Supporters Say Chelsea Manning Has Been in Solitary Confinement Since Early March
LatestChelsea Manning has allegedly been in solitary confinement since she was sent back to prison on March 8, and her supporters are calling for her to be moved.
“We condemn the solitary confinement that Chelsea Manning has been subjected to during her incarceration at William G Truesdale adult detention center,” the group Chelsea Resists! wrote in a statement.
Manning has reportedly been held in what is known as administrative segregation, or “adseg;” a banal term that apparently translates to spending up to 22 hours each day in isolation. According to the group,
“Chelsea can’t be out of her cell while any other prisoners are out, so she cannot talk to other people, or visit the law library, and has no access to books or reading material. She has not been outside for 16 days. She is permitted to make phone calls and move about outside her cell between 1 and 3 a.m.
“The jail says keeping ‘high-profile’ prisoners in adseg is policy for the protection of all prisoners, but there is no reason to believe jail officials view Chelsea as either a target or a risk. If Truesdale wants to prioritize Chelsea’s health and welfare, as they consistently claim, then they should make sure she is able to have contact with other people in the jail.”
Manning was found in contempt after refusing to testify about the classified U.S. documents she sent to WikiLeaks in 2010 when she was a Army intelligence analyst. She said she objected to the secret nature of the grand jury process, and that she had already revealed everything she knew.
Dana Lawhorne, sheriff of the city of Alexandria, said that the accusations that Manning was being held in solitary were “not accurate or fair.”