SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been held in solitary confinement for 17 days as of Monday, after being held in contempt of court for refusing to answer a grand jury's questions about her disclosures of U.S. military documents to Wikileaks. (Photo: @xychelsea/Instagram)
Supporters of U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning are demanding she be released from solitary confinement, in which she has been held for 17 days since refusing to answer a grand jury's questions.
Chelsea Resists!, Manning's support committee, released a statement over the weekend denouncing her treatment and invoking the United Nations' own statements about the dangers and injustice of isolation in prisons.
"The United States Government has already tortured Chelsea Manning for months. She attempted suicide twice while incarcerated. Now they're torturing her again." --Fight for the Future"We condemn the solitary confinement that Chelsea Manning has been subjected to during her incarceration at William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center," the group wrote.
"Chelsea can't be out of her cell while any other prisoners are out, so she cannot talk to other people, or visit the law library, and has no access to books or reading material," the committee added.
Other supporters on social media joined the call for Manning to be released.
\u201cThis is outrageous. The UN considers anything more than 15 days in solitary confinement to be a form of torture. \n\nThe United States Government has already tortured Chelsea Manning for months. She attempted suicide twice while incarcerated. Now they're torturing her again.\u201d— @team@fightforthefuture.org on Mastodon (@@team@fightforthefuture.org on Mastodon) 1553377682
\u201cChelsea Manning is now in solitary confinement, one of the cruelest methods of imprisonment, all for simply refusing to testify. This is horrifying and we should fight this tooth and nail.\u201d— FestiveEmily (@FestiveEmily) 1553362901
\u201cChelsea Manning has been held in solitary since her confinement 16 days ago. She has lost weight and is only allowed to leave her cell from 1 am to 3 am. This is torture, plain and simple. ADC needs to put Chelsea into general population IMMEDIATELY. https://t.co/TOdT1b6Qz4\u201d— Ella (@Ella) 1553357432
Manning has been held in isolation for 22 hours per day, with one break from 1:00 to 3:00am. Her treatment qualifies as prolonged solitary confinement according to Juan Mendez, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture.
"After 15 days," Mendez wrote in 2014, "certain changes in brain functions occur and the harmful psychological effects of isolation can become irreversible. Prolonged solitary confinement must be absolutely prohibited, because it always amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and may even constitute torture."
The group also condemned the prison system's use of the term "administrative segregation," or adseg, to whitewash Manning's treatment.
The term was "designed to sound less cruel than 'solitary confinement,'" wrote the committee. "However, Chelsea has been kept in her cell for 22 hours a day. This treatment qualifies as solitary confinement."
Manning arrived at the Truesdale detention center in Alexandria, Virginia on March 8 after appearing before a grand jury, which she says interrogated her about her 2010 decision to leak U.S. military documents to Wikileaks, making public possible U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Manning said she had already answered similar questions in 2010 when she was court-martialed before serving seven years of a 35-year prison sentence, and answered the grand jury by saying, "I object to the question and refuse to answer on the grounds that the question is in violation of my First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendment, and other statutory rights."
She was found to be in contempt of court and imprisoned as a result.
"Chelsea is a principled person, and she has made clear that while this kind of treatment will harm her, and will almost certainly leave lasting scars, it will never make her change her mind about cooperating with the grand jury," the committee's statement reads.
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Supporters of U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning are demanding she be released from solitary confinement, in which she has been held for 17 days since refusing to answer a grand jury's questions.
Chelsea Resists!, Manning's support committee, released a statement over the weekend denouncing her treatment and invoking the United Nations' own statements about the dangers and injustice of isolation in prisons.
"The United States Government has already tortured Chelsea Manning for months. She attempted suicide twice while incarcerated. Now they're torturing her again." --Fight for the Future"We condemn the solitary confinement that Chelsea Manning has been subjected to during her incarceration at William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center," the group wrote.
"Chelsea can't be out of her cell while any other prisoners are out, so she cannot talk to other people, or visit the law library, and has no access to books or reading material," the committee added.
Other supporters on social media joined the call for Manning to be released.
\u201cThis is outrageous. The UN considers anything more than 15 days in solitary confinement to be a form of torture. \n\nThe United States Government has already tortured Chelsea Manning for months. She attempted suicide twice while incarcerated. Now they're torturing her again.\u201d— @team@fightforthefuture.org on Mastodon (@@team@fightforthefuture.org on Mastodon) 1553377682
\u201cChelsea Manning is now in solitary confinement, one of the cruelest methods of imprisonment, all for simply refusing to testify. This is horrifying and we should fight this tooth and nail.\u201d— FestiveEmily (@FestiveEmily) 1553362901
\u201cChelsea Manning has been held in solitary since her confinement 16 days ago. She has lost weight and is only allowed to leave her cell from 1 am to 3 am. This is torture, plain and simple. ADC needs to put Chelsea into general population IMMEDIATELY. https://t.co/TOdT1b6Qz4\u201d— Ella (@Ella) 1553357432
Manning has been held in isolation for 22 hours per day, with one break from 1:00 to 3:00am. Her treatment qualifies as prolonged solitary confinement according to Juan Mendez, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture.
