[Pnews] Chelsea Manning threatened with indefinite solitary confinement

[Prisoner News]

*Chelsea threatened with indefinite solitary confinement*

*http://www.chelseamanning.org/featured/indefinitesolitary*

August 12, 2015

Aside from her 35-year prison sentence, *Chelsea Manning is now facing 
/indefinite solitary confinement/ *to be determined in a hearing next 
Tuesday, August 18.

Worse yet, Chelsea faces this incomprehensibly severe punishment as a 
result of ridiculously innocuous institutional offenses, including the 
possession of books and magazines related to politics and LBGTQ issues 
(which she received openly via the prison mail system), and having a 
tube of toothpaste that was past its expiration date (apparently deemed 
“medical mis-use”). The catalyst for this attack on Chelsea seems to 
have been an incident in the mess hall where she may have pushed, 
brushed, or accidentally knocked, a small amount of food off of her 
table. She then asked to speak to her lawyer when confronted by a guard. 
The absurd charges were tacked on later.

These charges obviously could never justify indefinite solitary 
confinement- one of worst forms of psychological torture 
<https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/tools-resources/fact-sheets-and-faqs/torture-use-solitary-confinement-us-prisons>. 
Chelsea is now regularly publishing op-eds in the Guardian newspaper, 
and recently won the ability to begin hormone therapy by threatening to 
sue the military. It’s clear this is an attempt to silence Chelsea’s voice.

Our friends at *Fight for the Future* (FFTF) have created a petition 
<https://cms.fightforthefuture.org/chelsea/> where you can sign on to a 
letter condemning the US Army’s treatment of Chelsea.

<http://cms.fightforthefuture.org/chelsea/#salsa-email>

*As FFTF notes, this is a disturbing attempt to silence Chelsea’s voice.*

Chelsea has been very active while in prison, speaking out through her

twitter account <https://www.twitter.com/xychelsea>

about issues of government transparency, transgender rights, and the 
prison system. She’s been writing a

regular column <http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/chelsea-manning>

for The Guardian, and even

wrote a bill 
<http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/07/chelsea-manning-bill-journalism-espionage-act> 


to reform the Espionage Act and protect journalism.These absurd charges 
against Chelsea, and the outrageous threat of indefinite solitary 
confinement, are clearly an attempt to silence Chelsea’s important voice 
and cut her off from the outside world.We have to make sure this attempt 
to silence Chelsea not only fails, but backfires.

Fight for the Future has created a petition 
<http://cms.fightforthefuture.org/chelsea/>

to let the U.S. government know that the whole world is watching, and we 
won’t stand by while they jail and torture whistleblowers who stand up 
for democracy and free speech.

*Sign and share this petition right now! 
<http://cms.fightforthefuture.org/chelsea/>*

Chelsea requested that her hearing be open to the press- but she was 
denied. *If it’s not open to the public and the press, there will be no 
way to ensure that Chelsea isn’t unfairly subjected to one of the worst 
forms of psychological torture.*

*Below is an actual list of the charges that were sent to Chelsea 
(emphasis added).*

charge_sheet 
<http://www.chelseamanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/charge_sheet-e1439414562163.png>

Here’s the list of books and magazines that were taken from Chelsea and 
not returned: Vanity Fair issue with Caitlyn Jenner on the cover, 
Advocate, OUT Magazine, Cosmopolitan issue with an interview of Chelsea, 
Transgender Studies Quarterly, novel about trans issues “A Safe Girl to 
Love,” book “Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy — The Many Faces of 
Anonymous,” book “I Am Malala,” 5 books by Robert Dorkin, legal 
documents including the Senate Torture Report, book: “Hidden Qualities 
that Make Us Influential.”

“Given the materials that were confiscated, it is concerning that the 
military and Leavenworth might be taking action for the purpose of 
chilling Chelsea’s speech or even with the goal of silencing her 
altogether by placing her in solitary,” ACLU attorney Chase Strangio 
wrote. “Hopefully with public scrutiny the prison will respond by 
dismissing these charges and ensuring that she is not unfairly targeted 
based on her activism, her identity, and her pending lawsuit.”

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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