Chelsea Manning gender treatment will reportedly begin for the US document leaker, however, her gender-identity condition will be treated only inside a military facility. Since the Bureau of Prisons rejected the Army's request to accept the transfer of the national security leaker from the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to a civilian facility where she could receive better treatment, Chelsea Manning gender treatment will be handled by the military instead, reports BBC.
According to the Associated Press, Defence secretary Chuck Hagel recently approved the Army's recommendation of the Chelsea Manning gender treatment, formerly known as Bradley. However, Chelsea Manning gender treatment will be kept in military custody in the process. On Thursday, a defense official also said that Pte Manning will be beginning a rudimentary level of gender treatment under military custody.
The New York Post reports that the initial doses of Chelsea Manning gender treatment may include allowing her to wear female undergarments, as well as provision of some hormone treatments.
Manning is reportedly currently serving a 35-year sentence after having leaked classified files to Wikileaks. Military doctors diagnosed Manning of having gender dysphoria, a disease when a person's sense of one's gender is the opposite of what was given during birth.
Meanwhile, according to the NY Post, the decision of having Chelsea Manning gender treatment in a military facility has raised several questions on the level of treatment Manning will be receiving, as well as what point she would have to be transferred from the all-male prison to a female facility.
The Defense Department has argued repeatedly that civilian prisons can handle Chelsea Manning gender treatment and though they don't have the needed medical expertise. Consequently the Army tried to plan a transfer for Manning to a federal prison.
On Thursday, officials reportedly said that federal authorities refused the proposal.
After having been convicted in July 2013 on 20 charges after leaking military and diplomatic documents, Pte Chelsea Manning gender treatment has been requested by Manning herself, including hormone therapy. According to the BBC, she also asked to be allowed to live as a woman and legally change her name to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning from Bradley Edward Manning.
The AP reports that Manning used to be an intelligence analyst. Apparently, while working in Iraq in 2009 and 2010, she was sentenced in August for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses for providing WikiLeaks with more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents, as well as a battlefield video.
In May, David Coombs, Pte Manning's lawyer, threatened the Army with a lawsuit if she was not provided sex change therapy while in military prison.
Coombs did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the recent decision on changes with regard to Chelsea Manning gender treatment.
He said in a statement, 'It is common knowledge that the federal prison system cannot guarantee the safety and security of Chelsea in the way that the military prison system can.'
According to the AP, the Army sends an average of 15 to 20 prisoners a year to civilian prisons. However, Manning's appeals have not been exhausted since she is still in the military. Her case is also of national security interest, which is why she can still appeal. Reports say those are factors which normally could prevent a transfer.
In the complaint filed of Chelsea Manning gender treatment, Manning reportedly asked for a treatment plan which considers three types of measures - "real life experience." These include a regimen where the person tries dressing and living in the new gender; hormone therapy, changing several physical traits of the person; and sex reassignment surgery.
The proposed plan was reportedly not released and Manning has also not publicly said whether if she preferred surgery.
According to Nancy Hollander, the military is obligated to treat the soldier's "transgender issues," since she would also not be safe if transferred to a civilian prison for treatment.
The AP said that Chelsea Manning gender treatment request was the first by a transgender military inmate. Because of this, the department is on a dilemma on how to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy.
According to a court filing by Pte Manning's legal team in April, a judge granted her petition to change her name legally from Bradley to Chelsea. A military doctor at Fort Leavenworth has also approved a treatment plan by November 2013.
In a previous study by the Palm Center, there is an estimated 15,000 transgender US military members, as well as 130,000 veterans.
Chelsea Manning gender treatment, it appears, will continue for a long period as she cannot be discharged from military service until she serves her 35-year prison sentence.
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