Here in the United States, we like to pay lip service to the idea of treating those in prison awaiting a trial with fairness and decency. You know, the whole Eighth Amendment prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment” business.
However, the U.S. has once again managed to botch this seemingly simple concept with the treatment of Bradley Manning, the Army soldier suspected of leaking classified information to the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.
According to The Guardian, “under the terms of his detention, he is kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, checked every five minutes under a so-called 'prevention of injury order' and stripped naked at night apart from a smock.”
Along with these cozy conditions, he is persistently interrupted in his sleep, made to present himself nude for parade and verbally harassed by guards.
David House is one of the few people allowed to visit Manning in detention. In a post he wrote on FireDogLake, he expresses the concern that “in his five months of detention, it has become obvious to me that Manning’s physical and mental well-being are deteriorating.” This is hardly surprising, considering the harsh and isolative conditions he is being held under.
Outrage to Manning's conditions of detainment has been widespread, and numerous protests and media campaigns attempting to change the situation have ensued. Even the academic community has become involved.
A letter signed by countless legal scholars that protests Manning's treatment and argues that it is unconstitutional has been sent to President Barack Obama. When you consider the fact that the man hasn't even been convicted of anything, it's hard to disagree with them.
In an odd twist of irony, one of the letter's signatories is Obama's former law professor, Lawrence Tribe. Somehow Obama seemed to have missed the message in law school.
For his part, the president isn't buying any of the criticism, as evidenced by this issue's lack of rectification. Call me crazy, but keeping a detainee under solitary confinement, humiliating him and interfering with his ability to sleep and exercise hardly sounds appropriate enough to continue, whatever you think of Manning's actions.
This isn't about whether or not Bradley Manning's alleged actions were justified or whether the law he clearly violated should be changed. Those are separate debates that don't change the fact that the conditions this man is held under are a gross violation of the Eighth Amendment.
According to The New York Times, Bradley Manning is being transferred out of Quantico to Fort Leavenworth. While this might seem like a step in the right direction, it's important not to get too excited about this.
Top Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson reminded us all that this move “should not be interpreted as a criticism of the place he was before.”
In all likelihood, this transfer is merely a ploy to soothe the outcry against the treatment of Bradley Manning. The conditions Manning has been (and very well could continue to be) held in are absolutely deplorable and contrary to the ideas behind our Constitution.
We would do well to continue to discuss this flagrant example of “cruel and unusual punishment” instead of stopping now that Manning has been transferred.
Contact Tanner at tjgreene@asu.edu
