Chelsea Manning begins hunger strike in protest of Army’s ‘high tech bullying’

Chelsea Manning has begun a hunger strike in protest of the Army’s refusal to let her grow out her hair while in U.S. Disciplinary Barrack custody, according to a Sept. 9 press release. The move was first reported by

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‘Today, I have decided that I am no longer going to be bullied by this prison—or by anyone within the U.S. government,” she said in a statement provided to Military Times by strategic communications firm Balestra Media.

The transgender Army soldier, currently serving a 35-year prison sentence for espionage after providing classified information to WikiLeaks, alleged that the Army’s refusal to grow out her hair to match her female gender is part of “constant, deliberate and overzealous administrative scrutiny by prison and military officials” that she has deemed “high tech bullying,” according to the release.

“I am no longer asking. Now, I am demanding,” she wrote. “As of 12:01 am Central Daylight Time on September 9, 2016, and until I am given minimum standards of dignity, respect, and humanity, I shall—refuse to voluntarily cut or shorten my hair in any way; consume any food or drink voluntarily, except for water and currently prescribed medications; and comply with all rules, regulations, laws, and orders that are not related to the two things I have mentioned.”

“Army spokesman Wayne Hall said Friday he was looking into the situation,” the Associated Press

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Manning has been receiving hormone therapy at the at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, military prison since early 2015 (notably following a lawsuit by Manning), but the Army has still forced her to conform to male grooming standards requiring short hair, despite medical recommendations to the contrary, the release states. She wrote that she “was driven” to her July 2016 suicide attempt by the Army’s neglect of her “gender dysphoria.”  The aforementioned lawsuit, amended in September 2015 to address the hair issue, is still underway before Washington D.C. district court, according to the release.

In addition to the protest, which she called “a peaceful act,” she claimed to have submitted a do-not-resuscitate order “effective immediately.”

“This shall include any attempts to forcibly cut or shorten my hair or to forcibly feed me by any medical or pseudo-medical means,” she wrote.