Chelsea Manning—currently serving a 35-year sentence for leaking government secrets at the maximum-security US Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas—was banned from using the internet as part of her sentence. She’s found a way around that.
Manning has set up a Twitter account—@xychelsea—and is tweeting by calling her public relations firm, Fitzgibbon Media, and dictating the words over the telephone:
She already has more than 30,000 followers. Manning has started off by thanking supporters such as the journalist Glen Greenwald, Amnesty International, and the Free Chelsea Manning campaign. She plans to tweet frequently:
Manning has rarely spoken out since being sentenced, bar the odd editorial. This Twitter account may be the only way the public will hear from her for quite some time. If the appeal of her sentence fails, Manning’s first parole hearing is scheduled for 2020.