January 12, 2025
From Susan Crane, Koblenz Open Prison, Germany January 12, 2025 After entering a German prison on June 4, 2024, I will be released on January 17, 2025 – more than 7 months of incarceration for convictions resulting from nonviolent actions at Büchel air base in Germany, where U.S. nuclear weapons are deployed. The nonviolent actions at the […]
October 19, 2024
October 11, 2024 While I’m in the prison, I feel wrapped in the kindness, generosity and community of the women in prison with me, and the kindness of guards. And while I’m out in the church and the community, I feel wrapped in kindness and compassion, and a generosity of spirit that continues to humble me. […]
September 26, 2024
September 12, 2024 Dear friends, I continue to be held, along with fellow nuclear resister Susan van der Hijden, in a German prison for demonstrating against the U.S. nuclear weapons that are illegally deployed at the Büchel air base, a German military base in Rhineland Pfalz. My out date is January 18, 2025. Another American who has […]
July 30, 2024
Vigil behind Bars July 30, 2024 Dear friends, Greetings from the open prison of Koblenz. Since July 30th, we have exchanged the Rohrbach prison desert, where most women are locked up alone or in pairs for 21 hours or more a day, for the relative freedom of a so-called open prison. Did the devil tempt […]
July 6, 2024
Leonard Peltier June 26th Statement 2024 © Greetings my Friends, Family, Loved Ones, and Supporters, Hope is a hard thing here. But I always hold hope in you, My People. Pay attention. The parole decision on July 11th may show you what justice truly means to this nation and to whom it is meant for. […]
June 20, 2024
Vigil behind Bars – For a Disarmed World JVA Rohrbach June 2024 Here in Rohrbach prison we are awakened by the sounds of doves and other birds, giving the illusion that all is well in the world, until other sounds, keys rattling, doors being shut, and guards doing the morning body check, bring us back […]
June 6, 2024
February 6, 2024© My life was taken 48 years ago, at 11:00 a.m. The sweater that my adoptive mother Ethel and her daughter Donna placed on my shoulders as I was taken in the bitter cold of Canada was a kindness that I still remember. I could not foresee that 48 years later I would […]
April 22, 2023
April 9, 2023 Easter Sunday To the Nuclear Resister, I’m a US citizen serving a 60-day sentence in Bautzen Prison, Germany, for protesting to stop preparations for nuclear war at Büchel NATO base in Germany. Today, Easter Sunday, I’m reflecting that nuclear weapons are an abomination to Nature, Humanity and all Creation! Nuclear weapons are […]
March 9, 2023
March 8, 2023 Dear Nukewatch friends, colleagues, comrades, Please forgive me if you’ve already gotten this wordy report of my recent experience in struggling against the U.S. H-bombs in Europe. In case you hadn’t heard, I was sentenced to 50 days for refusing to pay fines imposed following trespass convictions for go-in actions (which involved […]
January 19, 2023
January 15, 2023 This month has three important political anniversaries, anti-war and anti-nuclear holidays if you will, events I’ll celebrate privately for a change, since I’m temporarily cooling my heels in a German prison on the west end of Hamburg. It’s not that I killed or robbed very many people, but I have acted contemptuously […]
January 12, 2022
Greetings Relatives, Each year as November nears, I try to think back on all that has happened in my world in the past 12 months. And I know that in my world, I can only see a very small part of what is happening on the outside. For me, this year somehow seems to carry […]
August 21, 2021
Here are some final thoughts from Patrick O’Neill as he prepares to leave Elkton federal prison in Ohio and head to a federal half-way house in Raleigh, North Carolina on August 24. April 19 & 20, 2021 Hello Friends, As my transfer date gets closer (Mary picks me up at Elkton August 24 around 9 […]
August 2, 2021
Out of Egypt I Call My Son Patrick O’Neill’s Prison Reflections (Transcribed and edited by J. Mark Davidson) July 30, 2021 My Time in Elkton is Drawing to a Close July 15: It is 9 am, and I’m waiting for Rec. As I get closer to leaving Elkton, I am also getting more anxious. In […]
July 20, 2021
Halfway House to Nowhere by Martha Hennessy July 18, 2021 My past month was filled with a great spiritual struggle. Thank God for the cell phone that has connected me to my little Lectio group, interviews, and the Catholic Worker Zoom round table discussions. Living with others here is also a special time. Sometimes there […]
July 10, 2021
The Discernment Of Spirits, In MDC Brooklyn by Mark Colville July 8, 2021 Friends, loved ones all – It is impossible to adequately express my gratitude for the hundreds of beautiful letters I’ve received here during the past month… No, really, it’s impossible. You see, my efforts to answer most of […]
June 24, 2021
The World of Fascist Franchises by Martha Hennessy June 15, 2021 I am now three weeks into my stay here at the Manchester, New Hampshire halfway house. My home confinement is blocked because I’m labeled a violent recidivist by the federal Bureau of Prisons. This morning I was denied my only walk outdoors because I […]
June 24, 2021
Reflections on Release by Carmen Trotta June 22, 2021 My Dear Friends & Family, As many of you have probably heard, I am OUT of prison and overjoyed for it! That said, I am not, however, OUT & ABOUT. Currently, I’m on a strict home confinement. I cannot leave the apartment I’m in without the […]
June 19, 2021
