Biography
Father Steve Kelly SJ is an American Jesuit priest and one of the most prolific Plowshares activists in U.S. history. He was a member of the Prince of Peace Plowshares affinity group that boarded the USS The Sullivans at the Bath Iron Works in Maine on February 12, 1997 and hammered on the Tomahawk cruise missile launching system. Kelly was sentenced to ~28 months in federal prison and served at LSCI Allenwood, Pennsylvania, released in June 1999. He has participated in additional Plowshares actions including the November 2, 2009 Disarm Now Plowshares at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor and the April 4, 2018 Kings Bay Plowshares 7 action at the Trident submarine base in Georgia.
On February 12, 1997, four Plowshares activists — Susan Crane, Steve Kelly SJ, Tom Lewis, and Steve Baggarly — boarded the USS The Sullivans, a guided-missile destroyer being outfitted with the Tomahawk cruise launching system at the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine, and hammered on and poured blood over the missile launchers. The action took the name Prince of Peace Plowshares. Steve (Stephen) Kelly, S.J. is an American Jesuit priest and peace activist associated with the Plowshares movement. He has spent much of the past decade in prison for participating in nonviolent actions against U.S. nuclear weapons, including protests that involved hammering on D-5 Trident missile components.
Kelly was one of the seven members of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, who on April 4, 2018 entered the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia as a symbolic act of disarmament against nuclear weapons. A federal court convicted the group on felony and misdemeanor charges. For his role, Kelly was sentenced in 2020 to 33 months’ imprisonment plus probation and restitution, with credit for time already served awaiting trial. Stephen Michael Kelly, age 69, was one of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 (KBP7) Catholic anti-nuclear activists who broke into Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Marys GA on April 4-5, 2018 to protest Trident-class nuclear weapons. Convicted on all four counts; 33 months federal prison.
Jesuit priest and one of the most-imprisoned Plowshares activists. Per public record (these actions are title-only on the chronology page) he took part in the 1995 Jubilee Plowshares West (Lockheed-Martin, Sunnyvale, CA), the 1996 Weep for the Children Plowshares (New London, CT), the 1997 Prince of Peace Plowshares (Bath Iron Works, ME), the 1999 Plowshares vs. Depleted Uranium (Middle River, MD), the 2009 Disarm Now Plowshares (Bangor, WA) and the 2018 Kings Bay Plowshares 7 (Kings Bay, GA).
The November 12, 2019 NYC Anarchist Black Cross compilation reproduces reporting on the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 jury verdict of October 24, 2019: conspiracy, destruction of property on a naval installation, depredation of government property and trespass. It describes the defendants other than Stephen Kelly as free at home awaiting sentencing, while Kelly remained jailed. The reported twenty- or twenty-five-year maximum was a possible penalty, not an imposed term or actual service. Later dispositions remain separately recorded. Source: https://nycabc.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/updates-12-nov-2019-1.pdf#page=2
The October 2017 Ground Zero account names Steve Kelly SJ among the Pacific Life Community Six arrested after crossing onto Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor on March 7, 2017. It reports release after trespass charges and ban-and-bar letters, followed by a guilty verdict before Magistrate Judge David W. Christel. All six received 100 hours of community service and $40 in fees; Kelly received one year of probation. The article does not report a jail sentence for this disposition or a complete arrest-processing duration. Source: https://www.gzcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/October-2017-newsletter-for-web-2.pdf#page=2
The Paschal 2023 Catholic Peace Fellowship Philadelphia newsletter reports participation in the January 28, 2023 Chestnut Hill College discussion following a screening of The Nuns, The Priests and The Bombs. The profile describes his father as a career Air Force officer, family residence in Turkey, and later work with refugees in Sudan and El Salvador as influences on his commitment to nonviolence. It reports more than eleven aggregate years imprisoned as of 2023; that retrospective cumulative claim is not an exact lifetime total or an individual case duration. Source: https://www.cpfphila.com/ARTICLES/2023_May/2023-05-Paschal-CPF-Newsletter.pdf#page=8
Separate custody episodes review October 13, 2026: DOJ confirms the March 28, 2011 sentence. Its verdict announcement explicitly says the defendants remained free; the arrest-to-release duration is not continuous custody. The original May 22, 2013 NCR report confirms June 21, 2012 release and individually documents the subsequent March 29, 2013 warrant detention and May 20 sentence. That missing episode is added separately, leaving actual release blank rather than using the May 29 prediction.
Executed custody follow-up October 13, 2026: Joshua McElwee's original March 29, 2011 report, including an immediate post-hearing interview with the legal support team, explicitly says the defendants were remanded directly following the preceding day's sentence. March 28 admission is therefore added independently, not inferred solely from sentencing. Original Nuclear Resister issue 170, page 4, rendered and visually inspected, explicitly documents May 24, 2013 release from the later warrant detention; the original support site's news flash corroborates it. This establishes actual discharge and supersedes the previously unresolved May 29 prediction.
