Chelsea Manning Facing Indefinite Solitary Confinement For Attempting Suicide, Possessing A Book On Hackers
from the wtf dept
As you may have heard, Chelsea Manning, who leaked a ton of State Department cables to Wikileaks and is now in jail for decades, attempted suicide earlier this year. And the Army's response is to threaten her with indefinite solitary confinement to punish her for the attempt. Really. Of course, Manning has been held in solitary confinement in the past -- under conditions that the UN itself declared to be torture. And just last year, Manning was also threatened with indefinite solitary confinement for "disrespecting" corrections officers and for having a toothbrush and certain books and magazines that she wasn't supposed to have.What about this time? Well, Fight for the Future has posted the details including the charge sheet and it's ridiculous. She's charged with "resisting" when the "force cell team" went to her cell to respond to her suicide attempt. "Resisting" in this case being that she was unconcious. Really.
This charge stems from the “force cell team” being activated. They were called to respond to her suicide attempt, though there were no obstructions to the door and Chelsea was unconscious and unable to resist when they arrived. The charge sheet itself specifies on page 5 that “Inmate Manning did not resist the force cell move team.”And yet, she's still charged with resisting. Next up "conduct which threatens." That's a pretty broad term -- especially for someone who is unconscious from a suicide attempt. And yet... conduct which threatens. It seems the only thing being "threatened" here is basic human dignity. And then we've got another "prohibited property" claim, just like last year:
On July 6th, Gabriella Coleman’s book “Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy” was found in Chelsea’s cell, allegedly not properly marked with Chelsea’s name and inmate number on the inside cover. (A new regulation, that appears to have been crafted in response to Chelsea’s confiscated books/expired toothpaste incident from last summer.) In fact, this book was one of the books confiscated from Chelsea’s cell last summer.Huh? First of all, this is a great book -- one that we've recommended and whose author, Gabriella Coleman, we've had on our podcast. But the fact that this was one of the books that was confiscated last year and then was still in her cell suggests the kind of messed up rules that are used to always have to charge someone with if they don't like you. What a fucked up system.
And people wonder why Ed Snowden doesn't think he'd get a fair trial.
It appears that Manning is resigned to the fact that she's being railroaded and there's little she can do to stop it.
Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence at the US Army's Fort Leavenworth prison in Kansas, will have to defend herself at the hearing, and told VICE News she's not feeling optimistic. "It doesn't matter what I say or do," she said, through an intermediary, as she's not allowed to speak directly to the press. "The outcome is going to be the same."Yup, great way to "punish" a suicide attempt: to take away people's hope even more. I'm sure that'll work. Manning's hearing will be held later today and, hopefully someone with some level of common sense is involved in the decision making process.
Feelings of "hopelessness and helplessness" are hard to shake, she says.
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Filed Under: chelsea manning, leaks, solitary confinement, suicide, whistleblowers
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This is beyond the question of whether Manning should/shouldn't be serving the time.
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Because we have become a country that enjoys bullying, whether at home or abroad.
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Committing a felony is grounds for a court martial and dishonorable discharge, possibly incarceration in a military prison under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It certainly violates the oath to defend the constitution, since anyone who would commit acts of torture upon a prisoner meets the definition of a domestic enemy of the constitution.
Isn't it ironic that the people who are supposed to be protecting us from evils like that are the people committing them, and only getting away with it because they and their entire chain of command are hopelessly corrupt?
Do you feel safer, being 'protected' by that military?
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Re: Prisons and Military
Being a member of the American Military means the worst aspects of the American penal system.
Unfortunately for Manning If they stop punishing her they will need to say why, or at the very least someone will then ask why she is in prison, perhaps some higher rank will need to answer questions raised by the leaked documents
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Sounds like a B.F. Skinner experiment...
TL/DR Pretty much sounds to me like they want her to kill herself and are trying their best to achieve that goal without being shown to be complicit in the fact they are doing it.
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Re: Sounds like a B.F. Skinner experiment...
Oh wait, I forgot: this is about punishment, not prevention/rehabilitation.
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Re: Re: Sounds like a B.F. Skinner experiment...
Is it not appropriate to punish wrongdoers? I believe it is, and that's one of the stated goals (whatever you believe the actual goals to be) of the system.
