“I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female.” — Chelsea Manning in a public statement regarding her gender identity, Aug. 21. Chelsea Manning now tweeting from prison

Convicted leaker Chelsea Manning has joined Twitter from prison.

The ACLU will not be tweeting on her behalf, said staff attorney Chase Strangio, but others “in close contact” with her will be.


Her account features a black-and-white portrait and lists her location as Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where the former Army private is currently serving out a 35-year sentence for leaking volumes of confidential documents to WikiLeaks.

“She is committed to having a voice and engaging with the public and will try to be present on twitter as much as she is able to connect with people on the outside,” Strangio told POLITICO.

Manning’s tweets acknowledge the difficulty of maintaining a social-media presence while incarcerated.

Tweeting from prison reqs a lot of effort and using a voice phone to dictate #90sproblems — Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) April 3, 2015

It will be hard, but I don’t want this Twitter feed to be a one-way street/conversation — Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) April 3, 2015