Wars for Freedom and Other Lies Patrick O’Neill’s Prison Reflections (transcribed and edited by J. Mark Davidson) June 17, 2021 Fully Vaccinated I just received my second and final COVID-19 vaccination shot after being here for […]
June 19, 2021
The Spirit of the Law of Love by Martha Hennessy June 1st, 2021 I am now part of a community, a house where I have neither met nor been introduced to anyone other than the intake lady and my case manager. I am into my 6th day of sitting in a room for […]
May 26, 2021
Religious Freedom to Oppose Nuclear Weapons May 20, 2021 by Martha Hennessy [last prison reflection before being released on May 26] Danbury FCI At trial in October, 2019, in front of Judge Lisa Wood, Patrick O’Neill prayed in his opening statement, “I am happy that the grace of God has brought us together.” Seven co-defendants […]
May 17, 2021
Changing the Social Order by Martha Hennessy May 9th, 2021 I write of my last days here at Danbury FCI Women’s Camp with contradictions in my heart. I will be so happy to be gone from here, but I also will miss the community, as fraught and involuntary as it is. Since coming up […]
May 12, 2021
Personalism Prison Reflections from Patrick O’Neill (transcribed and edited by J. Mark Davidson) May 3, 2021 Birthday Pizza A couple of nights ago, two of my friends, Sean and Tippy, surprised me with two steaming hot pizzas they made me for my birthday! They had planned to do it back in March, but I was […]
May 12, 2021
88 Years Old Today by Martha Hennessy May 1, 2021 It is May Day, the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker, and a celebration of the dignity of work for International Workers of the World. I mopped the stairs and hall in front of the medical and psychological services office, now […]
April 27, 2021
Reflections from Danbury by Martha Hennessy April 20, 2021 The other evening there were eight deer in the meadow below Camp, playing in the puddles of rainwater collected on the worn spots of the softball diamond. They reminded me of the goats we kept in Vermont, running, splashing with their hooves, chasing one another. While […]
April 24, 2021
Triduum 2021 Prison Reflections from Patrick O’Neill (transcribed and edited by J. Mark Davidson) April 19, 2021 Holy Thursday Excerpts from letters: “The testament of your imprisonment and continued service to God is a source of encouragement to me”; “My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t mean I’m innocent” – Sherman Lee Dillon. ”I pray […]
April 24, 2021
Reflection for Easter Sunday, April 4th, 2021 3rd Anniversary of the Kings Bay Plowshares Action by Martha Hennessy – July 7th, 2017 – Treaty on the Prohibition of nuclear Weapons. Deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that would result from any use of nuclear weapons, and recognizing the consequent need to completely eliminate such […]
April 11, 2021
An Appreciation of My Fellow Plowshares Friends by Martha Hennessy (Martha sent this from prison to her friend John Dear, who typed it up and shared it with us. It is a series of reflections about each of the other participants of the Kings’ Bay Plowshares). Steve Kelly, S.J. Steve has been in custody for […]
April 11, 2021
Leg Irons and Handcuffs Prison Reflections from Patrick O’Neill (transcribed and edited by J. Mark Davidson) March 30, 2021 A Health Concern On Tuesday, March 15, I was standing in my cubicle talking to my friend Mike and my cubemate Mark. Suddenly, I started feeling very hot and I took off my long-sleeved shirt and […]
April 11, 2021
March 10th Third Wednesday of Lent by Martha Hennessy Matthew 5: 17 – 19. “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” The new law is the completion of the old, not its destruction. The spirit of the law should adhere to moral duty and meet human needs. “A faith cannot renounce its roots, […]
March 26, 2021
Humility Prison Reflections from Patrick O’Neill (transcribed and edited by J. Mark Davidson) Winter into Spring “March has been an indicator of spring. The winter snow and ice has been gone for two weeks, and the “Rec yard” track is almost dry. The sub-30s temps have been gone for a while. Some of the locals […]
March 16, 2021
from National Catholic Reporter My prison cell view of the COVID-19 pandemic March 16 by Patrick O’Neill Lisbon, Ohio — While the difficulties associated with COVID-19 are omnipresent, the hardships are even greater for those of us in prison. Matthew’s Gospel notes the work of mercy: “I was in prison and you visited me.” The […]
March 10, 2021
March 4, 2021 Albert Woodfox, in his book, Solitary, published in 2019, documents how the state of Louisiana was especially brutal in the treatment of prisoners at the infamous Angola prison. Mr. Woodfox and two companions were particularly targeted in their struggle for justice, carrying out the values and principles of the Black Panther Party. […]
March 8, 2021
February 17, 2021 Ash Wednesday Women’s Federal Prison Camp Father Iwaji came to the camp this morning for Mass. The crucifix, chalice, and candlesticks were a sight for sore eyes. Seeing the white altar cloth and purple vestments after weeks of institutional grey and beige, along with unpainted concrete and razor wire, was a rich […]
March 8, 2021
January 30, 2021 Today is Gandhi’s death day and I dipped into Robert Ellsberg’s All Saints, of which there are two copies in the Chapel library here. Gandhi brought nonviolence as political struggle to the modern world–just in case we missed the message as presented to us by Jesus! Clearly Christianity has not brought […]
February 17, 2021
