Bradley Manning Might Get Solitary Confinement For Bad Behavior

Remember Bradley Manning? The guy who turned against his own country, got tossed into the clink, and declared himself a woman? He’s back in the news. No fairy tale about a beautiful, persecuted princess is complete without a wicked villain, and in this case that villain’s name is Leavenworth.

The following story, by Eric M. Johnson at Reuters, contains a number of typos. I’ve taken the liberty of fixing them:

Chelsea Bradley Manning, a soldier imprisoned for leaking classified U.S. information to pro-transparency site WikiLeaks, could face solitary confinement on charges she he violated prison rules by having prohibited reading material, her his attorney said on Wednesday…

The former intelligence analyst, who was born a man but identifies as a woman, is serving a 35-year sentence at an all-male military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas…

Manning has been charged with a number of disciplinary infractions and will attend a hearing before a three-person discipline adjustment board on Aug. 18 at the prison, attorney Nancy Hollander said.

The alleged disciplinary infractions on July 2 and July 9 included attempted disrespect, the possession of prohibited books and magazines while under administrative segregation, medicine misuse pertaining to expired toothpaste and disorderly conduct for pushing food onto the floor, Hollander said.

I don’t know what “attempted disrespect” means, and the toothpaste thing seems silly. But can you guess what was among that prohibited reading material? Go ahead, guess.

Yep:

Keeping such contraband out of Mr. Manning’s hands — which no amount of hormones or surgery or nail polish will ever magically transform into the hands of a woman — is an act of mercy. Enabling Manning’s delusion that he’s a woman doesn’t help him. It only prolongs his misery.

This guy is in federal prison, not Club Med. He doesn’t just get to do whatever he wants. Hell, he’s lucky he hasn’t been executed for treason. He should count his blessings.

Maybe some time in solitary will help him sort out that mixed-up head of his. But I hope they still let him tweet!