Army private Bradley Manning revealed Thursday he wants to live his life as a woman. Now, what's next for the convicted soldier as he heads to a military prison?

Manning has been sentenced to 35 years in military prison after he was found guilty of 20 charges, including theft, for leaking more than 700,000 classified documents onto the website WikiLeaks. In a statement his lawyer read on the Today show Thursday morning Manning said:


During Manning's trial, his defense team suggested that Manning's struggle with gender identity was a factor in the decision to leak information and included in evidence was this photo of Manning in a blonde wig and lipstick.

Manning also had used the name Breanna in letters he sent while he was detained Quantico, and in a tweet that said, "I've entered a transitional phase of my life."

The question now is what happens to Manning as he most likely heads to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth. The army said Thursday that it does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery for gender identity disorder. But there are safety procedures to address high risk factors identified with the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

In the U.S. prison system, there are laws in place to receive tax-funded gender reassignment surgery. Last year, in a case involving a convicted killer, a judge ordered prison officials to provide transgender Michelle Kosilek a taxpayer-funded sex change in a male state prison.

This topic of transgender inmates has become a pop culture talking point lately, with the success of Netflix series Orange is the New Black. The show, based on a true story, features the transgender character Sophia, who is placed in a female prison. The character is concerned with accessing her female hormones.