It's contraband because they say it's contraband. It doesn't have to make sense to someone outside the system. The article uses the terms "including" and "among" thereby implying there to be more than just these items. Buzzfeed has only highlighted these specific items because that's what brings controversy to the story. It's easily spun as an attack on transgender folks and that's what they want because that's what brings views which turns into money.

I don't doubt that Manning is probably being treated more unfairly than other prisoners because of her decision to (not sure of the correct phraseology here) be transgender and the nature of the crimes committed. That's not a fact that I can verify and it doesn't mean I'm right, but it's not hard to imagine that it's happening.

It's not even close to North Korea. We're not taking generations and enslaving them in essentially concentration camps.

The article and the title here both inspire the reader to have a certain mindset and that is to think that this is an affront to transgender folks, when it's not verified that this is true. Buzzfeed has cherry picked the information they want to use and spun it into an article of half-truths, which is in no way surprising, but it does need to be noted.