Martha Hennessy – Prison Reflection February 11, 2021 Robert Ellsberg inspired me today with his writing of A. J. Muste in All Saints and “Blessed Among Us” in Give Us This Day. “Nonconformity, Holy Disobedience, becomes a virtue…to go along is used as an instrument to subject men to totalitarian rule and involved them in […]
February 14, 2021
February 5th, 2021 Is it true that the wind Streaming especially in fall Through the pines Is saying nothing, nothing at all, Or is it just that I don’t yet know the language? Mary Oliver – “Wind in the Pines” There is a row of thirteen white pines that look to be perhaps 40 years […]
February 5, 2021
The Citadel of Calamity by Martha Hennessy January 13, 2021 I write to you, my dear readers, from Danbury FCI, sitting atop the most lovely hill on the western border of Connecticut. I don’t know who the first people were who walked this place before white displacement but I’m sure it was sacred, now desecrated […]
February 2, 2021
January 27, 2021 Today’s parable in Mark 4:1-20 is “a sower went out to sow.” The mystery of the Kingdom of God is granted to us. I’m still trying to understand any and all of the parables. This prison seems to have both barren and rich soil. And plenty of thorns and thistles to navigate […]
February 2, 2021
January 2021 I am in the “Satellite Camp” of the Otisville prison. I never asked for the camp and I was very surprised that I was assigned there. The camp is a very low security prison, and it has some benefits (this is the prison camp that Michael Cohen spent his limited time in). I […]
February 2, 2021
Danbury Federal Prison Camp January 21, 2021 Tomorrow, January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons becomes a legally binding document. President Biden, in his inaugural speech yesterday, January 20th, spoke of the challenges our country is facing: massive unemployment, divisiveness, lack of truth telling and clear factual information, pollution, climate collapse. […]
January 11, 2021
December 31, 2020 The last day of the year is relatively quiet behind razor wire and chain link fencing surrounding these metal buildings on top of a lovely hill. Three oranges sit on the table as we pass the 17th day of a quarantine here at Danbury Federal Prison. Thank God for some fresh fruit […]
September 7, 2019
The Wind Blows Where It Wills by Mark Colville June, 2019 Glynn County Detention Center Settling into a semi-quiet space to put pen to paper, I’m preoccupied with news of a trial that is proceeding in federal court in Tucson, Arizona. A man named Scott Warren is facing up to twenty years in prison on […]
March 27, 2019
March, 2019 Dear Friends, Greetings and hugs all around! With a grateful heart I commend all who continue to make the sacrifices necessary to keep our doors at the Amistad Catholic Worker open, the kitchen warm, and the table set, especially during these harsh months and under the added strain of my extended absence. For […]
September 8, 2018
August 27, 2018 by Mark Colville Postcards To Bodhi #4 COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT So we’ve been locked down in our cells yet again, with no indication of how long it will last this time. Collective punishment– which, as I try to keep reminding myself, is an internationally-condemned human rights violation– is standard procedure here, a basic […]
June 27, 2018
6/17/18 by Mark Colville Written from jail based on the Gospel reading for that day. Mark 4:26-34 There’s a consolation that flows from this parable, “the seed grows of itself,” that I’d not found before. Day to day life here is dominated by the experience and the effects of scattering. The collective that makes up […]
June 27, 2018
[MOTIONS HEARING STATEMENT: First Draft] Rattling My Cage (Some thoughts on our upcoming trial) by Mark Colville June 5, 2018 One of the blessings that has flowed in abundance during this time of incarceration is recollectedness – a mental and spiritual focus which I often find difficult to access with any consistency “out there in […]
June 27, 2018
by Clare Grady 5/29/18 I am especially grateful for today’s Gospel reading. I feel that I have been living it and I want to share my experience, strength, and hope…MK 10:28-31: Peter began to say to Jesus, “We have given up everything and followed you: Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no […]
June 11, 2018
A reflection written by Martha Hennessy at the Glynn County Detention Center during the week before her release to home confinement: In southern Georgia it is nearing the end of May and we are approaching the eighth week of incarceration at Camden and Glynn County jails, following the Kings Bay Plowshares action. I am reading […]
May 28, 2018
[This arrived in the mail a month late from the jail.] Earth Day Reflection by Martha Hennessy In April 1968, as a 13-year-old student in rural Vermont, the news of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s killing cast a dark shadow on my hopes for a more just world. My mother and I knew that a great spiritual leader had been taken […]
May 18, 2018
A BRIEF REACTION TO BEING CHARGED WITH 3 FELONIES AND A MISDEMEANOR BY THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT, BRUNSWICK COUNTY, GEORGIA May 3, 2018 Once again, a federal court has plainly identified itself as another hall of the Pentagon by turning a blind eye to the criminal and murderous enterprise from which the Pentagon has repeatedly […]
April 30, 2018
“Do you swear/affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you [God]?”, Dennis Apel was asked as he took the stand in Federal court for his witness at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Dennis looked to the judge and said, “If I am allowed to, I will, believe me, tell all […]
April 22, 2018
When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples […]
April 21, 2018
Note from Jessica Stewart: Please read the words of Liz McAlister below. Yesterday when I spoke with Clare [Grady], she related a beautiful story about Liz. The women in the jail have an emerging prayer circle. They asked Liz, as the elder, to lead a prayer. Liz was reluctant but eventually agreed. She began by saying, […]
April 16, 2018
April 16, 2018 We say, “the ultimate logic of Trident is omnicide”, and yet, the explosive power of this weapon is only part of what we want to make visible. We see that nuclear weapons kill every day by their mere existence. Their production requires mining, refining, testing, and dumping of radioactive material, which poisons sacred […]
December 6, 2017
The International Leonard Peltier Defense Campaign has completed its move to Tampa, Florida, closer to the current home of the Native American political prisoner. Details for contacting the new office and an update on the campaign follow this November 23 statement from Peltier: Greetings my friends, relatives and supporters, Once again, I can’t tell you […]
July 20, 2017
from The National 19th July, 2017 Jailed Trident protester Brian Quail writes letter from prison to The National by Brian Quail BANGED up again! It’s been many years since I last supped porridge as a guest of Betty Windsor. Memories of slopping out and sharing a smoke-filled cell did not prepare me for a sojourn […]
March 28, 2017
from the Guardian To Those Who Kept Me Alive All These Years, Thank You by Chelsea Manning February 13, 2017 To those who have kept me alive for the past six years: minutes after President Obama announced the commutation of my sentence, the prison quickly moved me out of general population and into the restrictive […]
November 24, 2016
Day of Mourning November 24, 2016 Greetings my relatives, Here we are again. This time the year is 2016. It has been more than 41 years since I last walked free and was able to see the sun rise and sit and feel the earth beneath my feet. I know there have been more changes […]
September 10, 2016
FREEDOM by Norman Lowry Our world cannot survive without a sense of meaning, in particular one that will lead us to the depths of love. —Unknown Freedom is the highest of my basic needs. I need freedom more than I need to breathe or to survive. Where most seem to see freedom as being a […]
August 29, 2016
[Dennis also wrote a Diary From Prison which was published online by the Santa Barbara Independent. You can read his entries here.] August 29, 2016 Dear Family and Friends, Today is Monday and as they say here, I’ve got “three days and a wake-up.” On Friday morning, September 2nd sometime around eleven o’clock in the […]
August 7, 2016
From the Los Angeles Catholic Worker August 5, 2016 Dear Community, “Dietrich, I’m gonna visit you some night.” Gabriel sits at the Latino table most evenings watching the Spanish-language TV. With a menacing look and numerous tattoos, he has the image of one who is familiar with both streets and jails. So, when he said […]
August 2, 2016
Monday, August 1, 2016 Dear Friends and Family, It’s been a little while since I have sent something out, so it’s time for a little update. On this past Friday I celebrated, here in prison, my 66th Birthday. It was a good day in that, although I was not able to be with my family […]
August 2, 2016
Sunday, June 26, 2016 Sisters, brothers, friends and supporters: June 26th marks 41 years since the long summer day when three young men were killed at the home of the Jumping Bull family, near Oglala, during a firefight in which I and dozens of others participated. While I did not shoot (and therefore did not […]
May 23, 2016
May 14, 2016 Dear Friends, Love and Gratitude to all of you who continue to hold us in your hearts as we once again experience the unique blessing of incarceration. It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of Daniel Berrigan (Presente!) and so many others who have helped light the path of active […]
May 17, 2016
May 16, 2016 Dear Friends, Today marks one week (is that all?!!) since I arrived at MDC. It’s been quite a transition. Every time someone asks how long I’m in for and I respond, “four months” I get a reply something like, “Oh man! That’s nothing. That’s a breeze!” But THIS breeze is movin’ real […]
May 10, 2016
from The Guardian Solitary confinement is “no touch” torture, and it must be abolished by Chelsea E. Manning I spent about nine months in an isolated cell behind a one-way mirror. It was cruel, degrading and inhumane Shortly after arriving at a makeshift military jail, at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, in May 2010, I was placed […]
March 1, 2016
On January 19, 2016 I was remanded after a county court decision upheld a lower court verdict that I was guilty of violating the terms of an order of protection while photographing 8 Catholic drone protestors at Hancock Air Force Base. Orders of protection were originally created to protect domestic violence victims and witnesses who […]
February 11, 2016
February 11, 2016 Greetings, Dear Friends — Joy swept through our cell block, Jamesville County Jail, Pod 4, Thursday, January 28. That evening some of the fifty-nine women in our Pod rushed up and knocked on my cell door. They reported the six o’clock news had shown twelve drone resisters handcuffed, sitting on a roadside […]
February 6, 2016
