Pentagon
Pentagon reportedly trying to transfer Manning to civilian
prison for gender treatment
In this undated photo provided by the U.S.
Army, Pfc. Chelsea Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick.
Manning emailed his military therapist the photo with a letter
titled, "My problem," in which he described his issues with gender
identity and his hope that a military career would "get rid of it."
(AP/U.S. Army)
WASHINGTON
– In an
unprecedented move, the Pentagon is trying to transfer convicted national
security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison so he can get
treatment for his gender disorder, defense officials said.
Manning, formerly named Bradley, was convicted
of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The soldier
has asked for hormone therapy and to be able to live as a woman.
The request was the first ever made by a
transgender military inmate and set up a dilemma for the Defense Department:
How to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing
military policy. Transgenders are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military and
the Defense Department does not provide such treatment, but Manning can't be
discharged from the service while serving his 35-year prison sentence.
Some officials have said privately that
keeping the soldier in a military prison and unable to have treatment could
amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last month gave
the Army approval to try to work out a transfer plan with the Federal Bureau of
Prisons, which does provide such treatment, two Pentagon officials said on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
"No decision to transfer Pvt. Manning to
a civilian detention facility has been made, and any such decision will, of
course, properly balance the soldier's medical needs with our obligation to
ensure she remains behind bars," Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John
Kirby said.
The two agencies are just starting
discussions about prospects for a transfer, the two officials said.
The Army has a memorandum of agreement with
the Bureau of Prisons for use of several hundred beds and has sent an average
of 15 to 20 prisoners a year to civilian prisons. But circumstances are
different in Manning's case. The Army normally transfers some prisoners to
federal prisons after all military appeals have been exhausted and discharge
from military service has been executed. Cases of national security interest
are not normally approved for transfer from military custody to the federal
prison system.
The former intelligence analyst was sentenced
in August for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses for giving
WikiLeaks more than 700,000 secret military and U.S. State Department
documents, along with battlefield video, while working in Iraq in 2009 and
2010. An Army general later upheld the convictions, clearing the way for an
appeal at the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.
After the conviction, Manning announced the
desire to live as a woman and to be called Chelsea, a name change that was
approved last month by a Leavenworth County District Judge and that the
military did not oppose.
The soldier has been diagnosed by military doctors
multiple times -- including last fall after arriving at the Fort Leavenworth,
Kan., prison -- with gender dysphoria, the sense of being a woman in a man's
body.
By November, a military doctor there had
approved a treatment plan, including hormone therapy, but it was sent higher up
the chain of command for consideration, according to a complaint filed by
Manning in March over the delay in getting treatment.
The plan the military was considering has not
been publicly released, but Manning said in the complaint that he had
specifically asked that the treatment "plan consider ... three types of
treatment."
Those were "real life experience"
-- a regimen in which the person tries dressing and living as the sex they want
to transition to (something not possible in the Leavenworth men's facility);
hormone therapy, which changes some physical traits such as breast and hair
growth; and sex reassignnment surgery. Manning has not been specific about
possible surgery, but experts in transgender health say it can include any of a
large number of procedures such as chest reconstruction, genital reconstruction
and plastic surgery such as facial reconstruction.
Hagel said Sunday that the prohibition on
transgender individuals serving in the armed forces "continually should be
reviewed." He didn't indicate whether he believes the policy should be
overturned but said "every qualified American who wants to serve our
country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do
it." A transgender individual is someone who has acquired the physical
characteristics of the opposite sex or presents himself or herself in a way
that does not correspond with that person's sex at birth.
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