"Manning ... now wears suicide-proof sleep suit"

[Clio the Leo]

Missed this in the news yesterday, guessing I'm not the only one.

Obama told Bradley Manning's prison treatment is 'appropriate' as it's revealed he now wears suicide-proof sleep suit

By SIMON NEVILLE
Last updated at 1:36 AM on 12th March 2011

The U.S. Army computer analyst, accused of leaking thousands of confidential memos to the Wikileaks website, is being treated 'appropriately' while in prison, Barack Obama has been told.

President Obama said he has been assured by Pentagon officials that the treatment of Bradley Manning has been ‘meeting our basic standards’.

It comes a day after it was revealed Manning now wears a suicide-proof sleep suit after complaining of the humiliation of being stripped naked each night and is still on 23 hour-a-day lockdown.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365493/Pentagon-tells-Obama-Bradley-Mannings-prison-treatment-appropriate--gets-just-hour-outside-cell.html

Granted, it's not very fashionable which, by itself is a form of torture...

[RandomThoughts]

1. It could meet minimum standards of how someone could be treated.

Here is the thing, many people 'treated' that way are due beer and travel money, or some similar equivalent, and the concept that they can be held or treated at some minimum level, or that being just. Is part of the problem.

Is a kidnapper that treats someone at some minimum standard just?

It is not always about the treatment, but weather the entire concept of being in such a situation is just.

[Lucinda]

4. "...but weather the entire concept of being in such a situation is just."

Agreed.

[Clio the Leo]

8. well, I dont think the suit in itself is inhumane....

... so that leaves the solitary ... something not unique to Bradley.

So if your problem is with the system as a whole that's one thing, but it would seem unfair to pin decades of treatment on prisoners (most of who were not nearly as cute and adorable as Bradley is) on Obama.

[Lucinda]

2. Did the article say when they gave him the sleep suit?

I tried to scan the page but my eyeballs are about to fall out of my head. Realllly sleepy.

[Tx4obama]

5. He got the sleep-suit at least one day before Obama's statement.

That's what the OP insinuated.

[Clio the Leo]

9. no, it "was revealed he got the suit" 1 day before Obama's statement...

.... he could have had it since last Monday for all we know.

[Tx4obama]

13. Read what I said.

I said that it had to have been 'at LEAST one day before Obama's statement'.
That means it was not today and not yesterday.

[Clio the Leo]

14. you sure did. nt

[Tx4obama]

3. Hopefully now we will see all the folks that bashed President Obama apologize. n/t

[donheld]

24. For what, complaining about torture?

[vaberella]

27. For complaining that Manning was being tortured, which is blatantly false. n/t

[Exilednight]

42. It's not false. Read the article a bit more closely. n/t

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[donheld]

45. Yours?

[Kalun D]

6. Driven

How does "appropriate treatment" drive someone to thoughts of suicide?

[Clio the Leo]

10. just based on the article with his father...

... if that's any indication, homeboy has issues and has had them since long before he enlisted. (and by "issues" I dont mean that as a slam against him)

[vaberella]

28. Being never to roam the streets free or eating what you want when you want---

That can bring on thoughts of suicide. It's just a form of despair. And in Quantico---you're basically put in cell by yourself. Torture is not the only thing that can bring on thoughts of suicide. But also guilt---is another fact. I think you're looking at this---in a very narrowed way.

[karynnj]

39. I know people who were at times suicidal, because they were depressed

- even though they were in families that deeply loved them and gave them every opportunity they could.

It is also possible, that when this 20 something looks at the potential sentences, he realizes that he might have thrown away any chance of a normal life. Throw in that in solitary, he might have nothing to distract him from contemplating this.

[Chan790]

40. You are aware...

there is a just-about-100%-chance that he's never going to be free again even a single day in his life, right?

That there is an outside chance he might be executed?

That one might classify his odds of not being found "guilty" as almost non-existent.

Yeah, I can't see why that would make anybody suicidal.

[Tx4obama]

7. Clio, I am hoping you will post this in regular GD too, so more folks will see it. n/t

[Clio the Leo]

12. nah, folks can investigate the matter just like I did....

.... if they want to hear one side of the story and use that to bash the President that's on them.

I went looking for a statement on the matter from someone other than Fire Dog Lake ... and I found it .... buried, but I found it.

[RufusTFirefly]

11. Great. We've now swallowed the whole "suicide" meme whole. Thus...

... any subsequent story that alleges mistreatment will be analyzed through the filter of "but it was for his own good."

Henceforward, anyone voicing concerns about Manning's treatment simply wants him to be left alone so he can commit suicide. How brutal. And insensitive! Thank Dog for the compassionate Administration!

Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Tx4obama]

15. According to his father, he has not ever told his father that he has been mistreated.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x638799

[Clio the Leo]

16. that's not what I got from the interview...

... specifically "he’s being humiliated by having to stand at attention in front of people" .... but as I said in another post, I'm not totally clear on what people (on the internet) are calling mistreatment. Is it the nudity? The solitary? ..... I think there are some who will think he's "mistreated" as long as he's under arrest.

[Tx4obama]

17. Hmmm.... I don't know how you missed it :)

SNIP

MARTIN SMITH: How many times have you visited him?

BRIAN MANNING: Approximately eight or nine times.

MARTIN SMITH: During those visits, has he ever mentioned any complaint of any kind to you?

BRIAN MANNING: No. I always, you know, am conscientious enough to look him straight in the eyes and ask him a direct question. How are they treating you? Are you sleeping? Is the food OK? And he’s always responded that: Things are just fine.

