The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War . On May 17, 1968, they took 378 draft files from the draft board office in Catonsville, Maryland , and burned them in the parking lot.
31-589: The Nine were: George Mische and Father Phil Berrigan were prime organizers of the Catonsville Nine. The organizing process was very democratic, with lengthy meetings and voting by raised hands. On October 17, 1967, Fr. Philip Berrigan and Tom Lewis raided the Baltimore City Custom House and poured blood on draft records as part of "The Baltimore Four" (with David Eberhardt and James Mengel) and were out on bail when they burned
62-436: A "secure" area, the activists hung protest banners on a uranium storage site, poured human blood and spray-painted the walls with anti-war slogans. Following a controversial trial, the three activists were convicted in early May 2013 on the charges of damaging property in violation of 18 US Code 1363, damaging federal property in excess of $ 1000 in violation of 18 US Code 1361, and intending to injure, interfere with, or obstruct
93-563: A basket of flowers to the clerk on duty at the office during the event. The Catonsville Nine were tried in federal court October 5–9, 1968, defended by William Kunstler . They were found guilty of destruction of U.S. property, destruction of Selective Service files, and interference with the Selective Service Act of 1967. They were also sentenced to a total of 18 years in jail and fined $ 22,000. Mary Moylan, Philip Berrigan, Daniel Berrigan and George Mische failed to report for
124-532: A fence and walk into the center of the facility. This is further evidence that nuclear security—the securing of highly enriched uranium and plutonium—should be a top priority to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear bomb-making material. These experts have questioned "the use of private contractors to provide security at facilities that manufacture and store the government's most dangerous military material". On April 4, 2018, seven Plowshares activists calling themselves " Kings Bay Plowshares " were arrested at
155-609: A manufacturing plant for MX and Pershing II missiles in Wilmington, Massachusetts, and damaged plans and equipment. They were arrested. The subsequent trial, including testimony from historian Howard Zinn , is documented in the film The Trial of the AVCO Plowshares by Global Village Video . As of 2000, some 71 such actions happened on several continents. There have been several more such actions since 2000. The longest sentences given to individuals were those meted out to
186-543: A portfolio of etchings he made while imprisoned at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary . It contains ten etchings, in a run of fifty copies, some printed with ink he had to scrounge together from ashes, coffee or cocoa powder. He wrote accompanying text and the cover was printed by fellow Catholic activist Corita Kent . The etchings depict the psychic torment of his fellow prisoners by suicidal thoughts, boredom or isolation, as well as scenes of police brutality. Plowshares Movement#Pouring of blood The Plowshares movement
217-584: A possible cut in officer staff positions. Under such conditions, many of the Correctional Officers expressed concerns about their own safety. As of 2009, USP Lewisburg was designated as a Special Management Unit intended to house the most violent and disruptive inmates in the Bureau of Prisons. Although most USP Lewisburg inmates are housed in the SMU, there remains a work cadre of about 200 inmates in
248-603: Is a medium-security United States federal prison in Kelly Township, Pennsylvania , for male inmates. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons , a division of the United States Department of Justice . An adjacent satellite prison camp houses minimum-security male offenders. Initially named North Eastern Penitentiary, USP Lewisburg was one of four federal prisons to open in 1932. It
279-479: Is an anti-nuclear weapons and Christian pacifist movement that advocates active resistance to war. The group often practices a form of protest that involves the damaging of weapons and military property. The movement gained notoriety in the early 1980s when several members damaged nuclear warhead nose cones and were subsequently convicted. The name refers to the text of prophet Isaiah who said that swords shall be beaten into plowshares . The U.S. Plowshares group
310-400: Is unknown how many persons were not drafted because of these actions. As of 2009 the movement had morphed into the continuing Plowshares movement with an emphasis on nuclear weapons. The group's actions, along with the Catonsville Nine and earlier actions, have been detailed online by Jonah House . Fr. Daniel Berrigan wrote a play in free verse , The Trial of the Catonsville Nine , about
