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I spoke for about 20 minutes with Lt. Brian Villiard, from the Public Affairs Office at Quantico Prison. He had returned my call from the voice mail message I had left regarding Bradley Manning’s ‘detainment’ conditions, and Lt. Villiard was also contacted by Quantico Base Commander Colonel Daniel Choike’ s office where I had left a voicemail message.
I was surprised to get a return call, and did my best to find out what I could.
Lt. Villiard told me he returned few calls, but that he appreciated that the message I had left was respectful and non-combative. I mention this in case others wish to contact him, or any other Quantico officers, and want to be heard.
He gave me a chance to express my understanding of the current conditions of Private Bradley Manning’s confinement. I echoed the information that I had read, that Bradley is in solitary confinement, that he has not been out doors in four weeks, that he previously had been sporadically allowed only one hour of exercise time out of the cell, that he is not allowed to exercise in his cell, that lights are left on all night, and that the blanket he uses is rough, more like carpeting than a blanket.
Lt. Villiard said he’d like a chance to clear up some misconceptions, and said he had read the same information that I had. I listened, respectfully, without interrupting, but interjected questions and comments as would be normal in polite conversation. Again, I mention this because though this is difficult to do with an emotionally charged subject, respectful dialogue did allow me the opportunity to ask a number of questions, as well as make a number of comments. I wasn’t taking notes (though I should have), but will do my best to recall as much as I can.
Lt. Villiard spoke first to the charge that Bradley is held in solitary confinement, and explained that every detainee – (Bradley was never referred to as a prisoner, but rather as a “detainee”) – every detainee at Quantico is in a cell by themselves, so this is not something unique to Bradley. I asked if Bradley was allowed and able to interact with other detainees in his area, whether there were walls between cells or bars, whether or not he could see other detainees. I was told that there are walls between cells, with bars on the front of the cell. Due to the arrangement of cells, no detainee at Quantico can see another detainee – no visual contact – but that detainees could speak to one another. (I should have asked if there are currently detainees housed on either side of Bradley’s cell – someone to actually talk to – or if the possible interaction was more theoretical than actual in Bradley’s case. That is a question that should be asked. If the actual condition has Bradley purposely physically distant from any other detainees, or alone in a cell block, that is quite different than having the ability to interact.)
I asked about the charge that Bradley has not been outside in four weeks, why only (typically) an hour a day exercise was permitted, and why is there the restriction on exercising in the cell. Lt. Villiard said that it was his understanding that Bradley did have the opportunity to go outside for an hour most days, and that there may be rare exceptions when that was not available. He said that other than those rare exceptions, that if Bradley requested to go outside for his one hour per day out of the cell, that it was allowed, and did not know why Bradley had evidently chosen not to. I should stop here and note that Lt. Villiard is a public affairs officer, a liaison between the public and the base, but not a liaison between Bradley Manning and members of the public like myself. Lt. Villiard’s office is not in “the brig”, and so he was relating his understanding of the situation, not his eyewitness account. Lt. Villiard sounded sincere to me, and though he was giving me the “official word” as related by other officers, it did appear to me the Lt. Villiard believed what he had been told was accurate. He has not met or spoken with Bradley Manning, and is not on Bradley’s visitor’s list. Lt. Villiard has visited the brig, and was given a tour, but Bradley was not there at the time. More on that with the subject of the blanket.
Lt. Villiard told me that the one hour per day out of the cell was due to his listing as both a maximum custody detainee and his assessment as a POI (prevention of injury) detainee. I mentioned that it was my understanding that Bradley had been evaluated by a psychiatrist and was found not to be at risk of injuring himself or committing suicide. Lt. Villiard replied that there is a board that meets “frequently” to reassess the situation. [This is where I think the emphasis needs to be placed for upgrading Bradley's incarceration conditions! Whether it is a UN humanitarian delegation or Bradley's lawyer, Bradley NEEDS to get out from under the POI label, and I think his conditions will improve immediately.]
As for Bradley not being able to exercise in his cell, I believe that Lt. Villiard said that this too is Quantico policy with all detainees, so that they are not injured in their cells, but maybe I did not ask the question correctly and perhaps this is somewhat dependent on the ROI status. (This is another point to clarify: will a psyche reassessment, dropping the ROI label, allow Bradley the ability to exercise in his cell?
