The US military’s decision to punish Chelsea Manning with solitary confinement as a reprimand for a recent suicide attempt has provoked shock and outrage among clinical experts and mental health practitioners who warn that it risks further aggravating the soldier’s vulnerable state of mind.



A disciplinary panel at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where Manning is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking US state secrets, ordered that the army private serve 14 days in an isolation cell after she tried to take her own life in July.

She was disciplined on Thursday under a charge known as “conduct which threatens”, which alleged that by making an attempt on her own life Manning had interfered with the “orderly running, safety, good order and discipline, or security” of the facility.

But psychologists and other clinical professionals specializing in mental health and suicide prevention were astounded by the punishment, which they said flew in the face of current thinking. Numerous studies over many years have shown that even short spells in a solitary confinement cell can dramatically increase the risk of suicide in both civilian and military prisoners.

A 2004 study in Californian prisons found that 73% of suicides in incarceration happened in isolation cells, where less than 10% of the prison population of the state was being held. Separate research in New York City concluded that prisoners in solitary were seven times more likely to harm themselves than those in the general prison population.

For people with pre-existing mental vulnerabilities, solitary confinement can be close to torturous Ron Hornberg, National Alliance on Mental Illness

“It is pretty well established that solitary confinement has a very detrimental effect on a person’s mental health and for people with pre-existing mental vulnerabilities it can be close to torturous,” said Ron Hornberg of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health advocacy group.

“It’s a sure-fire way to worsen symptoms.”

Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the US army in Iraq who leaked hundreds of thousands of warlogs and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, revealing the impact of modern warfare, intends to appeal against her solitary sentence and has the next 15 days to do so. Until that is resolved she is likely to remain in the general population of the Fort Leavenworth prison. While at Fort Leavenworth, she has written for the Guardian.

David Rudd, a clinical psychologist who is president of the University of Memphis, said there was a glaring disconnect between the extensive work the US military was doing to try to drive down suicide rates among serving personnel and veterans and the treatment of Manning.

Rudd participated in a Pentagon-funded scientific study into the military’s approach to mental health services, which produced new guidelines on helping veterans manage mental illness more effectively that have led to a dramatic improvement in post-treatment suicide attempt rates.

He was sharply critical of the decision to apply isolation in Manning’s case.

“Solitary confinement doesn’t enhance the management of mental illness,” he said.

Rudd said he was puzzled by the Manning ruling: “The military have invested significantly in understanding how to deal with suicidal behavior, but certainly this response shows a disconnect between the goal of moving towards what we know works and what, by contrast, elevates risk.”

Not only is suicide a major problem for the US armed forces themselves but it is also running at epidemic levels within the transgender community. That means that Chelsea Manning, a transgender woman held in a male military prison wing, straddles two highly vulnerable communities.

Studies have suggested that up to 40% of transgender people attempt suicide.

Danielle Castro, a project director with the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health in San Francisco, which provides clinical services for trans people, said placing Manning in solitary would “further perpetuate her mental health issues and isolate her more. Even 24 hours of isolation can put somebody in danger”.

Earlier this month, the US government agreed to allow Manning to have gender realignment surgery as part of her transition. But her lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, Chase Strangio, told the Guardian the solitary confinement rap sent a message that she will be “punished for trying to end her life and punished for living.

“It is hard to be hopeful that humane treatment is forthcoming,” Strangio said, “given how aggressively they have been punishing her.”

• In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255; Trans Lifeline runs a phone hotline staffed by trans people for trans people on 1 877 565 8860. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.

• This article was amended on 26 September 2016 to correct Danielle Castro’s job description.