WASHINGTON - US Army Major Nidal Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, earlier this month, is paralyzed from the chest down and doctors believe his paralysis will be permanent, The Washington Post reported late Sunday .

"He has no sensation from the nipple area down," Hasan's civilian attorney, John Galligan, is quoted as telling the newspaper in a telephone interview.

During a closed-door hearing in Hasan's hospital room on Saturday that lasted about an hour, a magistrate ruled that Hasan be confined until his military trial, the report said.

"In the middle of this hearing, he started to nod off and go to sleep," Galligan said. "When I've spoken with him, he's coherent, but your ability to have any meaningful exchange with him is limited in time and subject."

Hasan has been recovering from gunshot wounds at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where he is in intensive care.

The Post said he had been receiving letters and cards, which the government had been copying before delivering.

Now under pre-trial confinement, Hasan faces greater restrictions on visitors, and the military can transfer him to another hospital or jail, the paper said.

Hasan will remain in confinement until his court-martial, a date for which has not been set, The Post added.