Chelsea Manning to undergo gender transition surgery in prison

Chelsea Manning sued the US government for the right to live as a woman (Reuters)

Army Private Chelsea Manning will receive gender reassignment surgery while in prison, her lawyer told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday.

Manning is serving a 35-year prison sentence for violating the Espionage Act after leaking national security secrets to WikiLeaks.

“I am unendingly relieved that the military is finally doing the right thing. I applaud them for that. This is all that I wanted – for them to let me be me,” Ms Manning said in a statement her lawyers provided to BuzzFeed.

“In any case," she said, "I hope this sets a precedent for the thousands of trans people behind me hoping they will be given the treatment they need.”

Ms Manning is serving her sentence at the Army facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. She’s eligible for parole in six years.

Between 1,300 and 7,000 transgender troops are enlisted in the active-duty force, according to a RAND Corp study. Researchers estimate that between 30 and 140 wish to seek hormone treatment and 25 to 130 would undergo surgery. The projected price tag would cost between $2 million and $8 million per year.