"After 15 days," Mendez wrote in 2014, "certain changes in brain functions occur and the harmful psychological effects of isolation can become irreversible. Prolonged solitary confinement must be absolutely prohibited, because it always amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and may even constitute torture."
The group also condemned the prison system's use of the term "administrative segregation," or adseg, to whitewash Manning's treatment.
The term was "designed to sound less cruel than 'solitary confinement,'" wrote the committee. "However, Chelsea has been kept in her cell for 22 hours a day. This treatment qualifies as solitary confinement."
Manning arrived at the Truesdale detention center in Alexandria, Virginia on March 8 after appearing before a grand jury, which she says interrogated her about her 2010 decision to leak U.S. military documents to Wikileaks, making public possible U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Manning said she had already answered similar questions in 2010 when she was court-martialed before serving seven years of a 35-year prison sentence, and answered the grand jury by saying, "I object to the question and refuse to answer on the grounds that the question is in violation of my First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendment, and other statutory rights."
She was found to be in contempt of court and imprisoned as a result.
"Chelsea is a principled person, and she has made clear that while this kind of treatment will harm her, and will almost certainly leave lasting scars, it will never make her change her mind about cooperating with the grand jury," the committee's statement reads.
Supporters of U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning are demanding she be released from solitary confinement, in which she has been held for 17 days since refusing to answer a grand jury's questions.
Chelsea Resists!, Manning's support committee, released a statement over the weekend denouncing her treatment and invoking the United Nations' own statements about the dangers and injustice of isolation in prisons.
"The United States Government has already tortured Chelsea Manning for months. She attempted suicide twice while incarcerated. Now they're torturing her again." --Fight for the Future"We condemn the solitary confinement that Chelsea Manning has been subjected to during her incarceration at William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center," the group wrote.
"Chelsea can't be out of her cell while any other prisoners are out, so she cannot talk to other people, or visit the law library, and has no access to books or reading material," the committee added.
Other supporters on social media joined the call for Manning to be released.
\u201cThis is outrageous. The UN considers anything more than 15 days in solitary confinement to be a form of torture. \n\nThe United States Government has already tortured Chelsea Manning for months. She attempted suicide twice while incarcerated. Now they're torturing her again.\u201d— @team@fightforthefuture.org on Mastodon (@@team@fightforthefuture.org on Mastodon) 1553377682
\u201cChelsea Manning is now in solitary confinement, one of the cruelest methods of imprisonment, all for simply refusing to testify. This is horrifying and we should fight this tooth and nail.\u201d— FestiveEmily (@FestiveEmily) 1553362901
\u201cChelsea Manning has been held in solitary since her confinement 16 days ago. She has lost weight and is only allowed to leave her cell from 1 am to 3 am. This is torture, plain and simple. ADC needs to put Chelsea into general population IMMEDIATELY. https://t.co/TOdT1b6Qz4\u201d— Ella (@Ella) 1553357432
Manning has been held in isolation for 22 hours per day, with one break from 1:00 to 3:00am. Her treatment qualifies as prolonged solitary confinement according to Juan Mendez, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture.
"After 15 days," Mendez wrote in 2014, "certain changes in brain functions occur and the harmful psychological effects of isolation can become irreversible. Prolonged solitary confinement must be absolutely prohibited, because it always amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and may even constitute torture."
The group also condemned the prison system's use of the term "administrative segregation," or adseg, to whitewash Manning's treatment.
The term was "designed to sound less cruel than 'solitary confinement,'" wrote the committee. "However, Chelsea has been kept in her cell for 22 hours a day. This treatment qualifies as solitary confinement."
Manning arrived at the Truesdale detention center in Alexandria, Virginia on March 8 after appearing before a grand jury, which she says interrogated her about her 2010 decision to leak U.S. military documents to Wikileaks, making public possible U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Manning said she had already answered similar questions in 2010 when she was court-martialed before serving seven years of a 35-year prison sentence, and answered the grand jury by saying, "I object to the question and refuse to answer on the grounds that the question is in violation of my First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendment, and other statutory rights."
She was found to be in contempt of court and imprisoned as a result.
"Chelsea is a principled person, and she has made clear that while this kind of treatment will harm her, and will almost certainly leave lasting scars, it will never make her change her mind about cooperating with the grand jury," the committee's statement reads.