Regarding the blanket that is Bradley’s only option, Lt. Villiard said that when he was given a tour of the brig area, he held Bradley’s blanket in his hands (Bradley was away, “up north” at the time), and said that it is made from a fabric that is rip-proof (in other words, where a detainee could not rip strips and make a rope to commit suicide), and that the fabric is not rough like carpet. “I’ve slept under better; I’ve slept under worse.” was Lt. Villiard’s wording. (Clearly, Bradley needs to get off of POI listing, so he can get proper bedding.)
Lt. Villiard said that detainees in POI status are checked frequently, including nighttime hours, and that is why there are lights on. (Again, clearly, Bradley needs to get off of POI listing, so he can get normal sleep, but that assumes that there would be no other POI detainees in the same cell block, to have a chance for lights out at night – my conjecture.) I tried to engage Lt. Villiard to think about or remember a time that he himself may have spent in a hospital, and how disruptive a hospital environment is with lights on all night so that nursing staff could read monitors and charts, and how utterly exhausting a hospital stay is, primarily because it is impossible to relax into a normal pattern of sleep. Sleep deprivation is most certainly a type of torture, and between the heavy, scratchy blanket that Bradley is reporting, and the lack of a normalizing darkness during the full cycle of sleep time, the POI status does seem to me to be designed for sleep deprivation, but providing a phony humanitarian reason for it. If a detainee really was in danger of injuring himself, continual cycles of broken and light sleep would exacerbate the situation.
I failed to address the situation of Bradley having contact with national or international news either through newspaper or TV, but Bradley has already reported that the only time allocated for TV, there is no news on TV, and, that he is not allowed newspapers. This appears to me to be another form of psychological torture, and the timing of TV access to “accidentally” exclude news is certainly no accident – this must be designed to keep Bradley psychologically isolated.
I asked Lt. Villiard to pass along my concerns to Col. Choike, asking that they remember that Bradley is not only innocent until proven guilty, but that he has not even been charged with a crime yet. I told him that the conditions sound punitive, which makes no sense at this point since Bradly has not been convicted – and that no soldier deserved to be treated like this for 6 months due to not yet being charged or going to trial. I said that I realized that a military detainment is not the same as non-military incarceration, and that the public would be (and I am) upset with the conditions that all of the detainees at Quantico have to endure, if indeed they are all treated the same. I asked if he would please pass on my request for merciful treatment, and mentioned again that seven months was a long time to endure those conditions, especially for someone who is simply awaiting trial. I asked when the trial would be, and he was not aware if any date had been set. I thanked Lt. Villiard for taking the time to speak with me.
My conclusion: Bradley’s lawyer needs to redouble his efforts to get Bradly reevaluated with an outcome of dropping the POI. Outcries from the public are basically falling on deaf ears, because all detainees at Quantico get the same treatment – or at least that is the official line. Bradley’s only real chance at improved conditions revolve around the dropping of the POI status. Humanitarian efforts should, in my opinion, be centered around pressuring the board to actually meet quickly in this case (regardless of their normal cycle of meeting) and of successfully getting the POI status dropped.
If you’re going to call, or write, I urge you to show respect, avoid declaring your demands, (remember you’re talking to or writing to Marines at the US’s main military detention facility), and you’ll at least have a chance for a dialogue.
Thank you for taking the time to write up your conversation. I hope many other people call, write and fax the brig to show their concern about this situation. My understanding is that there are currently no other detainees near Bradley.
I’m following-up on this in a few places, so this may be a repeat:
Note that the Quantico public affairs officer that I talked to has an office in a different building than the brig where Bradley is being held, and he has never met Bradley. This is an example of compartmentalization, very typical for military and intelligence. Each person is purposely given just the information they need, and much of what they “know” may be what they have been told, not what they have verified. As I said (somewhere), Lt. Villiard sounded sincere, but that does not mean that he is correct. Bradley’s own words contradict and contrast with the official word that is given to the public.
This should give us a sense that the public is quite removed from being able to connect directly with Bradley’s guards, brig officers, base commander, and the psyche eval team that has kept him in the POI (prevention of injury) status. I’m not saying that to discourage anyone, but rather to have us all thinking about how to be more effective. Consider my phone call a “recon”, and think about a good next step. Maybe writing directly to the base commander is better than a phone call? Or adding a written note in addition to a phone call? (A pile of letters has to make a visual impact.)
