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NYT calls out DoD on missing Medical care for Manning

November 11, 2014 by the Chelsea Manning Support Network
On November 8th, the New York Times editorial board published a powerful editorial supporting Chelsea Manning’s request for gender-related health care and tearing down the Army for their continued failure to do so. Although Manning has made repeated requests for care since the first day of her sentence, the NYT times notes that, “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other officials continue to deny medically necessary care to Chelsea Manning”.
The NYT times adds that, “Civilian jails and prisons around the country are figuring out ways to meet the particular needs of transgender inmates. Surely, Mr. Hagel, who oversees the far more complicated logistics of war, can figure it out, too.”

Private Manning’s Missing Medical Care

By the New York Times Editorial Board, Nov. 8 2014

As a matter of constitutional rights and basic decency, prisoners — including military prisoners — are entitled to proper care for their serious medical conditions. Yet, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other officials continue to deny medically necessary care to Chelsea Manning, the military prisoner formerly known as Pfc. Bradley Manning, who was convicted in August 2013 of leaking a vast cache of classified government documents.

Her ill-treatment is no minor lapse. On the day after her sentencing to a 35-year prison term, Private Manning publicly declared herself a transgender woman, along with her wish to begin hormone therapy “as soon as possible.” Clinical evaluations since have confirmed the need for care that includes hormone treatment, psychotherapy with someone qualified to treat gender dysphoria, and access to grooming standards for female prisoners — allowing her to grow longer hair, for example, to express her gender identity. A failure to follow this standard protocol for people with Private Manning’s medical condition can have a dire impact — creating a growing risk of serious depression, self-mutilation and suicide.

The military’s backward policy against providing hormone therapy or sexual reassignment surgery has left Private Manning, who is incarcerated at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., without essential treatment for well over a year now. Repeated requests for treatment have been denied or totally ignored.

In September, Private Manning filed a federal lawsuit seeking to compel the missing medical treatment. The complaint filed on her behalf by lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union and her court-martial attorney, David Coombs, asserted that the withheld medical care amounts to a violation of her constitutionally protected rights.

The government’s reply brief is not due until Nov. 20 and a spokesman for the Justice Department, which is representing the Defense Department in the case, would not say whether the government will fight the suit or finally arrange to provide the withheld treatment. Continuing to deny it would be legally and morally wrong, and several federal appellate courts have found failures by states to meet the specialized needs of transgender prisoners to violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Transgender inmates are especially vulnerable to sexual assaults and special care must be taken to ensure their safety with accommodations like private showering, but without imposing an excessively isolated prison environment. Anger over Private Manning’s offense may add to safety worries. And it may be that the all-male prison at Fort Leavenworth is not the right institution for her. Civilian jails and prisons around the country are figuring out ways to meet the particular needs of transgender inmates. Surely, Mr. Hagel, who oversees the far more complicated logistics of war, can figure it out, too.

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