Biography
Susan Crane is widely described as a long-running anti-nuclear resister whose activism has relied on civil disobedience at military and weapons-related facilities. A major episode in her arrest history centers on the 2009 “Disarm Now” action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, where a small group cut fences, walked deep into the base toward a nuclear weapons storage area, performed prayers and symbolic gestures, and were arrested by military security.
The case led to felony convictions (including conspiracy, trespass, and property-damage counts) and a 15-month federal prison sentence imposed in 2011. Crane’s record is often discussed as part of a decades-long pattern of arrests for entering restricted spaces to challenge nuclear policy, with the Kitsap-Bangor prosecution serving as one of the clearest examples of the legal consequences imposed on Plowshares-style actions. Imprisoned February 2, 2001 for probation violation tied to the 'Plowshares vs Depleted Uranium' direct-disarmament action of December 19, 1999, in which Catholic Worker / Plowshares activists hammered on A-10 anti-tank warplanes (which fire depleted-uranium rounds) at the Maryland Air National Guard's Warfield ANG Base. The probation itself stemmed from the Prince of Peace Plowshares action of February 14, 1997, when six activists hammered and poured blood on a Tomahawk cruise-missile launching system aboard the USS The Sullivans at Bath Iron Works in Maine.
The July 2013 Ground Zero newsletter individually names Susan Crane among the fourteen people arrested on the federal side of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor during the Pacific Life Community action on March 4, 2013. It also identifies this person among seven defendants arraigned June 5 on a trespass/re-entry charge under 18 U.S.C. 1382, pleading not guilty and awaiting an October 21 trial. The possibility of jail was prospective. The report does not establish a complete jail interval or an eventual prison sentence. Source: https://www.gzcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/July-13-newsletter-for-website.pdf#page=7
The July 2025 Ground Zero newsletter reports that Crane had returned from Germany after serving about seven and a half months in prison. This is rounded retrospective evidence of the German stay already recorded, not a new United States imprisonment or a reason to replace the independently verified June 2024–January 2025 endpoints. Source: https://www.gzcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/July-2025-newsletter-for-website.pdf#page=3
The October 2017 Ground Zero newsletter names Susan Crane among fourteen roadway protesters arrested at Bangor on May 13, 2017. All were released in less than an hour; the threatened weekend in jail did not occur. No full day of imprisonment is inferred. Source: https://www.gzcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/October-2017-newsletter-for-web-2.pdf#page=4
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. Its profile identifies Crane as a retired schoolteacher and grandmother in the Redwood City Catholic Worker community, and dates her first Plowshares action to Jubilee Plowshares West at the Sunnyvale Lockheed Martin facility in 1995. This corroborates an existing case without another imprisonment. Source: https://www.cpfphila.com/ARTICLES/2023_May/2023-05-Paschal-CPF-Newsletter.pdf#page=8
Calculated release date for the stay beginning July 22, 2006: August 21, 2006, adding the recorded completed custody duration of 30 days with elapsed-calendar-day counting. This is a calculated date from the recorded admission and duration, not a separately documented physical-discharge date.
Calculated release date
Calculated release date for the stay beginning July 22, 2006: August 21, 2006, adding the recorded completed custody duration of 30 days with elapsed-calendar-day counting. This is a calculated date from the recorded admission and duration, not a separately documented physical-discharge date.
Distinct 2010s prison stays review October 13, 2026: The two historical 1997 prosecution records incorrectly extended imprisonment into October 2012. Their unsupported 2012 release endpoints and uninterrupted day totals were cleared, leaving their actual historical discharge unresolved rather than guessing. DOJ identifies November 2, 2009 action and March 28, 2011 sentence; original NCR reporting confirms immediate remand. The April 25, 2012 support report explicitly records actual Dublin release that day. That interval is added separately. The original July 25 hearing report identifies July 23, 2012 imposition of 60 additional days; the August 22 report confirms actual return to Dublin. Original Nuclear Resister issue 168, page 5, rendered and visually inspected, explicitly records October 16 discharge from that distinct supervision-violation term. Planned reporting dates, unrelated later endpoints, and sentence-length calculations are not substituted for these documented events.
