The Mayer Law Blog

How will the USDB handle Chelsea?

Posted August 29th, 2013 in Military Law

What do you do if you are the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the place where Bradley Manning will, presumably, be incarcerated. Via Today.

Bradley Manning, the Army private sentenced to military prison for leaking classified documents, revealed he intends to live out the remainder of his life as a woman.

“I am Chelsea Manning. I am female,” the Army private wrote in a statementread on TODAY Thursday. “Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition.”

Manning, 25, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday after having been found guilty of 20 charges ranging from espionage to theft for leaking more than 700,000 documents to the WikiLeaks website while working in Iraq in 2010.

“I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility),” he continued in the statement. “I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.”

Manning signed the letter “Chelsea E. Manning.”

I’ve never researched the policies of the USDB in handling those with male genitalia who claim to be female or requests for elective medical procedures. It will be interesting to see what happens.



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