Separate March 4, 2018 brief Nevada detention and same-day release
The April 2018 Ground Zero newsletter, original page 6, individually names Steve Kelly SJ among twenty-four Pacific Life Community participants arrested at the Nevada National Security Site on March 4, 2018. Felice Cohen-Joppa’s report says the participants crossed the site boundary, were escorted to a nearby pen, briefly held, processed and released. This is a same-day temporary detention and release, not an overnight prison stay, a served-day sentence, or continuous custody beginning that day. No imprisonment counter or new discrete prison episode is added, and other case dates remain unchanged. This brief Nevada detention predates and is distinct from the April 5, 2018 Kings Bay arrest and later continuous custody; that later interval is not backdated to March 4.
1995 custody evidence and limits
The Fall 1995 Pathfinder independently identifies Steve Kelly with Susan Crane in the August 7,1995 Jubilee Plowshares West action and detention. The movement chronology clarifies state custody followed by release after48 hours and an August 11 federal-court appearance. Thus the existing August 7 intake is not proof of continuous custody through the later prosecution. No exact discharge day, later re-entry, completed aggregate or actual March 1996 sentencing is established by this source; the chronology’s proposed sentencing date is a forecast, not new confirmation.
Nukewatch Pathfinder, Fall 1995, printed page 7. Plowshares movement chronology, relevant1994/1995 action.
In a separate April 2009 Creech anti-drone protest, Kelly remained at Clark County Detention Facility after the other arrestees left, until shortly after midnight Easter Sunday.
The October 15, 2020 sentencing report records a 33-month Kings Bay term, three years of supervision, a $310 special assessment and $33,503.51 in restitution jointly and severally with the six co-defendants. The court waived a fine and interest because of indigence. Those monetary obligations and the nominal prison term do not add time to the recorded actual custody.
The April 2, 2021 hearing report dates his arrival at FDC SeaTac to March 30 after transport from Georgia, and describes the March 31 Tacoma hearing before Magistrate Judge David Christel with attorney Blake Kremer. The April 13 follow-up confirms his release that day on time served in the Washington supervised-release proceedings, with no Washington supervision to follow; Georgia supervision remained. This is the same continuous custody interval already recorded through April 13, not an additional six months to add again.
Sources: Nuclear Resister, October 15, 2020; March 31 hearing report; April 13 release report.
The May 2020 Kings Bay update identifies Stephen Kelly at Glynn County Detention Facility under the historical local number 015634. This county-jail identifier is distinct from his federal register number. The report describes his continuing Georgia detention and an anticipated later Washington transfer; that transfer had not yet occurred.
Paul Elie’s November 2019 account reports that all seven Kings Bay defendants pleaded not guilty at their October 21 trial, arguing that the action sought to prevent nuclear destruction. The jury convicted them three days later. The plea records their position at trial, separately from the verdict and later sentencing.
Paul Elie, The New Yorker, November 19, 2019, reproduced by The Nuclear Resister.
On August 26, 2019, Judge Lisa Godbey Wood denied the Kings Bay defendants’ pretrial motions to dismiss, including their Religious Freedom Restoration Act defense. The contemporary account reports that the court accepted the sincerity of their religious beliefs and found prosecution burdened their religious exercise, but held that the government’s security interests justified applying the criminal laws. The following day the jury trial was scheduled for October 21. These were pretrial rulings, separate from the later verdict and sentence; they did not establish a new jail admission.
An October 2007 photograph caption in the Louis Vitale remembrance individually identifies Fr. Steve Kelly, S.J., alongside Fr. Louis Vitale on their way into the federal courthouse in Tucson, where both were sentenced to five months for their torture protest at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. The caption establishes the month and imposed term, not an exact sentencing day, prison admission or release day, measured time actually served or additional confinement beyond other independently documented cases. No five-month served total is inferred.
The April 18, 2014 Nuclear Resister account names Fr. Steve Kelly, SJ with Mary Jane Parrine and Ed Ehmke (printed “Emhke”) among three people handcuffed and held by Sunnyvale police after kneeling in prayer at the Lockheed Martin gates on Good Friday. It reports Kelly and Ehmke were being held over Easter and expected in court the following week. That prospective hearing is not an established outcome, and the account supplies no individual charge, completed jail duration or release date for Kelly. Contemporary report.
The April 4, 2013 Nuclear Resister follow-up reports that the state charges against all six people arrested at the Good Friday Lockheed Martin protest in Sunnyvale were dropped at the April 3 hearing. The earlier action report names Steve Kelly SJ among those six. It distinguishes Kelly’s continued detention under an outstanding federal warrant: he agreed April 2 to waive an extradition hearing and was initially held at Main Jail South in Santa Clara County. An April 29 update places him in custody during transport at a Pahrump, Nevada corrections facility; a May 1 update places him at FDC SeaTac and reports the historical correspondence register 00816-111. No exact transfer day or extra confinement total is assigned from these updates. Contemporary follow-up; earlier action report.
The October 8, 2010 report individually names Steve Kelly SJ among the five Disarm Now Plowshares defendants arraigned that day in Tacoma federal court and permitted to represent themselves. It reports that the grand jury returned charges in early September 2010: conspiracy, trespass, destruction of property on a naval installation and depredation of government property. The announced December trial and possible maximum penalties were prospective, not completed outcomes or measured imprisonment.