February 6, 2016 Greetings friends, supporters and all Native Peoples. What can I say that I have not said before? I guess I can start by saying see you later to all of those who have passed in the last year. We Natives don’t like to mention their names. We believe that if we speak […]
January 16, 2016
Why I Acted by Jessica Reznicek Hammer of Justice statement from the Sarpy County Jail, Papillion, Nebraska, January 11, 2016 Hello, everyone! Thank you to all who are carrying me with them in heart and mind while I do this time here in Sarpy County Jail. It is felt deeply. My spirit is strong these […]
May 27, 2015
The years since I was jailed for releasing the ‘war diaries’ have been a rollercoaster from The Guardian by Chelsea Manning May 27, 2015 Today marks five years since I was ordered into military confinement while deployed to Iraq in 2010. I find it difficult to believe, at times, just how long I have been […]
May 25, 2015
On his last day alive, April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sent the title of his upcoming Sunday sermon to his church in Atlanta: “Why America May Go to Hell.” He had earlier said that “A nation that continues, year after year, to spend more money on military defense than on programs of […]
April 18, 2015
from the National Catholic Reporter by Jack Gilroy | Apr. 18, 2015 Jamesville Correction Facility is just a few miles from Syracuse, N.Y. Syracuse has its own jail, known as the Justice Center. After serving two months at the Jamesville Correction Facility (my crime was attempting to deliver a message to stop the killing from […]
April 16, 2015
The Storm Is Over by Kathy Kelly April 11, 2015 Lightning flashed across Kentucky skies a few nights ago. “I love storms,” said my roommate, Gypsi, her eyes bright with excitement. Thunder boomed over the Kentucky hills and Atwood Hall, here in Lexington, KY’s federal prison. I fell asleep thinking of the gentle, haunting song […]
April 7, 2015
Megan Rice 88101-020 MDC Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center P.O. Box 329002 Brooklyn, NY 11232 April, 2015 Dear friends, promoters of ways to make real the energies of the social gospel in our midst, helping fairness and justice flourish wherever you are and sharing your stories through your faithful letters to prisoners of conscience, Being a […]
April 3, 2015
Sing Another Song by Kathy Kelly April 2, 2015 Here in Lexington federal prison’s Atwood Hall, squinting through the front doorway, I spotted a rust-red horse swiftly cantering across a nearby field. The setting sun cast a glow across the grasses and trees as the horse sped past. “Reminds me of the Pope,” I murmured […]
March 19, 2015
by Kathy Kelly March 15, 2015 By the time I leave Kentucky’s federal prison center, where I’m an inmate with a 3 month sentence, the world’s 12th-largest city may be without water. Estimates put the water reserve of Sao Paulo, a city of 20 million people, at sixty days. Sporadic outages have already begun, the […]
March 19, 2015
from The Guardian March 9, 2015 by Chelsea E Manning “The CIA’s torturers and the leaders who approved their actions must face the law.” Even the most junior level intelligence officers know that torture is both unethical and illegal. So why didn’t our political leaders? Successful intelligence gathering through interrogation and other forms of human […]
March 19, 2015
RESISTANCE AS EXILE IN PRISON by Norm Lowry February 24, 2015 “The old yellow pus of American cowardice is once again throbbing in the veins of this sorry country. How does it appear? In chauvinism that struts safely in its own land, away from danger. It is easy to talk ‘dangerously’ about knocking people down […]
March 19, 2015
by Kathy Kelly March 9, 2015 That is also us, the possibility of us, if the wonderful accident of our birth had taken place elsewhere: you could be the refugee, I could be the torturer. To face that truth is also our burden. After all, each of us has been the bystander, the reasonable person […]
February 24, 2015
Megan Rice 88101-020 MDC Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center P.O. Box 329002 Brooklyn, NY 11232 February, 2015 Dear Sisters and Brothers in solidarity with our shared movement towards transforming our world into a nuclear-free world worthy of being passed on to the “seventh generation”, 2015 has begun with a plethora of gifts of the wisdom so […]
February 19, 2015
The Front Page Rule by Kathy Kelly February 15, 2015 After a week here in FMC Lexington Satellite camp, a federal prison in Kentucky, I started catching up on national and international news via back issues of USA Today available in the prison library, and an “In Brief” item, on p. 2A of the Jan. […]
February 17, 2015
February 2015 Update/Statement From Leonard Peltier Greetings My Friends, Relatives and Supporters: I know that many of you have concerns about the status of my situation and have been wanting an update about what is going on. A lot has been happening in the last few months and I am sorry I have not written […]
February 12, 2015
The Shift reprint of a letter from Kathy Kelly “We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person oriented society: when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” – Martin […]
January 23, 2015
by Kathy Kelly January 22, 2015 The Bureau of Prisons contacted me today, assigning me a prison number and a new address: for the next 90 days, beginning tomorrow, I’ll live at FMC Lexington, in the satellite prison camp for women, adjacent to Lexington’s federal medical center for men. Very early tomorrow morning, Buddy Bell, […]
January 5, 2015
December 10, 2014 Dear Sisters and Brothers, Following Thanksgiving time, and preparing to celebrate the gifting time, I again find a shared response to all our faithful correspondents most appropriate. Once again, especially moved by a passage from Matthew 11, for today, speaking clearly of gifts treasured by prophets everywhere. I quote Jesus’ own in: […]
December 9, 2014
Fighting the Dragon A poem by Michael Walli Part One – George 1. George fighteth the dragon 2. Whilst astride a high horse 3. From dizzying heights 4. With a 10’ pole 5.George hath 50 to take precedence over 6. He fiddleth with the monarchy 7. He stumbleth to an empty page
November 3, 2014
Megan Rice 88101-020 MDC Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center P.O. Box 329002 Brooklyn, NY 11232 November 2, 2014 5th anniversary of the Disarm Now Plowshares action at Kitsap-Bangor Naval Base, homeport for eight Trident submarines which carry 192 multi-warhead nuclear ballistic missiles when deployed in the sacred waters of the Pacific, and stores 2,000 nuclear weapons. […]
September 7, 2014
September 7, 2014 Megan Rice 88101-020 MDC Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center P.O. Box 329002 Brooklyn, NY 11232 Dear Sisters and Brothers, friends in solidarity to transform new global policies in favor of life-enhancing alternatives to death dealing weapons and wars- by sustaining peaceful negotiations: Your outpouring of affection and concern in letters and action, […]
July 28, 2014
To my dearest friends and comrades, I want to thank you all for your never ending love and support for the three of us as we continue to resist this system of state oppression. The last two years have been a long, hard fought struggle, but finally, with trial done and sentences handed out, we’re […]
July 27, 2014
From Via Pacis, newsletter of the Des Moines Catholic Worker Greg Boertje-Obed and Michele Naar-Obed are not new to the Plowshares scene. They met and married while living at Jonah House and being a part of the Good News Plowshares. Their child Rachel was born at Jonah House. Greg has done a total of five […]
May 23, 2014
Megan Rice 88101-020 MDC Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center P.O. Box 329002 Brooklyn, NY 11232 May 7, 2014 Dear Friends of the Transform Now Plowshares (TNP), I open this letter for May, 2014 with a prayer for each of us sent to me by one of our 25 SOAW 1998 Prisoners of Conscience, Rita Lucey, who […]
April 17, 2014
April 6, 2014 Dear sisters and brothers, at-one-with us all in this Beloved Community of participants in support of disarming now, and transforming now, the nuclear-industrial complex, wherever it rears its rapacious heads! Greetings from the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn. I arrived about ten days ago, after a BOP transit tour, […]
March 30, 2014
[Sr. Megan Rice has been transferred from the Irwin County Detention Center. You can write to her at: Megan Rice 88101-020, Metropolitan Detention Center, P.O. Box 329002, Brooklyn, NY 11232.] March 2, 2014 Ocilla, GA Dear sisters and brothers, united as we are in efforts to transform weapons of war (alá Y-12, etc.) into projects […]
March 28, 2014
Greetings my friends, relatives, supporters, and all those who support the cause of freedom, not only for Native Americans, but for all people. I know it’s sometimes not easy being involved and staying involved, so for all of you that have done just that, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart […]
January 3, 2014
On the wall at the foot of my bed hangs a picture of a gateway through which lies the residue of life never fully realized. At this site, eight years prior to my birth, the United States of America purposefully melted hundreds of thousands of people, with a fire hotter than the sun. Next to […]
January 3, 2014
August 1, 2013 Hello, My name is Kim Young-Jae, and I am currently incarcerated for trying to stop the construction of a U.S. Naval base in Jeju, Korea. I am very grateful to get the newspaper from the Nuclear Resister and the card of support you sent. I want to thank all of you who […]
August 16, 2013
ELEVATING THE HOST Four times our corners of ninety The circle of charity embracing all Is unbroken with 360 In leap year take a mind leap Make your election sure To the House of Bread Christmas comes full circle When our foursquare New Jerusalem comes down from Heaven Santa Maria sank at Christmas In the […]
July 13, 2013
OPEN COMMUNIQUÉ BY MIGS (MARK NEIWEEM), NATO 5 PRISONER July 1, 2013 Greetings of solidarity, comrades and friends. I sincerely hope this communiqué finds all of you in the very best of health and highest of revolutionary spirits. I am coming to all of you with all the love and admiration in my heart to […]
July 3, 2013
Prisoner of Conscience: Endure by Norman Lowry May 28, 2013 “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” — Mohandas K. Gandhi In her autobiography FALLING LEAVES, author Adeline Yen Mah gifts us with the beauty of her Chinese heritage. To her, the word “ren” (endure) represents […]
May 17, 2013
Kim Young-Jae was arrested on April 12 while standing in front of a truck, on the road leading into the site of a naval base under construction on Jeju Island, South Korea. Two days later, he was issued a warrant and taken to jail. Here are translated excerpts from a letter he wrote on April […]
April 23, 2013
Drones, Sanctions and the Prison Industrial Complex by Brian Terrell In the final weeks of a six month prison sentence for protesting remote control murder by drones, specifically from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, I can only reflect on my time of captivity in light of the crimes that brought me here. In these […]
