Facing Prison Time for Actions to Close the SOA/ WHINSEC

Prison witness has been a core element of the SOA Watch movement since its beginning. In the tradition of Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr. and countless others, SOA Watch activists have used peaceful, nonviolent resistance to expose the horrors of the SOA/ WHINSEC and to express solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Latin America.

As a result, more than 170 SOA Watch human rights defenders have collectively spent over 78 years in prison. Their sacrifice and steadfastness in the struggle for peace and justice provide an extraordinary example of love in action and have given tremendous momentum to the effort to change oppressive US foreign policy and to close the SOA.


Photos: Linda Panetta (to view additional photos click here)

(Above: Dan Schwankl, 31, scales one of two 10-foot-high fences; Meagan Doty, Brian DeRouen, and Ron Durham kneel between the 2 fences as they await arrests. The fences were erected by the US Army to keep demonstrators out of Ft Benning - and away from submitting demands for the closure of the SOA/WHINEC.)

Eleven Sentenced to Prison for Actions to Close the SOA/ WHINSEC

Fourteen human rights activists -- including two minors -- completed their trials Tuesday afternoon in Columbus, Georgia's federal court for actions to close the School of the Americas (WHINSEC).

Final Sentences for the SOA 14:
Two were sentenced to six months in prison with fines up to $500; two were sentenced to four months in prison with a $500 fine; seven were sentenced to three months in prison with fines up to $500; one was sentenced to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine; and two were given six-month deferred sentences.

Updated January 26, 2005:

  • Robert Nash Chantal, 52, Americus, GA – 3 months; $500 fine
  • Liz Deligio, 28, Chicago, IL – 3 months in prison; $500 fine
  • Brian DeRouen, 27, Fairfield, CA, student in Dayton, OH – 4 months in prison; $500 fine
  • Meagan Doty, 22, St. Louis, MO, student in Dayton, OH – 3 months in prison, $500 fine
  • Ronald Durham, 24, Chicago, IL – 3 months in prison; $500 fine
  • Alice Gerard, 48, Buffalo, NY – 6 months in prison; $500 fine
  • Tom MacLean, 79, Ashfield, MA – 3 months in federal medical facility
  • Sr. Lil Mattingly, 63, Maryknoll, NY – 6 months in prison
  • Elizabeth Nadeau, 27, Minneapolis, MN – 3 months in prison; $500 fine
  • Mike Ring, 65, Wall, NJ – 1 year of probation; $1,000 fine
  • Dan Schwankl, 31, Siler City, NC – 3 months in prison; $500 fine
  • Aaron Shuman, 32, Oakland, CA – 4 months in prison; $500 fine
  • Two minors – 6 month deferred sentences

Each defendant opted to self-report to prison and will now wait for a letter from the Bureau of Prisons notifying them of the date when and prison to which they must report. Past defendants have received notice from the BoP anywhere from six to twelve weeks after their trials.

Continue to check the website for udpated information about prison addresses. Click here to read more about these peacemakers and how you can support them.

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SOA 14 Overview
On Monday, January 24 fourteen people – including two high school students – began trials in which they face up to six months in federal prison for their acts of nonviolent civil disobedience calling for closure of the US Army’s School of the Americas (SOA). The fourteen were among more than 16,000 who gathered on November 20-21 to call for the closure of the SOA, now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation or WHINSEC.

Fifteen people crossed onto Fort Benning on Sunday, November 21 and were arrested in acts of civil disobedience, many negotiating a 10-foot-high barbed-wire fence to enter the base. They took this action despite knowing they likely face three to six months in federal prison. Since protests against the SOA/ WHINSEC began fourteen years ago, more than 170 people have served prison sentences of up to two years for civil disobedience.

The "SOA 14" began trial at 9 a.m. on Monday in Columbus, Georgia before Judge G. Mallon Faircloth. Judge Faircloth is known for handing down stiff sentences to opponents of the SOA/ WHINSEC, often imposing the maximum of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine. Since protests against the SOA/ WHINSEC began more than a decade ago, more than 170 people have served a total of over 75 years in prison for engaging in nonviolent resistance in a broad-based campaign to close the school.