I’m not sure if the public could find out who they are, but it would be good to know the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the individuals on the team that are performing the psychological evaluations. If they continue to operate “behind the curtain”, they are free to keep saying Bradley needs the POI status – whether he does or not. Since they supposedly treat all detainees the same, it will probably do no good to complain about Bradley getting especially poorly treated. But, since they also supposedly treat all detainees with a POI status the same (in ways I would call at least psychological torture and low-level physical torture), I’m thinking our efforts should be focused around getting Bradley off of the POI status. Even if we cannot make direct contact with the psyche eval team members, if we *try* to get contact info, and if the team members find out we’re trying to get their contact info, they may start behaving differently. They should realize that eventually through Freedom Of Information Act requests, we will not only find out who they are, but what criteria they used to judge that Bradley was seriously at risk of injuring himself. I would think they would need a damn good reason to force someone to sleep with the lights on, under a heavy, scratchy, tarp-like blanket with no sheets or pillow for seven months.
Pressure from the public may also speed up the “Article 32 Investigation” and if they find they have a case, then the Court-Marshall. Seven months sounds to me like an awfully long time to investigate this case, which they could probably either prove or they couldn’t, seven months ago.
What do YOU think is a good next move?
That’s sounded like a very gagged interview. For them too lean so much on justifying the treatment he is getting was because of his own safety. Of course, Lt. Villiard was pre-fead predetermined information. My contention still remains. Nothing in the media or elsewhere has convinced me, the conditions that Bradley Manning is experiencing, is the same as or close to the same as Gitmo. Still no charges and 7 months later, it’s exetremely disturbing to me that the Obama Administration would permit this type of incarceration that dehumanitizes the integrity of an individual.
Look, it’s nice that you’re playing this straight with the Marines. They’re doing their part with you, trying to make it look like playing nicey-nice is a form of “recon”. It isn’t. You aren’t going to make contact with Manning, and the Marines are going to continue to try to break him down. If they don’t watch it, they may end up killing him, for which they’ll have lots of regrets, but jarheads aren’t known for loving kindness and compassion, especially Marine MPs running a brig, especially Marine MPs who may have been told that Manning is a traitor whose actions may cost American lives, maybe friends of theirs over in Iraq or Afghanistan. If DoD were smart, they’d get Manning the hell out of there and put him up in a half-decent facility, with a couple of cell-mates who express support for Manning – and maybe more, and wait until he started to talk, which might be a week or two. The right way, the wrong way, and the Army way… here the Army way is pretty darn close to the wrong way, but DoD wasn’t very smart in the first place, giving a private with apparently documented discipline and “adjustment” problems access to a whole universe of diplomatic and military classified records. We’ll see what happens. My bet is that Manning ends up either a victim of a psychotic break and is unable to render any sort of credible or coherent or even comprehensible testimony, or he ends up dead, again unable to testify. It’d take 20,000 protestors camped outside of Quantico for a week or two to change any of this.
I love the wording. “Detainee” much like “Enemy combatant” is a fine way of removing any rights a prisoner would have under normal circumstances.
The names of the members of the Psychological Evaluation Board that decides on the POI status of detainees at the Quantico Confinement Facility may be listed at a website for the Quantico Marine Base or other online source (if you knew the relevant Google search terms), in a published Quantico Marine Base directory (psychologist or psychiatrist), or in records of meetings or hearings pertaining to other detainees at Quantico.
If searching the Internet and digital databases like a private detective does not work in this case, then maybe personally visiting the headquarters office at the Quantico Marine Base and befriending a secretary or clerk or other member of the staff and inviting him or her to lunch might get some information or cooperation.
Also while personally visiting the Quantico Marine Base, one could look for a clinic or infirmary and look at the directory or ask the receptionist who is the Chief Psychologist and Chief Psychiatrist at the Quantico Marine Base.
A Google Search for “Quantico Marine Base psychiatrist” returned the following:
http://www.quantico.usmc.mil/directives.aspx?Command=MCBQ#tenants
COMMAND DIRECTED REFERRALS FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATIONS AND TREATMENT
Publish Date: May-20-2010
The Adobe PDF file can be “Downloaded” to either Open or Save. [10 pages total]
[excerpts]
MCBO 6520.1C
B 103
20 May 2010
Marine Corps Base Order 6520.1C
SUBJECT: Command-Directed Referrals for Psychological/Psychiatric Evaluations and Treatment
1. Purpose
Behavioral health evaluations and treatment at the Behavioral Health Department, Naval Health Department, Quantico.
