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.
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:
Followed by:
She went on to thank her steadfast supporters throughout the process of her arrest, trial, and conviction.
She explained that representatives of Fitzgibbon Media are handling the account for her.
On Friday afternoon, she wrote:
