It's not like this shit is new. I stand by my title. I will also point out that Chelsea Manning's treatment is closer to North Korea's than, say, yours, thereby "it's not even close to North Korea" in this instance is more hyperbole on your side than on mine.
I encourage you to read up on North Korea's political prisons. Here's a few links that you may find interesting. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/19/north-korea-prison-camp-14-documentary http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/a-land-of-unspeakable-atrocities-un-commission-warns-leader-kim-jongun-he-could-face-trial-for-human-rights-abuses-in-north-korea-9134405.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003855.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_North_Korea There's also a documentary on the subject. I stand by my statement that Manning is facing nothing close to this. Humiliating, inhumane, and illegal, yes. Nothing close to North Korea. I do agree that we need protection for whistleblowers. What that should be, I don't have the expertise to accurately say, but we can't continue to torture people and call ourselves a civilized nation.
I'm curious. I'm not attacking, making assumptions, arguing, or anything in that manner. I've been thinking since yesterday about this comment thread, and have been pondering it objectively. My goal being open-mindedness on my part, and wanting to learn, can I ask you some questions? Have you ever had your door broken down, been dragged out of bed, and victimized in ways you were powerless to stop? Do you have multiple scars on your body as the results of more than 10 years of physical abuse and torture? Have you ever been chased into the street, knocked down into the asphalt, and had your head and stomach repeatedly kicked in? Have you ever had your head slammed into concrete on more than one occasion so hard that you got brain swelling and concussions? Have you ever been thrown onto a sofa and have someone jump on top of you and beat into you while you try to cover your head with your arms to avoid having the bones in your face fractured, while others stood and watched, and told you that you deserved it? Have you been psychologically terrorized for a period greater than 10 years where the mind games, psychological manipulation was so severe your psyche was fractured, you lost all sense of identity and reality, and you split into two? Have you ever been been forced down onto a bed by a member of your family who attempted to rape you? Have you ever, as a child, been shoved into an oven, had the door closed, the oven turned to 425 degrees, and left for more than 15 minutes to cook til your skin turned red til someone realized what'd happened and came to rescue you? Have you ever had people drag tools, knives and needles into your body, while pinning you to the ground, with someone else holding your hands down, by people doing it because they get a kick out of hurting you? Have you ever been chased through a house, cornered, and been grabbed by your hair and hit so hard that your body does a complete 180 and crumples into the wall, blood pouring from your ear? Have you ever been in a state of continual terror, fear for your life, for a period longer than 10 years? Again, no censure, accusations, judgments, I'm merely trying to figure something out.
I'll just leave this here. http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/02/05/why-transgender-women-color-are-so-often-victims-domestic-violence Just one example among thousands upon thousands of transgender people being terrorized, getting the shit beat out of them, murdered, things thrown in their faces, people screaming in their faces... and these are things done in the light of day. You have no idea what a transgender person might be experiencing in prison.