Biography
Janice Sevre-Duszynska is a Roman Catholic Womenpriests-ordained priest from Lexington, Kentucky who has been arrested repeatedly at SOA Watch vigils at Fort Benning and at Pentagon protests, serving multiple short federal sentences across more than a decade of organizing. Convicted in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia under 18 U.S.C. § 1382 (entering a military reservation) for participating in the School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch) annual nonviolent civil-disobedience action at Fort Benning, Georgia on September 2002. The action targeted the U.S. Army Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) — formerly the School of the Americas — which had trained Latin American military officers later linked to assassinations, torture, and massacres including Romero, the four U.S. churchwomen, the Jesuits in El Salvador, El Mozote, and Plan Cóndor. Defendants typically received 3 to 6 months in federal custody plus a fine.
The Witness Against Torture account individually names Janice Sevre-Duszynska among four people arrested after remaining in Senator Mitch McConnell’s Russell Senate Office Building conference room on January 10, 2019. It reports charges of unlawfully demonstrating inside Senate office buildings and release around 8:45 that evening. The February court appearance was prospective; no jail admission or later outcome is supplied.
Art Laffin’s December 28, 2018 participant report names Janice Sevre-Duszynska among four people arrested at the Pentagon during the Holy Innocents witness that morning, following the December 27 retreat. They were taken to the Pentagon Police center, processed, charged with disobeying a lawful order and released. The proposed March 21 court appearance, which the group planned to reschedule, was prospective. This brief detention does not establish a jail admission, completed prison day or eventual verdict and is separate from the December 2019 witness.
The July 14, 2013 Jane Stoever report individually names this person among twenty-four protesters arrested after crossing the property line at the new Kansas City nuclear-weapons-parts plant on July 13. All twenty-four were fingerprinted, photographed and detained at the Jackson County Police Department. The report gives mixed group release dates of July 13 and 14, with some releases expected July 15, but does not assign an individual endpoint to this person. No formal charge, exact jail admission, completed custody duration or later court outcome is inferred. Earlier charges against Carl Kabat for separate actions are not assigned to this event. The Nuclear Resister, July 14, 2013.
Joy First’s firsthand account, corroborated by the separate Hoyer-office report, individually names Janice Sevre-Duszynska among seven people arrested in Representative Steny Hoyer’s office on January 11, 2018. Police took them to Capitol Police Headquarters for custody and processing, and they were charged with unlawful entry. First reports release around midnight; the precise calendar release day is left unknown. The announced January 31 hearing is not a disposition or evidence of later imprisonment.
The Nuclear Resister, contemporary source report 303; corroborating Hoyer-office report.
The August 11, 2012 account individually names Janice Sevre-Duszynska among six people arrested at the Nevada National Security Site on August 9. All were briefly detained in open-air pens, cited for trespass and released. This processing detention is not treated as a prison admission or a completed day in jail.
The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance account individually names Janice Sevre-Duszynska among thirteen people arrested on the lower U.S. Capitol steps on January 12, 2016, before the State of the Union address, while seeking to deliver a petition and list of alleged U.S. war crimes to the Vice-President’s office. They were charged with incommoding and obstructing. The announced February 3 arraignment was prospective; this account supplies no individual jail admission, physical release, verdict, sentence or completed custody duration. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
Art Laffin’s contemporary account individually names Janice Sevre-Duszynska among seven people arrested during the December 28, 2015 Holy Innocents witness at the Pentagon. They were taken to the Pentagon Police Center, cited for violation of a lawful order and released, with a February 4, 2016 court date announced. The calendar day of physical release, separate jail admission, outcome and completed custody duration are not supplied. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance report individually names Janice Sevre-Duszynska among six people arrested on the U.S. Capitol steps on July 12, 2017 during the Rivers of Blood petition action against military spending. Officers processed the group at the scene without handcuffs or fingerprinting and gave release documents. Joy First’s account says that subsequent station processing established a charge of crowding, obstructing, or incommoding and a July 26 court date; no outcome is inferred from that prospective hearing. This was on-site release rather than a documented jail admission or completed day in prison. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The contemporary roster individually names this participant among 27 people arrested on the White House sidewalk on April 10, 2011 during a die-in calling for closure of the School of the Americas. The report does not specify an individual charge, jail admission, release date or detention duration. Contemporary report.
The June 29, 2013 CIA protest report individually names this participant among six people arrested after crossing the police line at the headquarters entrance in Langley, Virginia. Joy First’s reproduced July 2 first-person account confirms that all six were processed in about 45 minutes, cited for trespassing and released that day. The optional $130 forfeiture was offered as an alternative to contesting the citation, not reported as an adjudicated sentence; the August 23 preliminary hearing was still prospective. The report does not establish a jail admission or a completed jail-day total. Contemporary report.
The September 26, 2016 Pentagon account names this activist among twenty-one people arrested for violating a lawful order while demanding accountability for war crimes. All were reported released with a future November 3 court date. That scheduled hearing does not establish a later verdict or an additional custody interval. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The March 6, 2015 Creech Air Force Base report individually includes Janice Sevre-Duszynska in its named arrest roster. The compilation reports trespass and roadway-related allegations and describes citation-and-release processing, but one person held on an outstanding warrant is unnamed. Neither that warrant detention nor an overnight stay is allocated to this person. The differing reported aggregate totals are retained without inventing an additional identity or completed custody duration.
Sources: Contemporary report.
