Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. Army soldier who was convicted of violating the Espionage Act, is facing indefinite solitary confinement from several charges including being discovered with contraband such as the Vanity Fair featuring Caitlyn Jenner on the cover.
Manning faces four charges including disrespect, disorderly contact and medicine misuse after officials discovered an expired tube of toothpaste in her cell, according to a statement on ChelseaManning.org out Wednesday.
Manning is currently facing 35 years in prison after leaking a trove of classified documents to Wikileaks.
The statement said Manning received the books legally through the prison’s open mail system.
“The catalyst for this attack on Chelsea seems to have been an incident in the mess hall where she may have pushed, brushed, or accidentally knocked, a small amount of food off of her table. She then asked to speak to her lawyer when confronted by a guard. The absurd charges were tacked on later,” the statement said.
Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning and was born male, said two years ago that she is female. She eventually filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming she “has been denied access to medically necessary treatment” for her gender disorder.
The statement said Manning regularly publishes op-eds in the Guardian writing about transgender rights, the prison system and government transparency. She recently won the ability to begin hormone therapy after threatening to sue the military.
“These absurd charges against Chelsea, and the outrageous threat of indefinite solitary confinement, are clearly an attempt to silence Chelsea’s important voice and cut her off from the outside world,” the statement said. “We have to make sure this attempt to silence Chelsea not only fails, but backfires.”
The post features a petition condemning the military’s treatment of Manning.