April 9, 2013
from Save Jeju Now UPDATE ON YANG YOON-MO ON HIS 68TH DAY IN PRISON Yang Yoon-Mo hit his 68th prison day on Monday, April 8. On April 10, he will hit his 70th prison day. On a sunny Monday, the way to the meeting room of the Jeju prison was filled with green trees and magnolia. […]
March 7, 2013
from the Bradley Manning Support Network By Army PFC Bradley Manning Read to Judge Denise Lind, Fort Meade courtroom, February 28, 2013 Transcript by the Bradley Manning Support Network. (Scroll down for acknowledgements.) I wrote this statement in confinement, so… The following facts are provided in support of the providence inquiry for my court martial, […]
February 15, 2013
Dear Friends, Greetings from the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, South Dakota! As of this writing, I am two months into a six month sentence imposed due to my protest of war crimes committed by remote control from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri against the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
November 23, 2012
Greeting my relatives, friends, and supporters, It is with great honor that I get a chance to speak with you even though it’s a written message that someone has to read. I’m saddened that we have to call this a Day of Mourning, but we must take every opportunity to remind this nation when it […]
September 2, 2012
(published in issue #167 of the Nuclear Resister newsletter) ~from Blount County The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes. – Psalm 118.22-23 When Megan, Michael and I were preparing for the witness that became the Transform Now Plowshares, we […]
June 16, 2012
A Reflection on Coming Out of Prison: On Contradictions and Responsibility From the Disarm Now Plowshares website After the Disarm Now Plowshares action, trial and sentencing, I was in prison with a fifteen month sentence: an eye-blink in comparison to the sentences of most of the women I was with in FDC SeaTac and FCI […]
June 16, 2012
We Must Raise The Level Of Our Resistance Excerpted from Lynne Stewart’s letter to the United National Anti-war Coalition (UNAC) conference that took place March 23-25, 2012 in Stamford, Connecticut. Too many wars, too much death and destruction on both sides… And our ever-present legacy of these wars? Go down to your local “shelter for […]
June 13, 2012
From issue #166 of the Nuclear Resister Unrecognized political prisoner: A Year’s Reflection Or as Steve Baggarly of the Norfolk Catholic Worker wrote in a letter from jail: “If the SHU fits…” Many folks, mostly activists, write to us with this first thought: “Oh, I could never do what you are doing”, meaning either […]
April 11, 2012
Easter Greetings from Susan Crane from the Disarm Now Plowshares blog Dear Friends, Thanks for your prayers, letters, books and encouragement. Your support means so much to me. And thanks for your work that brings us all closer to the Beloved Community. I was walking back to the housing unit from dinner the other day, […]
March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 Dear Jack and Felice, Thanks for the great card from the Tucson Peace Fair. These cards are always filled with grand encouragement, to be sure! After numerous delays, my trial took place yesterday. Sentencing will take place after a presentencing investigation. Had I chosen, after the many judicial conferences along the […]
March 1, 2012
A Lenten Call: Give Up Our Violence! Note from Leonard Eiger, Disarm Now Plowshares: This is a reflection written over the course of two days by William “Bix” Bichsel, SJ during his 30-day stay in solitary confinement at the SeaTac Federal Detention Center. Bix began this reflection on Friday, February 3, 2012, the third day of his second (four day) […]
December 8, 2011
The one thing which every jail and prison does more than anything else is counting people. We’re counted five times a day here. Three times we’re returned to our housing units to stand by our bunks and be counted, and they come through twice at night after lights out. We’re counted to the extent that […]
September 5, 2011
Reprinted from the Catholic Agitator, newsletter of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker. Steve Baggarly will be sentenced September 20 in federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee, for trespass July 5, 2010 at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Last night as I prepared to turn in, at the foot of my upper bunk, […]
September 5, 2011
Silo Pruning Hook activist Helen Woodson is due to be released September 9 after serving nearly 27 years in prison for that and subsequent actions against war and other assaults on human dignity, peace and the environment. July 23, 2011 Dear Jack & Felice, 48 days – and then I’ll emerge, Winkle-esque, into a very […]
August 15, 2011
TRIBUTE TO JACKIE HUDSON, OP from her sisters in prison Sister Jackie Hudson, OP – Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan, missioned to Ground Zero near Bangor Trident Naval Base, faith-filled and faithful peacemaker and organizer, strong preacher of truth, gentle and nonviolent woman, teacher, musician, plowshare activist and resister, was called before her unconditionally […]
July 24, 2011
July 8, 2011 Dear Peacemaking Friends, With all the prayers and positive energy coming to me from so many directions, I feel I’m doing very well here at the Ocilla jail. This letter is being written to LaQuita with what the commissary calls a “ballpoint pen”. It is the skinny little filler for a pen so […]
July 1, 2011
