Biography
Mark Adams, a long-term Occupy Wall Street organizer, was widely identified by the movement as OWS's first sentenced political prisoner. On December 17, 2011 (the "D17" or "Re-Occupy" action) Adams and seven other defendants entered Duarte Square — a privately-owned vacant lot held by Trinity Church — to protest the church's refusal to allow Occupy a new encampment after the Zuccotti Park eviction. Convicted in 2012 of trespassing, criminal mischief, and criminal possession of burglary tools (a screwdriver), Adams received a 45-day sentence at Rikers Island, fifteen days longer than even the prosecution had requested; in his ruling the judge cited the "foundational importance of private property." Seven of the eight D17 co-defendants received only community service and fines. Adams hunger-struck through the entirety of his sentence, drinking only juice.
