I am disappointed your comment is being upvoted. Just because the conditions are terrible, outright and false hyperbole should not be used on the site like HN. We don't need propaganda here.
Being in regular contact with people (every 5 minutes), being able to watch TV for hours each day, corresponding via mail and being able to read books means he is not even remotely in the same league as people being tourtoured with real sensory deprivation [2]
While the military can do and has done [1] sensory deprivation , this is not it.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." [0]
It sounds to me like they are trying to prevent him from committing suicide. But the prevention is probably doing him a lot of damage.
That's why I said controlled sensory deprivation. It's a spectrum. Just because it doesn't involve ketamine and float tanks doesn't mean they aren't trying to destroy his brain. First of all there are no indications that he is or has ever been suicidal, so that explanation is laughable. And how exactly is preventing him from doing any exercise supposed to keep him from committing suicide anyway?
What makes you think there's no indication that he's been is or has ever been suicidal? Why would we know about it, if there had been? Is it not plausible that a kid who was pretty screwed up in the first place, who committed treason on a lark, and who is now facing life in prison for betraying his country, might turn suicidal?
The only indication we have one way or the other is that he's on Prevention of Injury watch, which is a pretty good sign that somebody thinks he is.
"When he was first arrested, Manning was put on suicide watch, but his status was quickly changed to "Prevention of Injury" watch (POI), and under this lesser pretense he has been forced into his life of mind-numbing tedium. His treatment is harsh, punitive and taking its toll, says Coombs.
'There is no evidence he's a threat to himself, and shouldn't be held in such severe conditions under the artifice of his own protection.'
"The command is basing this treatment of him solely on the nature of the pending charges, and on an unrelated incident where a service member in the facility took his own life," Coombs said, referencing the February suicide of a marine captain in the Quantico brig. Coombs says he believes Quantico officials are keeping Manning under close watch with strict limitations on his activity out of an overabundance of caution. Both Coombs and Manning's psychologist, Coombs says, are sure Manning is mentally healthy, that there is no evidence he's a threat to himself, and shouldn't be held in such severe conditions under the artifice of his own protection."
C.f. also Glenn Greenwald's column from the other day, where he says:
"From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs."
So possibly he was on suicide watch for a couple days, but they quickly determined he was not suicidal and have since been taking punitive action against him.
It all varies by person, doesn't it? We can't really know for sure whether that treatment amounts to sensory deprivation or not in his case. What books did he get? What channels is he allowed to watch? Maybe it's only Fox and Life TV? Let's wait until we hear his story, not some dry desctiption of the procedures.
Being in regular contact with people (every 5 minutes), being able to watch TV for hours each day, corresponding via mail and being able to read books means he is not even remotely in the same league as people being tourtoured with real sensory deprivation [2]
While the military can do and has done [1] sensory deprivation , this is not it.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." [0]
It sounds to me like they are trying to prevent him from committing suicide. But the prevention is probably doing him a lot of damage.
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[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jose_Padilla_at_the_Navy_C...
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_deprivation
Edit: formatting.