Washington ( CNN ) -- After more than six months in maximum confinement in the U.S. Marine Corps brig in Quantico , Virginia , the prime suspect in the WikiLeaks case `` seems frazzled , '' says one of the few people to visit Army Pfc . Bradley Manning . He is `` sometimes simply catatonic , unable to have conversations about anything really , '' said David House , who has visited his friend in the brig . House said Manning is physically deteriorating . `` He has n't exercised in seven or eight months since he was confined , '' House said . The Pentagon disputes the idea that Manning is being mistreated . Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters during a news conference last week that reports `` that he is being mistreated , or somehow treated differently than others , in isolation , are just not accurate . '' Manning is held in his cell 23 hours a day . He is allowed out of his cell to exercise , for an hour a day . `` Just as though he is not being treated any worse than any other detainee , he is not being treated any better than any other detainee . He is not going to receive special privileges , '' Morrell said . `` He is being treated exactly like everyone else in the brig is being treated . That 's what 's appropriate . '' To those , like House , who say Manning should not be held in maximum security conditions , Morrell said it 's not just for his own protection . `` He 's being held behind bars because he is deemed a threat , that he has been alleged to have committed a very serious crime that potentially undermines our nation 's security , and therefore he needs to be confined during the course of a trial , '' Morrell said . House said he does not discuss the WikiLeaks scandal with Manning because their conversations are monitored by Marines . But they have discussed the recent popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia . `` He views the power of social media as a force that may replace one day very soon the typical talking heads we have on TV . And he views the power of social media as a force that has the power to unite people and can allow them to rapidly organize and outsmart tyrannical regimes , '' House said .
Dr . Matthew Manning is the prime suspect in the Manning case . One of the few friends to visit him in confinement says he is ` ` frazzled '' The Defense Department says Manning is being treated no differently than other suspects .