Separate February 2001 probation-violation imprisonment
The December 2001 Prisoners for Peace roster individually names Susan Crane and explicitly says imprisonment began February 2, 2001 for a probation violation following the December 19, 1999 Plowshares vs. Depleted Uranium action. It distinguishes that return to custody from the original February 14, 1997 Prince of Peace Plowshares action. This is added as a separate custody episode, not extended backward through the earlier imprisonment or bail gaps. The roster’s February 1, 2002 end was still in the future when published; it is retained only as a projection, not entered as an actual discharge. The source does not establish an exact sentence-imposition day, arrest day or completed release, so no custody total is calculated. Its contact-address grouping is not used to assert every institution or transfer in this person’s term.
Separate March 4, 2018 brief Nevada detention and same-day release
The April 2018 Ground Zero newsletter, original page 6, individually names Susan Crane 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.
1995 custody evidence and limits
The Fall 1995 Pathfinder identifies Susan Crane and Steve Kelly in the August 7,1995 Jubilee Plowshares West action at Lockheed-Martin in Sunnyvale, followed by local detention. The movement chronology clarifies an initial state-custody spell ending after48 hours, followed by an August 11 federal-court appearance and bond amounts. That appearance alone does not prove remand. The sources must not be flattened into uninterrupted custody from August 7 until a later federal sentence. Exact discharge day and any later admission remain unknown here.
Nukewatch Pathfinder, Fall 1995, printed page 7. Plowshares movement chronology, relevant1994/1995 action.
The December2000 original peace-prisoner roster places Susan Crane in actual Maryland confinement for Plowshares versus Depleted Uranium, distinct from the existing February2,2001 probation-revocation term. The participant movement chronology explicitly describes the December19,1999 Warfield Air National Guard Base action, individual Federal Air Police arrests and immediate jailing pending trial. Arrest and admission are therefore December19,1999, rather than assuming custody from an action alone. The 27-month nominal sentence is not a completed actual-service total. The chronology lists January3 and12,2001 third-party-custody releases for Crane and Berrigan without unambiguously mapping those days here, so actual release remains blank. Their February2001 return to prison is a separate interval.
The June 4, 2024 report dates Susan Crane’s conviction in Koblenz Regional Court to September 20, 2021, on six trespass counts arising from repeated protests against U.S. nuclear weapons at Büchel air base. It reports rejection of her Constitutional Court appeal and her June 4, 2024 commencement of a substitute prison term after refusing the financial penalty. The reported 229-day sentence is an imposed term, not a replacement for the separately documented actual custody dates or time served. Contemporary report and participant prison reflection.
Nukewatch’s March 11, 2024 report says the European Court of Human Rights rejected Susan Crane’s appeal in December 2023 on a procedural technicality without addressing the merits. This is the report’s account of the appeal outcome. Its January 18 order to report to prison on June 4 was prospective, not proof of an earlier admission; the imposed 229 days are not substituted for her separately documented actual custody. Contemporary Nukewatch report.
The January 2022 trial report identifies District Judge Alexander Fleckenstein as the judge who convicted Susan Crane in Cochem on January 17, 2022, of four trespass counts arising from four 2019 Büchel actions. The imposed alternative was a €1,000 fine or 200 days in jail; attorney Milan Martin represented her and she intended to appeal. The same report describes a separate September 2021 conviction on two counts carrying a fine or 50 days. These are reported judgments and alternative nominal terms, not proof that she served another 200 or 50 days; they are not added to later actual-custody totals.
The Nuclear Resister individually names Susan Crane among eleven people detained on August 14, 2023 after blocking the construction gate at Büchel air base in Germany, opposing U.S. nuclear bombs. Police took their identification, imposed a one-day ban and bar order, transported them in police vans and released them in Müllenbach. The one-day ban is not a prison sentence; no individual criminal charge, jail admission or completed confinement duration is established. Contemporary Nuclear Resister action report.
The Nuclear Resister individually names Susan Crane among ten people taken into custody on August 8, 2023 after entering Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands, where U.S. nuclear bombs are stockpiled, and kneeling on the runway during an anti-nuclear action. The participants were later released with a small fine, which none paid. No exact fine amount, individual statutory charge, jail admission or completed confinement duration is established. Contemporary Nuclear Resister action report.
The contemporary report names Susan Crane among eleven people detained by military and civilian authorities after entering Büchel Air Base’s main gate on the morning of July 10, 2019 to deliver a treaty-enforcement order against U.S. B61 nuclear weapons. All eleven were released after identification. This initial detention does not establish a jail admission or measured imprisonment duration.
