If Wikileaks Prisoner Bradley Manning Is Being Tortured So Are All Suicidal Prisoners
A READER writes on the treatment of Bradley Manning, the US soldier who allegedly gave secret to Wikileaks. He’s being kept in isolation, Every night he must strip. In the morning he must stand outside his cell and wait for his clothes to be delivered. Is he getting the Guantanamo treatment or just the routine punishment handed out to all at-risk prisoners in the US?
Anorak, you ask above: “Does anyone sane – and that might not include Manning if this goes on for much longer – believe that explanation?” as pertaining to the Marine spokesman’s explanation of why Manning is stripped of clothing at night.
I will not address your unfair playing with your words “does anyone sane”; however, I will make some comments on whether or not I believe the Marine Spokesman’s explanation as to why Manning is stripped of clothing at night.
Read on:
Yes, I do believe his statement as for the reason why Manning is being stripped every night; as he is facing a minimum life in prison and possibly the death penalty with the charges brought against him and the additional charges that were brought against him last Wednesday. He would be far from the first prisoner in our prison system nor the last to try to take his own life rather than spend the rest of his life surrounded by bars in a jail cell and/or sit all alone day after day waiting for his execution date.
“TORTURED” – the press and others claim it is a deliberate act of TORTURING Manning by taking his clothes away at night! It is incredible that something that is NOT that uncommon to have happen to prisoners in our Federal Prison System who may be considered at risk for suicide to have their clothing taken at night; yet have it happen to Manning, and the Press and others start screaming in bold printed headlines and press conferences the US is TORTURING Manning!
Paul, the acquaintance I have and contacted re this story on Manning being so-called Tortured, who spent five years as a ‘guest’ at one of our Federal Prisons, came by this morning and I talked with him about your article and asked if he’d mind telling me for Anorak what does go in the Federal Prisons System re stripping the prisoners of their clothes and under what circumstances…
He said when a person walks through the Federal Prison doors they are given a number and no longer have their name – their number becomes their name. He said “we no longer have a life of our own, we belong to the Government.” Every minute of every day their life is controlled by the Government.
He laughed when I told him Manning being stripped of his clothes was being called Torture. He said anyone in the Prison who is thought to be at risk to commit suicide, whether a Prison Doctor diagnosed them as a potential suicide or they showed signs of depression that could lead to suicide, their clothes are taken away. He said some are given paper clothing to wear and others are naked in their jail cells 24/7. He said it was not unusual when walking past rows of cells to see the Prisoners in the cells naked. Blankets are given to the Prisoners at night and those who are considered a suicide risk have the same set up Manning has making it to impossible to take their own lives. He pointed out that there are prisoners who take their blankets and deliberately shove them down their toilet in their cell to back it up and blankets are taken away from them from that point on. –There are cameras in all the cells and the prisoners are monitored 24/7 when in their cells. So I asked him “then you see nothing wrong with taking a prisoners clothes away?”. He said “you broke a Federal Law, you go to a Federal Prison and you belong to the Government and you live by their Rules“.
So people say Manning is being TORTURED by taking away his clothes?
Discuss…
Posted: 7th, March 2011 | In: Politicians Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