The Kings Bay Plowshares’ March 28, 2022 update reports that Judge Lisa Godbey Wood issued a warrant after Steve Kelly did not report to his Georgia probation officer within the required 72 hours following his April 2021 release. The statement describes an outstanding warrant at that historical point, not a new physical detention or a claim about his current status.
The March 10, 2018 participant report individually names Steve Kelly SJ among twenty-four people arrested after crossing onto the Nevada National Security Site on March 4. It states that they were briefly held in the nearby pen, processed and released. This same-day arrest and release does not establish jail admission, an individual statutory charge or a completed whole day of imprisonment.
The contemporary January 27, 2011 account and reproduced Las Vegas Sun report name Steve Kelly among the Creech 14 arrested on April 9, 2009. Judge William Jansen found all fourteen guilty of trespass and sentenced them to time served on January 27, 2011. This is the later court disposition of the existing April 2009 case, not a new arrest or a new prison-admission episode; the separately established initial release remains unchanged. Contemporary source.
The Pacific Life Community account identifies Father Steve Kelly among those arrested at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale on March 7, 2011. He refused conditional release and remained jailed for two more days before release on time served. Those are source-reported completed days, separate from his 1995 Sunnyvale Plowshares case and later Bangor imprisonment. The report supplies no exact admission or physical-release date, statutory charge or later trial result.
Sources: https://www.nukeresister.org/2011/03/24/pacific-life-community-retreat-and-action-at-lockheedmartin/
Bill Quigley’s March 28, 2011 sentencing report states that the five Disarm Now Plowshares defendants had been convicted at their December trial, entered custody immediately after sentencing, and were each ordered to pay $5,300 and serve one year of supervised probation. The imprisonment and home-confinement terms were distinct from that supervision; the prosecutors’ requested three-year supervision period was not the imposed term. Sentencing report.
Bill Bichsel’s April 14, 2011 letter describes Kelly as his cellmate in SeaTac’s general population. Bichsel’s reference to solitary confinement concerned a possible choice he had declined so that he could accompany Bichsel; the letter does not report that Kelly was then held in solitary. Bichsel’s letter.
The article reproduces Roger A. Hunko’s disposition memorandum filed May 18, 2013 in case 3:10-cr-05586-BHS before Judge Benjamin H. Settle. It identifies Kelly’s violation as failure to report and states he had been held on a federal detainer since March 29, 2013. The article’s introductory March 20 sentencing reference conflicts with its May 20 publication and the dated memorandum; it does not replace the separately recorded May 20 sentencing or independently confirmed May 24 physical release. The article’s own May 24 release note was only prospective.
Bill Quigley’s report of the August 2, 2018 Kings Bay hearing identifies Stan Baker as the magistrate hearing dismissal motions, Lisa Godbey Wood as the district judge who would ultimately decide them, and Karl Knoche as the assistant U.S. attorney opposing dismissal. Those procedural roles and pending motions are distinct from a later trial verdict or sentencing disposition. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The April 2018 report describes the Kings Bay defendants’ April 6 first appearance before Chief Magistrate Jennifer E. Lewis on the initial Georgia state allegations, with bail denied and detention at Camden County Public Safety Complex. This initial state-court phase is distinct from the later federal prosecution; the report’s April 5 arrest account does not resolve every conflicting legacy profile date. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The March 2, 2015 Sunnyvale Lockheed Martin report names Steve Kelly SJ among twelve people arrested while blocking traffic. Four were released that afternoon and one that evening, while seven remained jailed after declining to sign release papers. The report does not identify which individuals were in each release group, so it does not establish this person’s individual overnight detention, admission or release endpoint.
Sources: Contemporary report.
The earlier March 3 report did not individually identify the people who remained jailed. The later follow-up names them and confirms their release: Steve Kelly SJ is individually named among seven people held after the March 2, 2015 protest blocking the entrance road at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale. They remained in custody until a judge could see them two days later and were released late Wednesday evening, March 4, without charges. This establishes a separate two-elapsed-day stay, rather than the earlier release of participants who signed promises to appear. No later sentence is inferred. Source: The Nuclear Resister No.177, June 5, 2015, printed page 9.
Disarm Now trial and verdict
The contemporary trial account individually names this defendant among the five Disarm Now Plowshares participants arrested at dawn on November 2, 2009. A jury found all five guilty on all counts on December 13, 2010; the report names Judge Settle, and Anabel Dwyer’s commentary identifies Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlen Storm as the prosecutor. A separate report dates the public announcement of the indictments to September 3, 2010; that announcement is not treated as proof of the precise day the grand jury acted. Contemporary verdict report. Contemporary trial commentary. Indictment announcement report.
The issue 4 prisoner list in the Danish peace newsletter Fred og frihed/Ikkevold for 1997 reports a twenty-one-month imposed term for Steve Kelly in the Maine Tomahawk-launcher Plowshares prosecution, with two years of supervised release and $4,000 restitution. Its twenty-one-month figure differs from the approximately twenty-eight months in the existing record. The contemporary figure is preserved as a source discrepancy, without resolving that discrepancy or treating either imposed term as completed time served.
