
Chelsea Manning begins hunger strike: 'I need help' - Tomte
http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/9/12867164/chelsea-manning-hunger-strike-gender-dysphoria
======
cameldrv
Speaking as someone that doesn't condone her actions, solitary is torture.
What she's going through is awful. I'm not sure what her ability to access the
internet is, and she must be in a terrible mental state and just grasping for
some kind of help. If she's going on a hunger strike though, she needs a clear
list of demands. Saying she wants her jailers to be kind to her is never going
to happen. She's in a military prison and is seen (certainly by the prison
staff) as a traitor to the country. Hopefully her friends on the outside can
formulate a specific list of things she wants and is willing to end the hunger
strike if they are provided.

~~~
feklar
The media report wasn't very clear. First Manning is in solitary because of
the suicide attempt, which every prison does when an inmate tries to kill
themselves. You get put in a room under 24/7 surveillance with only a blanket
usually for 3 weeks evaluation and sometimes extended if you keep making
suicide threats.

The prison disallows any deviation from military grooming regulations. Manning
was in genpop, and repeatedly violated this regulation growing out
hair/wearing makeup ect so the prison kept pulling her privileges, plus
getting Manning thrown back in adseg as punishment. This is what all prisons
do when you get written up for minor violations of dress code, after there's
nothing left to restrict they just put you in solitary.

tl;dr Manning has won the right to transition to female while being
incarcerated through a lawsuit but the military doesn't know how to accomodate
this. I'm guessing Manning will get moved to one of the empty wings at
Leavenworth, and effectively be in solitary confinement with an entire wing to
herself. That will be the prison's concession, we have complied with the
lawsuit so here's your new prison to yourself as punishment because there
exists no political directives from Washington DC and the military can only
follow it's own rulebook.

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jaytaylor
I feel for her.

What can we actually do to help, beyond upvoting and discussing it?

~~~
binarray2000
Same here. It's disguisting what the "Beacon of Democracy and Freedom" does to
those who break the law to expose much bigger crimes.

If you're in the US you can write to your representative. Or organise a
movement. But, (as an outsider) I'd suspect, that the more you do, the more
you'll get your own life into trouble. But, I'll stand corrected if persuaded
to the contrary.

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endswapper
I am sympathetic to her cause and I think we can all universally support her
call for human respect and dignity.

I realized a few things from this article and from her: 1) It's too easy to
up-vote or give it a nod and move on 2) I'm generally ignorant about her story
and the issues around it 3) She is wildly courageous

One and two go hand-in-hand and I would blame myself for being complicit in
her dignity, respect or rights being violated. I started taking a look around
to learn more and understand more, and it is limited. This helped a little bit
([http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wikileaks-manning-
idUS...](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wikileaks-manning-
idUSKCN109044)). No surprise that most of the headlines are focused on
WikiLeaks, or her transition. So, if you have more information on her current
struggle, I'd be grateful if you shared it here.

Finally, I have to highlight her courage in releasing information related to
WikiLeaks, transitioning while in prison, and now, continuing to fight for
herself.

------
doe88
I don't understand how our democracies have led to so much instutionalized
cruelty, what's the goal? Deterrence? Does it make sense to be afraid of a
single individual to the point of depriving this person of so much? It's
really sad.

------
hackuser
It's hard to see - to open my eyes and see a person in this state - and let's
not forget that she's hardly the only one. We only know about Ms. Manning's
situation because she's famous.

Criminals should go to jail (I'm not referring to Ms. Manning's legal status,
just speaking generally), sometimes wars must be fought, but while we do what
is necessary we don't want to be a criminals or war-mongers ourselves, and
therefore we should treat even prisoners with respect and compassion.

I was reading elsewhere that prisons are cutting food to save money; it's
inhuman and criminal.

[http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/26/491236253/ram...](http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/26/491236253/ramen-
noodles-are-now-the-prison-currency-of-choice)

------
joesmo
If the idea behind the punishment of prison is to remove someone from society,
shouldn't that be enough? Why is our society accepting and in some cases even
encouraging things like torture, rape, solitary confinement, etc. for
prisoners? This status change to nonhuman begins upon accusation so it's not
even reserved for criminals.

Basically society says it's OK to do _anything_ to the accused and especially
to the convicted. In for panhandling or drinking in public? Our society agrees
that it's ok for you to get raped, beaten, maybe even murdered. After all, you
must have done something terrible to be in jail or prison. Even if you're
innocent.

