Chelsea Manning Thanks Prison Inmates for Keeping Her Going

Chelsea Manning has written a letter to her fellow inmates for keeping her “alive for the past six years” at Fort Leavenworth prison barracks— where she was serving 35-years for leaking secret military and government documents to WikiLeaks.

Manning, who published her letter on the Guardian, assures inmates that “they will never be forgotten” despite her being separated from the general population of the prison after former President Barack Obama commuted her sentence on Jan. 17.

“I know that we are now physically separated, but we will never be apart and we are not alone,” Manning wrote from the new restrictive housing unit she’s been placed in. “Recently, one of you asked me, ‘Will you remember me?’ I will remember you. How could I possibly forget? You taught me lessons I would have never learned otherwise.”

The emotional letter charts the moments when inmates helped her through her lows during incarceration, including the times when she attempted suicide. “You were the people who checked on me after I tried to end my life. You were the people that played fun games with me. Who wished me a Happy Birthday. We shared the holidays together. You were and will always be family,” Manning wrote.

Read her full editorial here.