341-806: The ECHELON signal interception program, causing $ 1.2 million in damages. In March 2010 the three men stood trial by jury at the District Court in Wellington and were acquitted. The New Zealand Attorney-General then lodged a civil claim, on behalf of the GCSB, for $ 1.2 million. This claim was dropped in February 2014. On November 2, 2009, a Plowshares action took place in the U.S. at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor , where Trident nuclear weapons are stored or deployed on Trident submarines. These weapons constitute
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#1732802059260372-768: The Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base . Longtime peace activist Susan Crane was among those arrested. They stated that the action had been planned to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The activists were arrested, handed over to local authorities, and taken to the county jail. The Kings Bay spokesman, Scott Bennett, said that no one had been threatened and no military personnel or assets were endangered. The base houses 8 Ohio-class submarines , 6 of which carry ballistic missiles and are described by
403-633: The Navy as "designed specifically for stealth and the precise delivery of nuclear warheads." The seven Plowshares were found guilty on October 24, 2019. Liz McAlister was sentenced to time served, 3 years of supervised probation and a portion of the $ 33,000 restitution. The other defendants remain to be sentenced. Sentencing guidelines suggest 8 to 33 months of incarceration and/or conditional probation, although they face potentially more than 20 years. United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg The Federal Correctional Institution, Lewisburg (FCI Lewisburg)
434-566: The 1984 group, the Silo Pruning Hooks, two of which were sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for entering a Minuteman II missile silo. Pouring of blood is a controversial symbolic act that has been traditionally conducted by Plowshares activists including Susan Crane . On April 30, 2008, three Plowshares activists entered the GCSB Waihopai base near Blenheim, New Zealand and punctured an inflated radome used in
465-470: The 2012 Plowshares action, which involved the protesters walking into a high-security zone of the plant, calling the security breach "unprecedented." Independent security contractor, WSI, has since had a weeklong "security stand-down," a halt to weapons production, and mandatory refresher training for all security staff. Non-proliferation policy experts are concerned about the relative ease with which these unarmed, unsophisticated protesters could cut through
496-687: The Berrigans' group was re-sentenced and paroled for up to 23 and 1/2 months in consideration of time already served in prison. Their legal battle was re-created in Emile de Antonio 's 1982 film In the King of Prussia , which starred Martin Sheen and featured appearances by the Plowshares Eight as themselves. Other actions followed. In 1983, the "Plowshares Eight" entered AVCO Systems Division,
527-592: The Big House by filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond. The one-hour film described conditions inside the prison, noted the abolition of parole within the federal system, and showed fears held by many prisoners about re-integrating into society upon their release. On November 1, 1995, USP Lewisburg had a prison riot . It was started by 10 prisoners, but more than 20 visited the hospital, one with broken bones and missing teeth. Many were sentenced to solitary confinement and more than 400 were transferred. This incident thrust
558-582: The FBI found and arrested Berrigan at the home of William Stringfellow and Anthony Towne. He was released from Danbury prison in 1972. Lewis was released in 1971. The "Nine" inspired many other anti-draft and anti-military actions in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Milwaukee 14 , D.C. 9 , Silver Spring 3 , Chicago 8 , Harrisburg 7 , Camden 28 . Participants sometimes remained at the scene to be arrested, sometimes they departed in order to avoid arrest. It
589-805: The Penitentiary into the national spotlight, where it gained much of its current notoriety. A local non-profit group, the Lewisburg Prison Project, helps prisoners here and in the surrounding area with issues of conditions of confinement. In July 2008, correction officers at USP Lewisburg expressed concerns about underfunding. Over the past four years, union leaders and other officials had been lobbying in an attempt to quell staff reductions and cutting costs. The Federal Bureau of Prisons had proposed $ 143 million in possible spending cuts, including not replacing vehicles and equipment, eliminating overtime, reducing corrections officer training, and
