Charles Dickens knew a little about hard times and harsh conditions. This is what he said about solitary confinement:
I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers...I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain, to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body: and because its ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye and sense of touch as scars upon the flesh; because its wounds are not upon the surface, and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore I the more denounce it, as a secret punishment which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay.
Solitary confinement is "rigid, strict, and hopeless...cruel and wrong," said Dickens.
Why is PFC Bradley Manning being held in solitary confinement, being tortured, at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, USA? He has been held in solitary at Quantico since July, 2010, on charges of a crime of which he has not been convicted, nor even tried. Is he not innocent until proved guilty? Can solitary confinement be made worse? Yes, you can be a Maximum Custody Detainee, on Prevention of Injury (POI) watch, and suicide watch. You can't get any more restrictive than that.
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| PFC Bradley Manning |
Manning has been held in solitary confinement with Maximum Custody and a POI order since his arrival at Quantico. He spends twenty-three hours a day in a 6 by 12 foot cell that has no window and has only a bare bed, a sink, and a toilet. He leaves that cell for one hour in an exercise room, where he walks figure eights for up to an hour if he can stand the monotony. If he attempts to exercise in his cell, he is forced to stop. No sit-ups, no push-ups are allowed. Manning may receive approved visitors on some weekends and holidays. Jane Hamsher of the progressive FireDogLake could not see him. As a Maximum Custody prisoner, he must go to all visits, even those with his attorney, with hands and legs in shackles. There is no practical or legal reason for him to be a Maximum Custody Prisoner. And he is the only one present at Quantico now. It's harrassment.
Bradley's POI is similarly unmotivated. Prison psychologists and psychiatrists have certified that there is no need to protect Manning from himself, yet the watch order remains in place, in my opinion, because of the added restrictions, repression, and torture it makes possible for his keepers. Manning's POI order means that he is denied a pillow or sheets for his bed and that he must sleep in boxer shorts and surrender his clothes to guards each night. But at least he can wear clothes during the day. He is allowed to wear his glasses most of the time and to watch TV part of each day. In the evening, he is given pen and paper to write letters, and he is permitted an evening shower. He is allowed to have only one approved book or magazine in his cell at a time, which must be returned to his guards at bedtime. He is alone. Totally alone with a bed with no sheets or pillow. He receives all of his meals alone in his cell, and there are no other inmates near his cell. He seldom if ever comes in contact with other prisoners. His guards do not engage in conversation with him.
Manning's POI status requires his guards to check on him every five minutes, even throughout the night, and he must be visible at all times. If he is not, if he is sleeping curled up and can't be clearly seen, he must be awakened with lights and noise, thus POI inevitably results in sleep deprivation. And now he is being forcibly given antidepressant in an attempt to keep his mind from completely snapping. He is in a situation that can kill men's souls.
He is given a blanket, but Bradley's blanket is of a weight similar to the lead aprons you wear at the dentist's office for x-rays, and it is of the texture of a piece of carpet, according to David House of MIT, who was able to visit Manning for a time. He has carpet burns from moving under his blanket in his sleep. Can it be worse? Yes, he can be on suicide watch, too.
The Quantico brig commander illegally imposed a suicide watch on Manning; only medical personnel can legally instigate these orders. Under suicide watch, Manning was in his cell twenty-four hours a day. He lost his one hour out per day for exercise. He was stripped of his clothing around the clock and forced to sit in only his underwear all day. There is no chair. There is nothing to sit on but the bed, the floor, the toilet. His glasses were taken from him, leaving him effectively blind. Even the coarse, heavy blanket was gone. There was no medical or psychiatric reason for a suicide watch; it simply allowed the maximum restriction of freedom and the maximum punishment. After two and a half days, the illegal order was lifted.
Why is all this being done to Manning? Why is he being punished even before his trial? Why is he the only prisoner at Quantico under Maximum Security and POI even though he has been convicted of nothing and has broken no rules or caused no trouble? Why was an illegal suicide watch placed on man who was not suicidal?
It is because of the crime with which he is charged. Manning is suspected of passing secrets to Julian Assange of Wikileaks. Never mind that the government has been able to find no link between the two men, no link at all. Never mind that they have nothing on Manning or Assange. They appear to be trying to break Manning, to get him to testify against Assange, even if the testimony is false, because as yet they have found no legal ways to get Assange. They are willing to drive this poor, 23-year-old private insane, a young man who may or may not be guilty, before he ever goes to trial.
This is not the Bush-Cheney Administration. This is the Democratic Obama-Biden Administration. The is torture. And it is pre-trial torture on a young man who is innocent until proven guilty. One of our service members. This is America. I think I am going to be sick.
When asked about Manning during a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claimed to know little about the situation. Apparently the White House needs to be told a few things.
Thursday, February 4, is National White House Call-In Day for Bradley Manning. If you thing PFC Manning should be treated humanely and not punished unless and until he is found guilty of something, please call the White House Comments Line on Thursday at 202-456-1111.
Even if you think Manning leaked documents to Wikileaks, even if you think that deserves punishment, severe punishment, if you are an American, you know that punishment comes AFTER a trial and conviction and not before. Where is our much beloved presumption of innocence? Moreover, all of us should be alarmed at the abuse of medicine for political motives. It was the Soviets who abused psychiatry, consigning dissidents to mental institutions, saying they were insane when they merely disagreed with the party line. Let's not sell our souls like we did after 9/11 in the heat of emotion. The rule of law must prevail, or we all lose.
You'll find a link to Amnesty International's letter to Defense Sec. Robert Gates
here.
