Chelsea Manning will spend seven days in solitary confinement for suicide attempt

It defies logic to punish and sentence a person to solitary confinement for attempting suicide. The only thing solitary confinement will do is encourage a person to try it again.  This makes no sense and is unjust.



Chelsea Manning will spend seven days in solitary confinement for suicide attempt:

Chelsea Manning was convicted on two of three charges in a disciplinary hearing yesterday. The sentence is fourteen days of solitary confinement, although seven days of the sentence will be suspended.

"I am feeling hurt," Manning wrote in a statement after the verdict. "I am feeling lonely. I am embarrassed by the decision. I don’t know how to explain it."

The charges result from Manning’s suicide attempt in July. Prison officials alleged the attempt constituted a threat to the safety and orderly function of the prison itself. Manning also faced a Prohibited Property charge as a result of an improperly labeled book found in her cell. Manning was ultimately acquitted of resisting the "Force Cell Move Team" that removed her from her cell after the attempt, but was found guilty of the other two charges.

Manning attributed the suicide attempt to the military’s long-standing refusal to grant her gender reassignment surgery. After a subsequent hunger strike from Manning, the military agreed to grant her request.