4. Types of Behavioral Health Referrals
a. Self-referral.
b. Medical referral.
c. Command-Directed Referral
d. Emergency Referral
e. Competency to Stand Trial Referral
5. Background Information
References (a) through (d) establish safeguards … to protect servicemembers from referrals that are made for reprisals for “whistleblowing”…
7. Servicemember’s Rights
c. The right to have a second behavioral health evaluation of the servicemember’s own choosing…
8. Behavioral Health Professional Responsibilities
The Head, Behavioral Health Department, NHC Quantico shall ensure the following actions are taken by staff members.
/s/ D. J. Choike
Sample Notification of Behavioral Health Evaluation and Patient Rights (Command-Directed Referral) [2 pages]
6. If you feel this behavioral health evaluation is being used as a punishment or retaliation, you are advised that assistance is available from the attorney at … from local command inspector … or from the Navy Inspector General Hotline, 800-522-3451.
Sample Notification of Behavioral Health Evaluation and Patient Rights (Servicemember Acknowledgment) [2 pages]
I’m ashamed of America to do this to one of our own is unconscionable when did we become Japan during World War 11 or Russia.What in Gods name has happen to us? Pres. Obama should hold his head in shame.
Marilyn
Good thinking, ‘Humanist’.
The psyche eval mentioned here may be for base personnel, and not for “detainees”. I can’t imagine that Bradley’s attorneys are unfamiliar with this:
Note especially 3C (below) and especially the words “…of my own choosing…”
============================
MCBO 6520.1C
COMMAND DIRECTED REFERRALS FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATIONS AND TREATMENT
MCBO 6520.1C
20 May 2010
SAMPLE NOTIFICATION OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH EVALUATION AND PATIENT RIGHTS (SERVICEMEMBER ACKNOWLEDGMENT)
NOTIFICATION OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH EVALUATION AND PATIENT RIGHTS
3. I elect the following rights, which I have circled below:
a. To consult with a SJA or other attorney employed by the DoD who is available to advise me of the ways in which I may seek redress, if I question this referral.
b. To submit to the command inspector for investigation an allegation that my referral for a behavioral health evaluation was a reprisal for making or attempting to make a lawful communication to a member of Congress, any appropriate authority in my chain of command, the command inspector, or a servicemember of an audit or that my referral was in violation of any other provision of references (b) or (c).
c. To be evaluated by a behavioral health professional of my own choosing, provided that such behavioral health professional is reasonably available. I understand that reasonably available means that the behavioral health professional, either DoD employed or non-DoD employed, must be available to conduct the evaluation within the next 10 business days. This evaluation by a behavioral health professional of my own choosing would be at my expense. I understand that I will not be charged for a DoD behavioral health professional’s fees or salary; however, travel, per diem, and other ancillary costs would be at my expense.
d. To lawfully communicate without restriction with the command inspector, attorney, member of Congress, or others about my referral for a behavioral health evaluation.
e. To have 2 business days to meet with an attorney, the command inspector, chaplain, or other appropriate party before a scheduled behavioral health evaluation.
f. To waive all of the above.
============================
Since Quantico performs the same level and degree of torture and brainwashing on every “high level detainee” with “prevention of injury” status, maybe it is useless to directly contact Quantico. Maybe the most powerful contact is through some Congressperson. And maybe (taking a cue from the supposed attorney’s trick, “have you stopped beating your wife yet? Yes or no?”, maybe the question to try to get the Congressperson to ask is, “when are you going to stop torturing Bradley Manning?”
See also this article, on the “This Can’t Be Happening” site, including a description of the torture and brainwashing techniques being used: : “They’re ‘Slow-Torturing’ Bradley Manning Right Under Our Noses”
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I started a page on Facebook encouraging people who can qualify to nominate Bradley Manning for a Nobel Peac Prize.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1045272737#!/pages/Bradley-Manning-for-a-Nobel-Peace-Prize/207451465936988
It is not so hard to qualify, if you spread the word, maybe enough people who do will make the proposal. It seems President Obama has no problem making speeches and outreach for other political prisoners like Aung San Suu Kyi, maybe this could be another approach to change the dialogue and the ground rules. I don’t like the double standard of justice for the military separate from the rest of the society. What if every profession demandede a separate judicial system just for themselves?
This is for the people who are ordering Bradley Mannings torture. You will be remembered Worldwide, it will be written history for everybody to see the Human Rights violations committed by everyone involved from top to bottom. This is so unforgivable.
Regards for helping out, good information.
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