The New York Times reported Friday that Chelsea Manning tried to commit suicide in October while in solitary confinement at Fort Leavenworth for a previous suicide attempt in July.
Manning herself was the source of the story; she dictated an account of her suicide attempt, which took place October 4, to members of her volunteer support network, and asked that it be sent this week to the Times. Manning’s American Civil Liberties lawyer, Chase Strangio, confirmed the attempt.
A member of Manning’s support network told the Times on Thursday that Manning had been informed she could face further discipline for this second suicide attempt.
After Manning’s second failed suicide attempt, according to her four-page statement, she was placed on suicide watch in a special observation unit, which was tantamount to still more solitary confinement.
The days to come were also full of horrors for Manning, according to the Time’s report.
On the night of Oct. 10, according to her statement, four people impersonating guards conducted an hourslong attack on the prison, during which she said she heard sounds indicating that the attackers were shooting and torturing her cellblock’s actual guards.
These attackers tried to induce Ms. Manning to escape, she said in her statement. Instead, as the night unfolded, she hid in the corner of her cell, telling the impostors she knew they were not actual guards, it said.
At 6 a.m. on Oct. 11, a regular shift of guards familiar to Ms. Manning arrived, and ‘everything returned to normal, except that several correctional specialists were deep cleaning the entirety of Alpha tier with Pine Sol and bleach,’ the statement concluded.
Manning has since been permitted to return to the general inmate population.
The Times reached out to an Army spokesperson who said he was unable to comment on these most recent developments due to “medical information privacy rules.”