Chelsea Manning, who will appear in our upcoming September issue, is being threatened with "indefinite" solitary confinement for allegedly being found with a tube of expired toothpaste, as well as copies of the Malala Yousafzai memoir, a novel about trans women, Out magazine, the US Senate report on torture and the Vanity Fair issue with Caitlyn Jenner on the cover.
Manning, formerly known as Private Bradley Manning, is currently serving a 35-year sentence in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth for leaking classified government documents from her time as an intelligence analyst for the US Army. However, these recent "violations" of custody rules have been refuted by her lawyers as a form of harassment, as she was apparently accused of showing "disrespect,""disorderly conduct" for sweeping food onto the floor, possessing "prohibited property" (i.e. the aforementioned literature) and for "medicine misuse" (her toothpaste which expired in April).
According to Manning's lawyer, Nancy Hollander, all of these materials came to her legally and the other charges of "disrespect" (which purportedly referenced Manning's request to have her lawyer present after being accused of something by a prison officer) are "utterly ridiculous."
[h/t The Guardian]