Bradley Manning has returned to Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas to begin serving a 35-year sentence for espionage, theft, and fraud for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks.
Concurrently, Manning announced in a written statement his
intentions to live out the rest of his life as a woman. In a
letter revealed on NBC’s ‘Today’ show on Thursday, the
whistleblower asked to be referred to as Chelsea Manning.
Fort Leavenworth, located in northeast Kansas, is the site of the
United States Army Command and General Staff College, the Foreign
Military Studies Office, the United States Army Combined Arms
Center, and three prisons: a medium-security federal
penitentiary, the military Midwest Joint Regional Correctional
Facility, and the United States Disciplinary Barracks – where
Manning will serve time.
The United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) is an all-male
facility reserved for service members convicted at a
court-martial for violations of the Uniform Code of Military
Justice and facing at least a ten-year sentence.
The prison is also where Staff Sgt. Robert Bales resides, after
being convicted of killing 16 Afghan civilians during nighttime
raids in 2012. In addition, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is
currently on trial for killing 13 of his fellow soldiers at Fort
Hood in 2009, could soon join the list of inmates at the infamous
prison.
Since 1875, the barracks have accommodated prisoners such as Lt.
William Calley, who was convicted for the murders associated with
the My Lai Massacre in 1968, during the Vietnam War.
The current 515-bed prison facility was opened in 2002 at a cost
of $67.8 million. USDB is surrounded by two 14-foot fences topped
with razor wire.
Prisoners’ routines revolve around the level of supervision
required. Custody grades include installation trusty, minimum,
minimum inside only, medium, and maximum. A special housing unit
can hold up to 95 maximum-security and protective-custody
inmates, who can be required to spend up to 23 hours per day in
their cell.
Inmates spend an average of 19 years at USDB. Manning’s lawyer,
David Coombs, said he hopes Manning is out on parole in seven
years, but will ask for a presidential pardon in the meantime.
USDB prisoners are required to work 40 hours per week on
maintenance, warehouse, laundry, and kitchen details, though
multiple vocational training programs are available. Inmates are
paid very meager sums for work, but are allowed to be sent money
orders.
Visitors to USDB have called the routine for prisoners highly
repetitive and militarized. Inmates wear starched brown uniforms,
though they are allowed to pick their own shoe wear.
Inmates can see visitors any day of the week, though usually only
during evening hours on weekdays. No conjugal visits are allowed
at USDB.
During Manning’s trial at Fort Meade in Maryland, the defense
presented an email with a subject line titled “My Problem.” In
the correspondence, which was written from Manning to a former
supervisor in April 2010, the Army private said he was a
transgender person. The email included a photo of Manning wearing
a wig and lipstick.
“I am Chelsea Manning. I am female,” the Army private
wrote in the statement revealed on Thursday. “Given the way
that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin
hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support
me in this transition.”
The statement was read in Manning’s absence during an interview
with Attorney David Coombs on the ‘Today’ show.
“The stress that he was under was mostly to give context to
what was going on at the time,” Coombs said on ‘Today.’
“It was never an excuse because that’s not what drove his
actions. What drove his actions was a strong moral compass.”
Military officials said Manning will not be provided any
treatment to facilitate her gender identity announcement.
“Inmates at the United States Disciplinary Barracks and Joint
Regional Correctional Facility are treated equally regardless of
race, rank, ethnicity or sexual orientation,” the Army wrote
in a statement. “All inmates are considered soldiers and are
treated as such with access to mental health professionals,
including a psychiatrist, psychologist, social workers and
behavioral science noncommissioned officers with experience in
addressing the needs of military personnel in pre- and post-trial
confinement.”
Fort Leavenworth spokesman George Marcec told the Associated
Press that Manning will be forbidden from wearing a wig or bra,
and must maintain a haircut that adheres to military standards.
Republished from: RT