WikiLeaker Bradley Manning "Very Annoyed" With "Torturous" Solitary Confinement

From The Blaze and The Patriot Update:

Crime


WikiLeaker Bradley Manning ‘Very Annoyed’ With ‘Torturous’ Solitary Confinement

Posted on December 15, 2010 at 6:45pm by Meredith Jessup Print » Email » Is Pfc. Bradley Manning actually being tortured?



According to left-leaning Salon.com, yes. But according to most reasonable people, absolutely not.



As you may know, Army Private Bradley Manning stands accused of leaking tens of thousands of classified national security documents to WikiLeaks to publish on the internet. The 22-year-old has been detained at the U.S. Marine brig in Quantico, Va., for five months after being arrested and held in a military jail in Kuwait. According to Fox News, Manning was exposed after bragging he was the one who leaked classified videos and hundreds of thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables.



Pfc. Manning was charged on July 5 with four specifications under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for violating Army Regulation 25-2 (Information Assurance Policy), and eight specifications under Article 134 for violating federal statutes related to the receipt of classified information (18 U.S.C. 793) and wrongful access of a government computer (18 U.S.C. 1030).



But while he remains in military custody, some of Mannings’ sympathizers are supporting him from outside his jail cell.

On Wednesday, Salon’s Greg Greenwald wrote about the “inhumane conditions” of Manning’s detention, claiming the detainee’s solitary confinement and inability to read newspaper or surf the internet amount to “torture.”

From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day — for seven straight months and counting — he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he’s barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he’s being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs. …

In sum, Manning has been subjected for many months without pause to inhumane, personality-erasing, soul-destroying, insanity-inducing conditions of isolation… Just by itself, the type of prolonged solitary confinement to which Manning has been subjected for many months is widely viewed around the world as highly injurious, inhumane, punitive, and arguably even a form of torture.

An organization founded to provide funding for Manning’s legal defense calls his detention “unjust” and has even set up a campaign to send the imprisoned Private holiday greetings. Meanwhile, Huffington Post reports that Manning himself is “very annoyed” with his current situation.







“We were aware of those situations and we were hoping that they would improve without applying public pressure through the media,” Jeff Paterson, who runs Manning’s legal defense fund, told The Huffington Post. “His attorney and supporters were hoping that this could be taken care of through the appropriate channels.”



Paterson says that Manning is “very annoyed” at the conditions of his confinement, adding that he is primarily upset at his inability to exercise. “He sits in this small box, for the most part only to take a shower – he just sits and eats and four months have gone by.”



Manning may face additional charges and his trial date will be set after the military conducts a thorough assessment of his mental state and ability to stand trial.