Whats Behind Free Gary?

So I did a lot of thinking on what is behind the Free Gary Movement.  Its sure not an Autism Rights issue not only myself but many prominent US and UK based Autism self advocates have stated this.  So I got to really thinking…. what is behind this?

Then I got thinking about the history of US and UK relations.  I’m not a political or history export but relations between the US and UK have always been very sower.  I’m not going to go into the reasoning behind this or the history of it because its way to in depth for the purpose of this blog post but the UK and Europe in general likes to stick it to America publicly.  After 9/11 the UK Government was hammered by its public for coming to the US’s aid.

So lets go into some of the excuses (and I call them excuses because I’m going to dissemble each one for you) that the Free Gary Movement uses.

He won’t survive prison – he has Aspergers!
I can say I’ve been in jail and I have Aspergers and I did quite fine, but I’m pretty sure they will find a way to chew that up.  But here is what the US Bureau of Prisons provides (I’m using this as he will most likely be in Federal Custody seeing as the federal government is the victim.)

The Bureau provides a full range of mental health treatment through staff psychologists and psychiatrists. The Bureau also provides forensic services to the courts, including a range of evaluative mental health studies outlined in Federal statutes.

Psychologists are available for formal counseling and treatment on an individual or group basis. In addition, staff in an inmate’s housing unit are available for informal counseling. Services available through the institution are enhanced by contract services from the community.

It should also be noted that many American Prisons have a mental health housing unit where staff are trained to deal specifically with mental health issues to prevent it from becoming a problem for both the inmate, staff and other inmates.

But Hes From the UK – he should serve his time here!

While I do understand this argument it has no legal basis.  As you can read here there is a valid extradition treaty between the US and UK.

But It’s One Sided!

If this argument is true it would still not matter as its the law.  Don’t like the law advocate for change – don’t just stick your nose at it.  But its untrue there are many persons who are in the process to be extradited from the US to the UK including Father Patrick Joesph McCabe.

So I really don’t know whats behind it except for the UK’s general hatred of Americans.

Tagged as: Free Gary, freegary, Gary McKinnon