His treatment in Sweden if he'd complied rather than fleeing justice in the UK would likely have been far better. His dissembling about extradition and all of his actions suggest he was guilty of the rapes and hiding from justice.

Yeah but Sweden is a US ally and was just going to turn around and extradite him to the USA after they were done with him. I don't think you've been following the story closely enough. This is what he said for like the past decade. He know that Federal prison will probably end up with him beaten to death, shanked to death, or in solitary confinement for the rest of his life.

"Sweden is a US ally and was just going to turn around and extradite him to the USA"

Sweden's actual extradition agreement is much more limited than Assange claimed. The UK's is much friendlier to the UK, so if he was honestly worried about extradition his behavior was strange and is more plausibly explained by him trying to cover up his rape. His account was mostly false and deeply misleading about what Sweden did and did not extradite for, which would make sense if it was just a pretext. I believe he tried to dodge real and credible charges in Sweden, and all of his behavior, esp the narcissistic levels of dishonesty point to a rapist who was caught and got trapped by their lies.