Former U.S. Army specialist Chelsea Manning has joined the social medium Twitter and is now tweeting to the outside world from inside Fort Leavenworth Military Prison, where she is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified U.S. military information.

According to the Guardian, the whistleblower is forbidden to access the Internet from inside prison, but is instead dictating messages to supporters by phone, who then post them to her Twitter account at @xychelsea.

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Manning — who was born Bradley Manning, but who is now transitioning to female and has adopted the name Chelsea — was arrested and convicted for making a massive trove of U.S. military documents public on Wikileaks.

Her Twitter profile features a drawing of Manning as she’d like to be seen. Military authorities have steadfastly refused to allow her to grow out her hair while incarcerated. After a legal battle, however, Manning was allowed to take hormones to transition, the first U.S. military member in history to be granted that right.

Before her first tweet, the Guardian reported that Manning already had more than 1,000 followers. As of Saturday afternoon, she had garnered more than 35,000.

Then, on Friday, she wrote:

This is my new twitter account =P — Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) April 3, 2015

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Followed by:

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

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She went on to thank her steadfast supporters throughout the process of her arrest, trial, and conviction.

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Starting with a shout out to the friends who have always stood by me @ggreenwald @amnesty @carwinb @savemanning and so many others #thankyou — Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) April 3, 2015

She explained that representatives of Fitzgibbon Media are handling the account for her.

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Also for those of you asking: @fitzgibbonmedia is handling my account for the time being — Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) April 3, 2015

On Friday afternoon, she wrote:

That's all the tweets I have for today! Thank you all for your love and support. I hope you will continue to follow me in the future. — Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) April 3, 2015