620-760: The Plowshares Movement under the premise of beating swords to ploughshares. They trespassed onto the General Electric Re-entry Division in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania , where Mark 12A reentry vehicles for the Minuteman III missile were made. They hammered on two reentry vehicles, poured blood on documents, and offered prayers for peace. They were arrested and charged with more than ten different felony and misdemeanor counts. On April 10, 1990, after 10 years of appeals,
651-564: The USP's general population. As of February 2021, USP Lewisburg was changed from a high-security institution to medium security, becoming the third location within the BOP for Communications management units (CMU), alongside USP Marion and FCI Terre Haute . Offenders in the CMU will mostly be terrorists and inmates the BOP classifies as security threats who will be held in solitary confinement for 23 hours
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#1732802059260682-504: The beginning of their sentences. Daniel Berrigan caused considerable embarrassment to FBI by giving sermons at various events while a fugitive. Tom Lewis had been sentenced to six years for a prior protest one week after Catonsville, and had three and a half years added to be served concurrently. Fr. Daniel Berrigan was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison to begin on April 9, 1970. According to Anke Wessels, director of Cornell's Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy, "On
713-573: The draft records but was restrained by one of the Nine. They then took the bins to the parking lot and set fire to them. They then recited the Lord's Prayer and explained to news crews that they were protesting the Vietnam War . Three hundred and seventy-eight draft records were destroyed. Baltimore County police officers arrested the nine. While they were in jail, the group sent an apologetic letter and
744-588: The largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the US. On July 28, 2012, three Plowshares activists, Megan Rice , Greg Boertje-Obed , and Michael Walli , who compose the Transform Now Plowshares movement, breached security at the U.S. Department of Energy's Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee , causing the government to temporarily shut down the weapons facility. Once inside
775-413: The law, and the word of the L ORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. On September 9, 1980, Daniel Berrigan , his brother Philip Berrigan , and six others (the "Plowshares Eight") began
806-470: The national defense of the United States and willful damage of national security premises in violation of 18 US Code 2155. Megan Rice was sentenced to 35 months, or just under three years. The other two protesters, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli, both were sentenced to 62 months, or a little more than five years. The National Nuclear Security Administration has acknowledged the seriousness of
837-644: The records at Catonsville. (The first documented action against draft files is reputed to have been by Barry Bondhus in Minnesota, who, along with other family members, carried human waste into a draft board and defaced draft records.) On May 17, 1968, the Nine went to the Catonsville office of the Selective Service on Frederick Road. They restrained an employee while gathering records into wire bins, One SSS employee, Mary Murphy, attempted to save
868-527: The trial. The version performed is usually an adaptation into regular dialogue by Saul Levitt. The play is based on a partial transcript of the trial. In 1972 a film version of the play was produced by Gregory Peck . It cost $ 300,000 and Peck "lost every penny". In 2009, it was presented on a tour by a company called "the Actors' Gang" of Culver City, California , founded by film star Tim Robbins . In 1969, while briefly released on appeal, Tom Lewis published
899-532: The very day he was scheduled to begin his prison term, he left his office keys on a secretary's desk in Anabel Taylor Hall and disappeared." Cornell marked Berrigan's impending imprisonment by conducting a weekend-long "America Is Hard to Find" event April 17–19, 1970, which included a public appearance by the then-fugitive Berrigan before a crowd of 15,000 in Barton Hall. On August 11, 1970,
930-710: Was deeply influenced by Catholicism and, in particular, the Catholic left movement of the late 1960s and the Catholic Worker Movement . The Plowshares movement takes its name from the idea of beating swords to ploughshares in the Book of Isaiah : And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the L ORD , to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth
961-406: Was designed by Alfred Hopkins . In 1976, the prison was criticized by Judge Clarence Newcomer , who released inmate Francis Marziani early after it was revealed that Marziani had been one of many victims of gang rape during an unusual wave of rape, torture, and murder by inmates in the prison. USP Lewisburg was the focus of the 1991 Academy Award -nominated documentary Doing Time: Life Inside