Biography
Joy First is an antiwar and anti-torture activist. She was arrested at the White House on June 27, 2009 with Malachy Kilbride and Eve Tetaz and held in Washington’s central cellblock through their arraignment on the evening of June 29. On August 9, 2009, she was arrested during a protest at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, and spent the night in Dane County Jail before release the following afternoon.
The contemporary report documents a separate custody episode: Overnight detention; released after arraignment.
The Nuclear Resister individually names Joy First among six people arrested on November 8, 2023 after refusing police orders to leave the sidewalk outside Raytheon’s office in Arlington, Virginia during an antiwar action preceding the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal. The six were charged with misdemeanor trespass. The article’s twelve-month imprisonment and $2,500 fine figures are statutory maximum penalties, not imposed or served terms. A January 10 court date was prospective; no jail admission, physical release endpoint or completed confinement duration is established. The Nuclear Resister, November 15, 2023.
The Nuclear Resister individually names Joy First among seven peace activists arrested at Volk Field in Wisconsin on November 12, 2019 during a protest mourning children killed by U.S. military drones. Juneau County officers handcuffed the seven and took them to the station in Mauston, where they were cited for trespassing and released. The report does not establish a jail admission or measured confinement duration; station processing is not treated as imprisonment.
Joy First’s firsthand account, corroborated by the separate Hoyer-office report, individually names Joy First 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 National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance account individually names Joy First 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.
The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance report individually names Joy First 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.
Joy First’s account individually identifies Joy First among three people arrested after entering Volk Field on June 27, 2017 while attempting to deliver an indictment against drone warfare. They were taken to Juneau County Jail, charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct and then released. The exact physical-release calendar day and completed custody duration are not stated, and an August 9 initial hearing was prospective. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
Joy First’s contemporary account names this participant among eight people given disorderly-conduct citations after the April 8, 2011 Pentagon peace action. Police physically moved the demonstrators and transported them to the Navy Annex for processing. The account says police did not announce an arrest; it documents physical detention and citation, without identifying a jail admission or completed detention duration. A June 3 hearing was prospective when reported. 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 May 29, 2013 Volk Field report individually names Joy First among the five women arrested on May 28 after attempting to deliver a war-crimes indictment at the base. All five were taken in handcuffs to Juneau County jail, charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing, and released several hours later after processing. The account does not supply an individual release time or a completed whole-day duration. The reproduced indictment’s additional signers are not all identified as arrestees.
Joy First’s contemporary account individually names Joy First among seven activists arrested after entering Camp Williams/Volk Field on April 24, 2012 to request a meeting about drone warfare. Juneau County deputies took them to the county jail in Mauston, where they were charged with disorderly conduct, processed and released within three hours. The June 6 court appearance was still prospective. This is a separate short actual-jail episode from the May 28, 2013 action, without a source-measured whole-day duration. The source’s additional letter signers are not all named as arrestees.
The report individually names Joy First among fifteen people arrested at the White House on September 22, 2015. Joy First’s participant account describes arrest at about 2:15 p.m. and release at 9 p.m. that day. Her account distinguishes a blocking-passage charge form from others described as disorderly conduct, and says no actual citation was supplied. The intended future not-guilty response is not a recorded accepted plea; the several-hour detention is not counted as a whole prison day.
Sources: Contemporary report.
The August 26, 2015 Volk Field report individually names Joy First among nine people arrested for disorderly conduct and given a trespass citation. The participant account describes handcuffing, transport to jail, processing and release within about four hours. The September 30 court appearance was prospective. The preceding eight-day peace walk was not imprisonment.
Sources: Contemporary report.
The Earth Day report names Joy First among eight people arrested at the Pentagon on April 22, 2015 after refusing to depart while seeking a meeting about military contributions to climate damage. The reported charge was failure to obey a lawful order. The June 4 appearance was prospective; the report supplies no jail-admission date, physical-release endpoint or completed detention duration.
Sources: Contemporary report.
