On Tuesday, President Barack Obama commuted Chelsea Manning’s remaining prison sentence. Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst turned whistleblower, will now be released on May 17th, just five months from now. She had faced a 35-year sentence after she was convicted of leaking documents related to United States military activities to WikiLeaks in 2010.
“The commutation also relieved the Department of Defense of the difficult responsibility of her incarceration as she pushes for treatment for her gender dysphoria — including sex reassignment surgery — that the military has no experience providing,” the New York Times reports.
Melissa Gira Grant has been closely following Manning’s case for Pacific Standard.
