn’t feel like that, when the cuffs were turning my hands numb from the tightness.
‘So much so that the letters on the cuffs were imprinted on my wrist only yesterday, which has now been replaced by bruising and swelling.
‘Cuffs which stayed on for over the three days – only on the Friday afternoon was it loosened by a kind officer, after a doctor’s request.
‘Although these requests were also made by nurses earlier who said it was “too tight” to previous officers, who then replied “there’s nothing we can do, his wrist sizes are in between two sizes”.
‘Doctors also previously requested the officers to remove the cuffs completely as they affected the patient’s standard of care.
‘But I think the clothing thing sticks with me so much, the reason why is that even before I was classed an escape risk, it felt like they were mentally playing a game.
‘Trying to make me uncomfortable, a tactic to make the nurses or doctors think I’m crazy by having me in cuffs and hospital garments with no footwear. The footwear was promised but never arrived.
‘Some nurses spoke to the officers, instead of me. I can only imagine why.
‘Alhamdulilah, the tactic didn’t phase me so much, but it’s interesting to analyse. But what did bother me was when I asked, “How do you expect me to go to the loo?’ and the reply was “in your socks”.
‘A patient toilet, which most of the officers refused to use (searching for a staff toilet instead), because they knew the conditions of it. Yet they expect me to walk in there with bare feet or with socks.
‘Luckily, the night nurse provided me with a second set of socks, so I could wear one to the loo and the other to bed. I guess we are not equal though.
‘The second thing was, when I was able to have a shower. Because I was handcuffed, my top clothing couldn’t come off completely and rested on the officer’s side of the cuff. I strategically placed this so it didn’t touch the ground as there was a toilet before the shower.
‘When I finished my shower, my clothes lay on the floor, wet, in front of the loo, apparently from the shower water. I wondered to myself, would the officer wear something that was wet and in front of a toilet that had signs of yellow staining and brown staining on the floor?
‘Trouble is when you go through an event, you want to say everything, but the most important detail is they couldn’t break my hunger strike.’
