Chelsea Manning threatened with 'indefinite solitary confinement' for expired toothpaste and asking

[kpete]

Last edited Thu Aug 13, 2015, 12:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Chelsea Manning threatened with 'indefinite solitary confinement' for expired toothpaste and asking for a lawyer

............

According to the Army, Chelsea swept food onto the floor in the prison mess hall (unclear if it was an accident or on purpose). Then, when pulled aside about the incident by a corrections officer afterwards, she said, among other things, "I want a lawyer." Afterwards, prison officials found "prohibited" books and magazines in her cell, including the now famous Vanity Fair with Caitlyn Jenner on the cover. She was also charged with having "expired toothpaste" in her possession. For this, she faces "indefinite solitary confinement."

This may sound like an exaggeration, but it's not. Below are the actual charges, word for word, from the Army.

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http://boingboing.net/2015/08/12/chelsea-manning-threatened-wit.html

[stone space]

1. Oh, good grief! I've smuggled math books into jail before.

When I got caught reading one of them about 3 weeks into my sentence, it was confiscated.

No solitary.

No punishment, except for the confiscation of contraband.

These are total bullshit charges.

[NaturalHigh]

8. When you're doing 35 years for espionage at Leavenworth...

this is not even unusual. It's military prison, not a club fed.

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. Its torture not punishment

[LiberalLovinLug]

21. Here is a petition and support site for her

http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=11573

FREE CHELSEA MANNING!

[sharp_stick]

2. That's the disciplinary barracks

They do not treat you well.

[Lee-Lee]

4. Yup. Prison has strict rules. Military prison has stricter rules

Such is life.

I had one of my Soldiers in Afghanistan act like an idiot and buy drugs from a local. He was busted, and his court martial gave him 30 days confinement.

He went to the military prison in Kuwait. From his story it was super strict, worse than basic training in the way every aspect of the day was managed, and every day the drove them into the desert where they filled sandbags and if any units needed sandbags they got them, if not they dumped them all out and did it again the next day.


Let's put it in protective.

Can't talk back, limited on what reading material she can have, have to follow rules and get in trouble for what seems like silly infractions- she dealt with worse than that in Basic Training, and you can certainly expect the Disciplinary Barracks to be worse than Basic Training.

[stevenleser]

6. Yep, worse than basic training, every day. That is how it was described to us.

Many folks here will probably not understand but how else would you put the fear of God in a bunch of rambunctious 18-21 year olds and make them obey orders. The threat of Leavenworth and similar institutions and what it's like there is one part of the way you do that.

[stevenleser]

3. Military prison is a place in which you do not want to find yourself.

That was drilled into us during Basic Training.

It's not like regular prison. It's existence is meant to be a deterrent to military folks to dissuade them from committing crimes while on active duty.

Any reasonable person would think that the punishment for what Manning did here is excessive. But that is exactly what they are going for with Leavenworth and other military prisons.

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. Its torture

don't defend it.

[hobbit709]

5. Expired toothpaste? They're really digging when they come up with something like that.

[Freelancer]

7. I feel so much safer knowing Chelsea Manning is behind bars (said facetiously) - nt

[rdking647]

9. its prison,its supposed to be unpleasent/miserable

whether she should be in prison or not is another issue but the fact is she is in prison.
its supposed to be unpleasant as a deterrent to returning.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. Horrible reaction!

Welcome to ignore.

[LanternWaste]

16. You confuse removing an offender from public

You confuse removing an offender from public (the actual punishment) with unpleasant and miserable conditions, two wholly separate concepts. A fatal flaw in an otherwise unsupported premise.

No doubt, you'll provide objective and substantive sources to better validate your allegation, yes?

[avaistheone1]

20. That just sounds simply cruel and psychologically damaging.

That kind of treatment creates damaged people who we may need to be afraid of when they return to society. imo

[damnedifIknow]

10. Solitary Confinement drives people mad

These charges don't justify turning a person into a drooling head case.

[Blue_Tires]

11. I saw Applebaum on twitter wishing for some

armed insurrectionists to storm the prison and "rescue" Manning...Classy...

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. Solitary confinement is consider torture

Solitary confinement isn't punishment. It's torture



The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has specifically condemned Woodfox’s treatment as torture and called on the United States to eliminate the use of prolonged isolation.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/02/solitary-confinement-isnt-punishment-its-torture


Why Solitary Confinement Is The Worst Kind Of Psychological Torture

Indeed, psychologist Terry Kupers says that solitary confinement "destroys people as human beings." A quick glance at literature review studies done by Sharon Shalev (2008) and Peter Scharff Smith (2006) affirms this assertion; here are some typical symptoms:

Anxiety: Persistent low level of stress, irritability or anxiousness, fear of impending death, panic attacks
Depression: Emotional flatness/blunting and the loss of ability to have any "feelings", mood swings, hopelessness, social withdrawal, loss of initiation of activity or ideas, apathy, lethargy, major depression
Anger: Irritability and hostility, poor impulse control, outbursts of physical and verbal violence against others, self, and objects, unprovoked angers, sometimes manifested as rage
Cognitive disturbances: Short attention span, poor concentration and memory, confused thought processes, disorientation
Perceptual distortions: Hypersensitivity to noises and smells, distortions of sensation


http://io9.com/why-solitary-confinement-is-the-worst-kind-of-psycholog-1598543595


Solitary Confinement A Form Of Torture.. inside Science


http://www.insidescience.org/content/solitary-confinement-form-torture/1569

[ShrimpPoboy]

17. Willing to bet

that indefinite solitary is the "maximum" punishment for almost any offence/violation, which basically just leaves the punishment to the discretion of the administrators.

[Sunlei]

18. Solitary Confinement is torture. Our society doesn't even tolerate zoos to use solitary confinement

with animals because it will make them insane.

[Takket]

19. completely absurd

1. Lie country into multi-trillion dollar war causing 100s of thousands of deaths: No action
2. Destroy global economy: No action
3. whistleblower with expired toothpaste: Solitary confinement
edit... okay so this is military prison, not civilian prison.... but that is still pretty absurd