The U.S. Department of Defense might transfer Private Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison so she can undergo treatment for her gender disorder, according to an article in The New York Times.
The Army private was sentenced last August to 35 years in prison for providing classified information to WikiLeaks, the online transparency organization. She is currently serving her jail time at a military prison in Kansas’s Fort Leavenworth.
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel approved a request from the Army to “evaluate potential treatment options for inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria,” a Pentagon official said Wednesday, first reported by the Associated Press.
After she was sentenced, Manning disclosed that she is a transgender woman, and sought a name change and medical treatments. She requested hormone therapy and to live as a woman. A Kansas judge last month granted an official name change to Manning, who was given “Bradley Edward Manning” at birth.
Manning’s defiance was the largest breach of classified information in American history.
Hagel on Sunday alluded to being open to reviewing the military’s policy on transgender troops. His comments came after a report recommended the United States reverse the longtime ban.
