Chelsea Manning, a U.S. soldier serving 35 years in military prison for leaking classified information, has been sentenced to 14 days solitary confinement after trying to kill herself in July.
Manning, a transgender woman seeking gender reassignment surgery, said in a statement that she felt hurt, lonely, and embarrassed by the decision, Time reported. “I don’t know how to explain it,” Manning said.
Manning was found guilty of “conduct which threatens” for her suicide attempt and “prohibited property” for having an unauthorized book, “Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy” by Gabriella Coleman. Seven of her 14 days are suspended, but if Manning gets in trouble in the next six months, she will have to serve them at that point.
Manning did not indicate whether she will appeal the sentence, which she has 15 days to do.
The Army declined to comment on the ruling, according to Reuters.
ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, who is representing Manning, didn’t understand the logic of “our systems of incarceration punishing people with the cruelty of solitary confinement for attempting to end their life,” Reuters reported.
Manning is in prison for providing more than 700,000 documents and other materials to WikiLeaks, which is the biggest leak of classified materials in U.S. history. She could be paroled after serving just seven years of her sentence, however.
Other leakers like the CIA’s Edward Snowden remain at large, though Snowden would have also been arrested if he hadn’t taken refuge outside the U.S.
The military is moving forward with Manning’s request for gender reassignment surgery. Manning had been on a hunger strike until last week, when the military agreed to give her gender dysmorphia treatment. She was born as Bradley Manning.
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