President Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning's Prison Sentence

FORT LEAVENWORTH, KS — Chelsea Manning, an Army private convicted of releasing millions of military and diplomatic documents to WikeLeaks, will be released in four months rather than serving her original 35-year sentence under a commutation announced Tuesday by the White House.

Manning's sentence was commuted to expire on May 17 rather than in 2045. The commutation came as part of a larger round announced by President Obama. In the last days of his presidency, Obama has announced 209 commutations and 64 pardons. Another high profile pardon granted by Obama was to retired Gen. David Cartwright, who was charged with making false statements during a probe of a leak of classified information.

Manning's time in prison had come under scrutiny and her alleged mistreatment led her to attempt suicide twice. Her incarceration was complicated by the fact that she is a transgender woman serving time at the male military penitentiary.

Speculation had been swirling about whether Obama would commute Manning's sentence. Manning formally asked Obama to commute the sentence last year. Asked about the president's decision to grant Manning's request and that of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters there was a stark difference between the two, with Manning being someone who went through the military criminal justice process while Snowden, "fled into the arms of an adversary."

“I’m relieved and thankful that the president is doing the right thing and commuting Chelsea Manning’s sentence,” Chase Strangio, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT Project representing Manning, said in a statement. “Since she was first taken into custody, Chelsea has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement — including for attempting suicide — and has been denied access to medically necessary health care. This move could quite literally save Chelsea’s life, and we are all better off knowing that Chelsea Manning will walk out of prison a free woman, dedicated to making the world a better place and fighting for justice for so many.”

Speaker of the house Paul Ryan called Manning's commutation "outrageous."

On Thursday, WikiLeaks tweeted that if Obama granted Manning clemency, Julian Assange would agree to extradition to the U.S.

After being arrested in 2010, Manning publicly spoke out about her treatment for the first time in 2011 through a letter released by her lawyer.

"I was stripped of all clothing with the exception of my underwear. My prescription eyeglasses were taken away from me and I was forced to sit in essential blindness," an excerpt from the 2011 letter said.

Manning decided to transition from man to woman a day after her sentencing. The Army approved hormone treatment for Manning in 2015, however she was not allowed to grow her hair. She went on a hunger strike in the fall of 2016, ending it when the Army agreed to medically prescribed treatment for her gender dysphoria.

Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for leaking government documents to WikiLeaks.

Some of the most damaging documents leaked by Manning included a video that showed a U.S. Army helicopter firing on people in Iraq, including journalists from Reuters. The leaks also included a series of war logs and state department cables that led to strained diplomatic relations around the globe.

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Image via White House