Manning 's profile picture is a sketch done of her since she began living as a woman . Chelsea Manning , the US Army solider who was convicted of leaking thousands of secret diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks , has begun tweeting from behind bars at Leavenworth military prison in Kansas . Manning sent out 15 tweets on Friday afternoon - mostly to thank her supporters , including the American Civil Liberties Union , Amnesty International and journalist Glenn Greenwald . Within just a few hours @ xychelsea racked up more than 16,000 followers . She also gave a shout out to Tom Morello , the frontman of Rage Against the Machine . 'Thank you for the support ! I ’ m a huge fan of RATM and your music , ' she tweeted . Morello replied : 'Take care , stay strong . ' Manning 's lawyer told Politico that she was dictating the tweets over the phone to supporters in 'close contact ' with her . She mentioned the difficulty of tweeting from prison in a tweet that said : 'Tweeting from prison reqs a lot of effort and using a voice phone to dictate # 90sproblems . ' The 27-year-old is serving a 35-year sentence for espionage and computer fraud after being convicted in 2013 for leaking a slew of military documents and thousands of military cables that she had access to as an Arm intelligence analyst . Tweeting out : Chelsea Manning , formerly known as Bradly , has started a Twitter account from prison in Kansas , where she is serving 35 years for espionage . Manning gave a shout out to Rage Against the Machine fontman Tom Morello , who heaped praise on her in turn . Manning , who was born Bradley but has begun living as a woman since going to prison , maintains a deeply divided place in public opinion - with some regarding him as a whistle-blower an a hero and others regarding her actions as traitorous and damaging to American security . She revealed that she wants to use the Twitter to disseminate about 'meaningful ' news about her life and government transparency . ' I ’ m hoping to stay connected w/ this account as much as poss. , but would rather tweet about more meaningful things than not # lessismore , ' she tweeted . Chelsea Manning is now living as a woman and is working to transition her gender from male to female . At right , Chelsea is pictures at her trial as she was living as Bradley . Manning is dictating the tweets over the phone to close friends . She does not have direct access to social media from prison . Manning thanked journalist Glenn Greenwald and Amnesty International , among several other supporters .
Manning tweeted out thanks to her supporters - including Chelsea frontman Tom Morello . She is dictating the tweets over the phone to friends .