A JOKE AND A LETTER The U.S. and Russia are supposedly allies in fighting Islamic terrorism. But they do not trust one another – they spy upon one another. The U.S. Navy Seals used trained porpoises to spy upon the Russian Navy in their naval warfare activities. But the Russian sailors kidnapped the porpoises. This […]
June 19, 2011
Thank you for your letters, your prayers, the books you have sent. Thanks for maintaining contact with me. I arrived at the federal prison here in California, flown in with 29 other women from Pahrump, Nevada. We had been woken up at midnight to get ready to leave, and had been in shackles and waistchain […]
June 18, 2011
TOILET PAPER by Bonnie Urfer I really want to complain about every woman in this jail receiving one roll of toilet paper to last for the whole week but I can’t because the for profit jail almost killed my friend Jackie in it’s “medical” unit. I really want to complain about the lack of toilet […]
June 6, 2011
May 25, 2011 Dear Friends, Welcome to another of America’s gulags – this one in Eastern TN – the Blount County Correctional Facility in Maryville, TN! This is day number 15 and I want to begin the journey with a quote from Jarhead by Anthony Swofford and his experiences as a Marine in Operation Desert […]
April 29, 2011
FDC SeaTac by Lynne Greenwald Concrete walls and locked doors cannot take away images of bright lights, fences and towers protecting tombs of unimaginable horrors. We remember fertile lands, natural forests, mollusk-rich beaches, early morning fog clinging to water and earth until the sun brightens the sky, exposing Olympian mountains. Trident IS Illegal and Immoral. […]
April 19, 2011
After spending the first 2 1/2 weeks of his prison sentence for the Disarm Now Plowshares action at the SeaTac Federal Correction Facility, Jesuit priest Bill “Bix” Bichsel was taken out of his cell on April 18. He is being transported several thousand miles across the U.S. to Tennessee, where he is scheduled […]
March 24, 2011
Responding to the Message of Fukashima By Louie Vitale In “From Hiroshima to Fukushima,” an article published in The Nation on March 15 in the wake of the nuclear power disaster in Japan, historian Jonathan Schell once again hit the mark. The author of the ground-breaking book The Fate of the Earth published in the […]
December 20, 2010
December 8, 2010 HERE WE ARE AGAIN by Fr. Louis Vitale Two weeks have passed since David Omondi and I began our sojourn here at Irwin County Detention Center in southern Georgia. Some may say, “Vitale has protested himself back into the pokey below the Mason-Dixon line” and “He has been jailed again in an […]
September 29, 2010
Illegal Reentry by Nancy Gwin I. In January I was found guilty in Federal Court in Columbus, Georgia of “Illegal Reentry onto a United States Military Reservation.” I have been incarcerated here at Danbury Federal Correctional Institution since March 8. The illegal reentry occurred last November when Fr. Louis Vitale, Ken Hayes, Michael Walli and […]
September 29, 2010
(from the Nuclear Resister #158/159, September 20, 2010) February 6, 2010 Greetings to everyone, Thirty-four years. It doesn’t even sound like a real number to me. Not when one really thinks about being in a jail cell for that long. All these years and I swear, I still think sometimes I’ll wake up from this […]
August 2, 2010
SERVING TIME FOR PEACE IN SWEDEN 17th of June, 2010 I am led into the central office of the prison Skenäs outside of Norrköping. Two guards help me to carry my stuff. “It looks like you are moving in here!” says one guard. “That’s exactly what I am doing, temporary anyway,” says I. “Do you […]
June 5, 2010
(From the Nuclear Resister #157, June 1, 2010) February 25, 2010 How Can I Cope? Many people who write me – friends and supporters – ask about harsh treatment and brutality. I do not deny that in many prisons and jails these conditions do exist. One can even raise the charge of torture. In regards […]
April 1, 2010
(From the Nuclear Resister #154, July 17, 2009) Strategy Behind Swedish Disarmament The network Ofog (meaning mischief in Swedish) started in 2002 as an anti-militarist network for a nuclear-free world. Inspired by the Trident Ploughshares campaign in Great Britain, we used mainly blockades in our actions but also other forms of direct action, like penetrating […]
April 1, 2010
(From the Nuclear Resister #153, May 1, 2009, via lettersfromprison.com) March 22, 2009 (in the afternoon) I got my first visit yesterday – mom and dad. When I found out they were coming I was pleased, but markedly unemotional. It would be good to see them – I like my parents. But it was to […]
April 1, 2010
April 4, 2009 Ten years ago I was in jail in England, awaiting trial for an action within the Trident Ploughshares campaign. Now I’m on remand in Sweden, for a disarmament action against the fighter jet Gripen. It’s my first time locked up in Sweden. Compared with in England, one spends more time in the […]
April 1, 2010
(From the Nuclear Resister #152, February 24, 2009) February 6, 2009 Greetings my relatives, First of all, before anything else I want to thank all for the work that you’ve been doing because what you do for me, you do it for my people and all those that come after us. The enemy that we […]
April 1, 2010
(From the Nuclear Resister #151, December 20, 2008) December 16, 2008 Two days ago, December 14, was my second anniversary here in CMU-Terre Haute, Indiana. Two years ago, with dozens of others, I was whisked here without explanation, to this place reserved for those on death row. The place was closed for years. It was […]