Update on Brad Manning

He's being transferred from Quantico to Kansas.

Once at Leavenworth, he’ll be placed in a new medium-security facility. Although locked in a cell at night, he’ll have some freedom of movement in an open day room, have contact and take meals with fellow prisoners, shower when he wants and have access to books and TV. He will also have three hours a day of recreation time.

His transfer to Leavenworth comes a bit more than a week after a U.N. torture investigator complained that he was denied a request to make an unmonitored visit to Manning.

[...]

Both White House and Pentagon officials grew increasingly concerned by the human rights drumbeat of public accusations and criticism of Manning’s treatment and wanted to put an end to it, they said.

[...]

Manning's defense attorney, David E. Coombs, said the timing of the move was not a surprise.

"The defense was in the process of filing a writ of habeas corpus seeking a court ruling that the Quantico Brig violated PFC Manning’s constitutional right to due process," Coombs wrote on his blog.

[...]

Officials agreed that Manning's case, which involves hundreds of thousands of highly sensitive and classified documents, is very complex and could drag on for months, if not years.

[...]

Defense Department general counsel Jeh C. Johnson said the Leavenworth facility would better serve Manning during a lengthier confinement before his trial. The brig at Quantico is meant for short term stays, usually of one to two months. he said.

  MSNBC

Manning’s time there? Eight-plus.