Jamie Cassidy, the Liverpool starlet turned drugs conspirator: ‘In jail, some say lads want to be a footballer or a dealer. I’ve been both’ - The Athletic

Jamie Cassidy realized his freedom was ending on October 17, 2020, the same day Virgil van Dijk suffered a knee injury similar to the one that ended Cassidy's own promising football career decades earlier. Cassidy, a former Liverpool FA Youth Cup winner who trained with England's Euro 96 squad, was watching the Merseyside derby at home when he received a distressed call from his niece. She informed him that his older brother, Jonathan, had been arrested on drug charges at Manchester Airport after returning from Dubai, where he had been hiding.

Cassidy knew the situation was dire when his solicitor showed him a police report the following Monday. French investigators had cracked the EncroChat messaging service used by the brothers, whose handles "WhiskeyWasp" (Jonathan) and "NuclearDog" (Jamie) were prominent in the files. He was arrested at his home on November 5th, handcuffed on his couch by a large police team.

During interrogation in Ashton-under-Lyne, Cassidy felt overwhelmed by the evidence against him, realizing it could lead to a lengthy prison sentence. He was remanded and transported past his family home near the M57 motorway. Seeing it, he felt intense guilt knowing his family inside would be distraught, and he anticipated being away for 5-10 years or more.

Cassidy was sent to the Victorian-era HMP Liverpool in Walton. Upon arrival, he was strip-searched, forced to squat over a mirror, and issued drab prison uniforms ("greys"), white T-shirts, and an old orange blanket nicknamed "Itchy and Scratchy" by inmates.

This occurred during a severe COVID-19 lockdown. The virus spread rapidly in prison, leading to strict isolation. Cassidy was confined to a tiny cell 24 hours a day for the first six weeks, unable to shower. Conditions remained harsh for the first 18 months: visits were banned, there was no gym or yard access, cells lacked bedsheets or pillows, had no windows, and temperatures dropped drastically at night with cold sea winds.