MARTIN SMITH: How does he look?

BRIAN MANNING: He looks good.

MARTIN SMITH: And he doesn’t complain about being shackled?

BRIAN MANNING: No. He doesn’t complain at all about anything.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x638799

p.s. Everything before the SNIP was about what the father 'read in a statement that was put out by his civilian attorney' - not 'what he TOLD his father'.

[Clio the Leo]

19. lol except that "he's being humiliated..."

look, I think you and I generally agree on this matter but 1. his father seems to be a fruit loop and 2. I think the "mistreatment" the father was referring involved electric shock or bamboo to the fingernails or being beaten or something.

[Tx4obama]

22. Well, we will have to agree to disagree ....

Manning did NOT tell his father that he was being humiliated.
The first part of that article states what the father read in the attorney's statement.
The second part is 'what Manning told his father'.

I do NOT see any where in that article where it says that Manning told his father that there was any mistreatment at all.

Where are you seeing that? ---> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x638799

[RufusTFirefly]

18. Hmmm. So what is the source/motivation of stories that say definitively that he IS being mistreated?

I'd love to hear your opinion/evidence/explanations.

:popcorn:

[Clio the Leo]

20. oh *I* will take that one!

Jane Hamsher .... and because she hates Obama. lol .... easy peasy

[RufusTFirefly]

21. Good answer! That Hamsher sure is powerful!!

Her petty vendetta against our President has initiated investigations by Amnesty International and the United Nations into the treatment of Manning.

We bow in awe of Jane.

[Luminous Animal]

43. From the letter that Manning wrote. He himself describes his mistreatment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/bradley-manning-strip-clothing-prison

"The determination to strip me of all my clothing every night since 2 March 2011 is without justification and therefore constitutes unlawful pretrial punishment.

Under my current restrictions, in addition to being stripped at night, I am essentially held in solitary confinement. For 23 hours per day, I sit alone in my cell. The guards check on me every five minutes during the day by asking me if I am OK. I am required to respond in some affirmative manner.

At night, if the guards cannot see me clearly, because I have a blanket over my head or I am curled up towards the wall, they will wake me in order to ensure that I am OK. I receive each of my meals in my cell. I am not allowed to have a pillow or sheets. I am not allowed to have any personal items in my cell. I am only allowed to have one book or one magazine at a time to read. The book or magazine is taken from me at the end of the day before I go to sleep. I am prevented from exercising in my cell. If I attempt to do push-ups, sit-ups, or any other form of exercise I am forced to stop.

Finally, I receive only one hour of exercise outside of my cell daily. My exercise is usually limited to me walking figures of eight in an empty room."

[vaberella]

29. It's not a meme, it's true. Even his lawyer said it.

What are you trying to get at here?! The lawyer did say he was being sarcastic. But you don't joke around when dealing with these people. You talk straight or they take you seriously. So there is not swallowing anything.

[pacalo]

23. May as well put a potato sack on him. The "suicidal"'tag is being used to justify

humiliating him & making him feel further isolated by having him wear a "special" dorky outfit. His doctor said he was not suicidal.

[MADem]

25. A nefarious guard

will have a harder time stringing him up to make it LOOK like suicide if he's wearing that get-up every night.

You can look at this from more than one angle.

[pacalo]

26. Don't underestimate their resourcefulness. But from what I've read, the guards would more

likely taunt him constantly, perhaps even providing a potato sack 2 or 3 sizes too large (or small) for ultimate entertainment.

[vaberella]

30. His lawyer even said he made a comment about killing himself.

Quantico authorities took him seriously. And let's say he was serious and he killed himself. Then people would be on their ass that he wasn't taken seriously when he should have. A doctor doesn't know all---when the kid is opening his mouth and talking about committing suicide.

[Azathoth]

32. Bingo. If he had killed himself, the same people on here would be screaming that it was murder

Manning shot his mouth off and gave the authorities justification for putting him on suicide watch. Story over.

[treestar]

34. Amen! I've been making this point.

And it goes ignored or they admit that no matter what happens, it's the government's fault.

And you can bet that they would be using the exaggerated term "murder."

Some people just cannot seem to use moderate language!

[pacalo]

37. Let's open the window to let some fresh, non-talking points, common sense into the discussion

about "what if" Bradley committed suicide.

Ask yourself this: Even if Bradley had any tools in his cell that would enable him to commit suicide, there are guards right outside his door who are watching him 24/7. Harrassment is the name of the game.

[The Backlash Cometh]

33. Good. I said as much. They should put him in a suicide proof jumper.

That was immensely better than hearing that he was forced to strip naked every night--and that the president approved of that treatment.

[Scurrilous]

35. Looks comfy.

:thumbsup:

[Tarheel_Dem]

36. I hope he gets treated well, but he's a law breaker, and what happened to him....

happens to many thousands more, in penal institutions, on a daily basis. Why the outrage now? :shrug: Is it because he's a "clean cut" GI? And white? :shrug:

[politicasista]

38. +1 n/t

[verges]

46. No. Because he hasn't even been indicted. nt

[Ikonoklast]

47. He's been charged.

And being held under those charges.


Do you know that there are people charged with a crime and incarcerated who are involved in a complex criminal case sometimes take months to get indicted?

And some of them aren't even Bradley Manning.

[ClarkUSA]

41. Wearing that, Manning could die of embarrassment, I suppose...

:P

[rug]

44. That's an isolation jump suit. This is used to prevent suicides.