Chelsea Manning Goes on Hunger Strike

Two months after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Chelsea Manning is again pleading for help, reports NBC News, this time in the form of a hunger strike she began at the all-male prison at Fort Leavenworth on Saturday. "I need help. I am not getting any. I have asked for help time and time again (for gender dysphoria) for six years and through five separate confinement locations," Manning said in a statement, adding that those requests have "only been ignored, delayed, mocked, given trinkets and lip service by the prison, the military, and this administration."

Of her hunger strike, she says "this is a peaceful act" and that "until I am shown dignity and respect as a human again, I shall endure this pain," which she expects "will last for a long time .. Quite possibly until my permanent incapacitation or death." Manning is also now refusing to cut her hair in defiance of military rules. She has submitted a "do not resuscitate" order. (More Chelsea Manning stories.)