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Michelle Thomas

Released
Era:1980s
State:New York
Time Imprisoned:
6 Months 5 Days
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New York 8+ grand jury resisters Sunrise Collective
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Biography

Michelle Thomas was a Rutgers medical student and political activist involved with the Sunrise Collective. She was confined at the Metropolitan Correctional Center for refusing to testify before the grand jury investigating the New York 8+. Her incarceration interrupted her medical studies. The court ordered her release after finding that further detention would not make her testify.

Case

Charges: Civil contempt — refusal to testify before the grand jury investigating the New York 8+
Incarcerated: Jan 21, 1985
Released: Jul 26, 1985
Sentence: Civil confinement for refusing grand-jury testimony; released 1985-07-26. This was coercive civil contempt, not a conviction on the New York 8 defendants' criminal charges.