ACLU: Chelsea Manning Facing Possible Charges Over Attempted Suicide
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, their client Chelsea Manning, the Army private currently serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking government documents to WikiLeaks, was informed on Thursday that she is under investigation for “administrative offenses” related to her July 5 suicide attempt.
If found guilty, Manning could lose her eligibility for parole and be punished with “indefinite solitary confinement, reclassification into maximum security, and an additional nine years in medium custody,” the ACLU said Thursday. From The Intercept:
According to a charge sheet posted by the ACLU, Manning was informed by military officials on Thursday that she is under investigation for “resisting the force cell move team,” “prohibited property,” and “conduct which threatens.” In the weeks following her suicide attempt, she has been active on social media, thanking her followers for their moral support.
Manning’s treatment in prison since her 2010 arrest has repeatedly generated outrage among civil liberties advocates. The punitive tactics that have been employed against her include stripping her naked in her cell on a nightly basis, extended solitary confinement and denial of medical necessities like eyeglasses. In 2011, then-State Department spokesman P.J Crowley publicly described Manning’s treatment in prison as “ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid.”
In August of last year, Manning was found guilty of a similar series of charges for offenses that included owning expired toothpaste and “sweeping food onto the floor.”