Write Chelsea Your Messages of Support
Chelsea Manning remains under a doctor’s care, after she was hospitalized earlier in July. She currently cannot make phone calls to her friends, family, or lawyers, but can receive your messages of support by mail.
CHELSEA E. MANNING 89289
1300 NORTH WAREHOUSE ROAD
FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS 66027-2304
On Wednesday, an unnamed Army source informed the media Chelsea had been hospitalized. Not much is known about the reason for her hospitalization, or her current condition. Read more here.
This morning, Chelsea’s attorney Nancy Hollander released the following statement:
July 6, 2016
The prison has notified us that Chelsea was hospitalized and remains under a doctor’s care. At this time her doctors are recommending against a call. We are respecting those recommendations but are in close touch with the facility and will continue to monitor her condition and hope to connect with her soon.To protect her privacy, that is all we can say at the moment. Please continue to send Chelsea your good thoughts and messages of support.
Thank you for supporting WikiLeaks whistle-blower US Army Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning! You can write her today. As of April 23, 2014, a Kansas district judge has approved PVT Manning’s request for legal name change, and you can address your envelopes to her as “Chelsea E. Manning.”
Mail must be addressed exactly as follows:
CHELSEA E. MANNING 89289
1300 NORTH WAREHOUSE ROAD
FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS 66027-2304
Notes regarding this address:
- Do not include a hash (“#”) in front of Manning’s inmate number.
- Do not include any title in front of Manning’s name, such as “Ms.,” “Mr.,” “PVT,” “PFC,” etc.
- Do not include any additional information in the address, such as “US Army” or “US Disciplinary Barracks.”
- Do not modify the address to conform to USPS standards, such as abbreviating “North,” “Road,” “Fort,” or “Kansas.”
- For international mail, either “USA” or “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” are acceptable on a separate line.
What you can send Chelsea
Chelsea Manning is currently eligible to receive mail, including birthday or holiday cards, from anyone who wishes to write. You are also permitted to mail unframed photographs.You can also send her a book, mailed directly from Amazon.com to her at the address above.
Sending funds for her prison expense account
Chelsea Manning cannot receive cash, postage stamps, or any item of value. However, you can send her a money order or cashiers check made out to “Chelsea E. Manning” and mailed to the address above. These funds will be deposited into Chelsea’s prison account. She will use this account to make phone calls, purchase stamps, and buy other small comfort items not provided by the prison.
- Personal checks are not accepted. They will be destroyed.
- Any money order or cashiers check made out to any name other than “Chelsea E. Manning” will be returned or destroyed.
Restrictions
There are restrictions on what you can send. The military will reject any mail that violates postal regulations or contains obscenity, blackmail, contraband or threats. Any mail that is considered detrimental to security, good order, discipline, or the correctional mission of the prison will be rejected.
Mail will be returned to the sender if, in the opinion of the confinement facility, falls into any of the following categories:
- Contains inflammatory material or advocates escape, violence, disorder or assault.
- Directly or indirectly threatens the security, safety or order of the facility.
- Contains coded or otherwise undecipherable language that prevents adequate review of the material.
- Is received with “Postage Due.”
- Contains items of contraband (including anything of any material value, including postage stamps or cigarettes).
Moving On: Reflecting on My Identity
After weeks of emotion and thought, I’ve decided I need to tell you something: I am tired of being defined by the world through the narrow lens of a single event that happened in my life several years ago.
Although I have dedicated the vast majority of my life to the principles of transparency, social equality, individual protections, free speech, human rights, and justice, the world usually chooses to define me with this description:
“Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning, was a U.S. Army Soldier who was convicted in July 2013 of Theft of Government information, violations of the Espionage Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and other offenses, for disclosing hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents for public release, in 2010. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in August 2013.”
This is the way the world sees me. It is the way it judges me.
For many years now I have just accepted this as fact. For years, I have accepted it as reality. But, now my priorities have shifted. I am faced with a more dire reality: That I am tired of being defined by the world, instead of being allowed to define myself.
In the weeks following the shooting of the Pulse night club I became very reflective. I began pondering some of life’s burning questions: Who am I? What do I want? What are my goals? What is most important?
In general, I am not fond of sweeping broad-stroked oversimplifications. In this spirit, when hearing me labeled as a “hero” and a “whistleblower,” I take a deep sigh. The bottom line is that I am only human. When I cut my finger turning the page of a book, I bleed like everybody else.
These last few years, I have been evolving and becoming more real, more intimate, and more human. More like the “real me.” More of the woman that I am.
I am a growing, changing, shifting, and expanding creature, but much about me is quite normal and boring.
When I was free, I loved binge watching Seinfeld, Thirty-rock, and Friends, while eating ice cream out of the tub, with a big spoon, and having left over pizza for breakfast. I was an “all nighter” computer programmer. I was a perky and over-caffeinated barista. I was a clothing store associate, but one who wouldn’t hesitate to recommend a customer visit a different store, for cheaper clothes that look similar or better!
I am a still a library beaver and a researcher. I snort when I laugh. I sneeze like a squeaky mouse.
The world today is a very different place than one we lived in back in 2010. 2010 seems like ancient history now. Today, I find myself looking for my place in the world in new ways.
In the meantime, I admit that I want to be seen and understood as the woman that I actually am — with all of my flaws and eccentricities — perhaps at the expense of what people expect me to be.
I hope I don’t let anyone down, but it just feels better, and more honest, to reveal my boring old self.
I just hope you all will still like me, now that you’ve met the real me.
Chelsea Manning, Former Intelligence Analyst. Trans Woman. Prisoner. Tweets are my own opinions. https://medium.com/@xychelsea/moving-on-c78c37079aa6#.jjjcwvius