Chelsea Manning was freed from prison
on Wednesday.
Manning, a 29-year-old former Army
intelligence analyst, was sentenced to a 35-year prison sentence,
which she was serving at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for violating the
Espionage Act.
President Barack Obama commuted all but
four months of Manning's remaining 27-year prison term.
(Related: Trump
calls Chelsea Manning an “ungrateful traitor.”)
Manning came out transgender on her
first day in prison.
Chase Strangio of the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), who represented Manning, said that she
“experienced trauma over the past seven years of her confinement.”
Manning twice attempted suicide while in prison.
“It's going to be a process for her
to heal and begin to live her free life with more autonomy over her
gender and her decisions and vision for the future,” Strangio said.
After her release, Manning captioned a
photo of her feet “First steps of freedom!!” on social media.