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Re: Re: Re: Sounds like a B.F. Skinner experiment...
When my child sneaks a cookie when they shouldn't, or blabs at school about private information of others at home, my response is punishment on one hand and future prevention/rehabilitation on the other hand. The result is not that I lock them in their room indefinitely and randomly bring them out to grill them and humiliate them in front of the family. I talk to them privately, assess if they understand why what they did was wrong, work on some steps they can take to fix the situation as much as they are able, and give them a token punishment that will act as a future reminder not to behave in the way they did.
Believe it or not, children are people too.
Torturing wrongdoers just brings you down to (or sometimes below) their level. It serves no useful purpose to them, you, or society as a whole.
This is not, and has never been, about punishment... it has ALWAYS been about prevention. Unfortunately, the idea is to hold Manning up as an example of what can happen, to prevent anyone else from remotely considering taking similar actions in the future. Meanwhile, there appear to be no viable alternatives that will both effect change and not end in indefinite imprisonment/punishment/torture.
And this isn't just in the US Military; you'll see it in other government and corporate environments too.
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Re: Sounds like a B.F. Skinner experiment...
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Re: Re: Sounds like a B.F. Skinner experiment...
The blatantly fraudulent charges make it clear that they're not even pretending otherwise, they want people to see what happens to those that air the dirty laundry of those in charge, along with demonstrating that they are both willing and able to completely ignore the laws or rules whenever they want to in order to inflict as much suffering as possible.
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war on whistleblowers
This is about Obama's war on whistleblowers. No transparency, no accountability for the Executive Branch. They want to teach anyone who would blow the whistle on corruption that this is what happens to you if you do.
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Re: war on whistleblowers
Why can't it be both? I highly doubt Manning's treatment is out of the ordinary.
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-- Voltaire (Candide)
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It's no accident, no ignorance. It's pure evil. That's what's in your government.
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These people are monsters. Are the Americans ok with having monsters as their servants and representatives? Actually, I think I'm being unfair towards the monsters but I can't think of a worse way of describing the actions of the US Government in this case.
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a failure of so much and so many... the shame of it all
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Sadly, the step-up-the-torture candidate is still strong in the polls.
When will they ever learn / The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.
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cruel and inhumane
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Re: cruel and inhumane
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Bastille Day, USA?
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The Peter Thiel of the Justice system
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This reminds me of a bit in Bill, The Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
And Bill smiled to himself because that meant he still had options, because someone would rather he just snuffed it. If he did, it would be tidier mess than some other he could still make while alive. Bill just needed to figure out what that mess was, and he'd have some collateral with which to negotiate his way out.
Hold on, dear Chelsea. Hold on.
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Dear Edward Snowden,
Sincerely,
Barack Obama.
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There was a guy on Democratic Underground arguing for the government's policies with unusual persistence who randomly and apparently unthinkingly used pieces of Fed-speak like "Secure Reality" in a way that made it clear that where he comes from, this is part of the culture accepted without question, viewed with warm fuzzies and considered a Good Thing. He appeared to be unaware that other people do not think that way, and it might be giving him away. Are they just brainwashed military personnel who hang out there on their own free time, or is it their salaried position? And why is the number of upvotes so disproportionate to the number of people actually posting on each side? I wonder.
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If they could charge them with being a nazi or a communist they would just to throw anything at them.
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so wheres the blowing?
releasing a gunship video and thousands of others documents seemingly randomly and recklessly does not strike me whistleblowing.
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Ah the old "that's not really whistleblowing" trick.
That way doubt is instilled in other potential whistleblowers as to whether or not their revelations will be regarded as whistleblowey enough to be worthy of protection from those entities who were embarrassed and will seek to retaliate.
That should chill them off and keep them in their proper place.
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Re: so wheres the blowing?
Torturing someone to the point of suicide, and then ramping it up even more afterwards is unacceptable no matter who the person is or what they have been charged with.
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Re: Re: so wheres the blowing?
that depends on who you ask.
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punishment fits the crime
Perhaps she is being additionally punished for failing to commit suicide. Perhaps the punishment is designed to add a little incentive, such that, the next time she is allowed to commit suicide, she will succeed, and erase another messenger from the ranks of the Adversary Army.
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