The report also names Susan Crane among eight participants taken into custody after a separate action later on July 10, 2019. Four cut through the fence and four posted notices outside; the article does not assign those roles individually. All eight were taken to Cochem for a hearing concerning a stay-away order, transferred to jail in Koblenz and released early the next day, July 11. This overnight jail episode was distinct from the earlier identification detention; the source gives no formal individual charge, judge, verdict or imposed sentence.
Nukewatch reports reproduced by The Nuclear Resister, July 16, 2019.
Brian Terrell’s first-person account identifies Susan Crane among three people apprehended by German military police at Büchel on July 14, 2019, after entering the airfield with an anti-nuclear banner. They were transferred to civilian police, cited and released. This is distinct from the separately documented July 10 action; the account supplies no jail admission or measured custody interval for July 14.
The Nuclear Resister’s March 30, 2013 report names Susan Crane among six people arrested by Sunnyvale police during a Good Friday witness at Lockheed Martin against Trident nuclear missiles. Participants stood in the roadway blocking the entrance. The report identifies Steve Kelly and Larry Purcell as remaining in jail pending a future hearing; it does not establish this person’s jail admission, release date, statutory charge or custody duration. Contemporary report, March 30, 2013.
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 Susan Crane among those six. Contemporary follow-up; earlier action report.
The March 19, 2019 Nuclear Resister report individually names Susan Crane among eleven people arrested for trespass while blockading the Lockheed Martin entrance in Sunnyvale on March 18. The group was taken to the Sunnyvale police station for processing and everyone was released before noon. A court appearance in May was prospective. This brief detention supplies no jail admission, completed prison day or eventual verdict.
The March 17, 2014 report individually lists Susan Crane among those arrested after crossing the boundary at the Nevada National Security Site on March 10 during the Pacific Life Community gathering. The named participants were held in processing pens, issued citations and released a short time later. No statutory charge, individual jail admission, completed full day of custody or subsequent court outcome is supplied. The period during which the group crossed the boundary is not treated as an individual detention duration. The Nuclear Resister, March 17, 2014.
The October 8, 2010 report individually names Susan Crane 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 July 28, 2021 Nuclear Resister report identifies Susan Crane among three people arrested on July 19 while digging outside the Büchel air base fence in protest against U.S. nuclear weapons stationed there. It says they were taken to the Cochem police station and released without charges; Brian Terrell’s accompanying account describes the three as soon released. The exact physical release day and a jail admission are not established here, and no numerical custody duration is assigned.
Contemporary action report and accompanying first-person account.
The March 10, 2018 participant report individually names Susan Crane 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 report and John LaForge’s firsthand account individually identify Susan Crane among five activists taken into custody after entering Büchel Air Base to oppose deployment of U.S. B61 nuclear weapons in July 2017. The group entered after nightfall on July 17; the narrative then describes events around 1 a.m. and a meeting with the base commander at 3 a.m. They were searched, photographed and released without charges after about an hour in detention. Because the chronology crosses midnight, no exact calendar arrest or release day is assigned. The reported temporary base detention does not establish a prison admission or completed day in jail. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
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.
Roger A. Hunko’s May 18, 2013 memorandum in the Disarm Now Plowshares proceedings states that the court had already imposed sixty days in custody for Susan Crane’s supervised-release violation and terminated her supervision. The sixty days are an imposed term, not a new measurement of completed service. The memorandum does not supply new admission or physical-release dates for her earlier violation episode.
In her Easter 2012 letter from FCI Dublin, Susan Crane described a full institutional lockdown on Easter Sunday, weekly limits on buying stamps and producing mailing labels, and a restriction against putting more than one letter in an envelope. She also wrote about mailing pottery and thanked supporters for books and correspondence. Her discussion of release was prospective. Contemporary source.
In her letter published June 19, 2011, Susan Crane described arriving at FCI Dublin after restrained transport with other women from Pahrump, Nevada. She described teaching English as a second language, learning clarinet in the prison orchestra, and support from fellow prisoners. Her observations about overcrowding, family separation, limited care and the contrast between the prison’s appearance and prisoners’ experiences are historical first-person testimony. The letter does not supply an exact transfer day or a new imprisonment episode, and its reference to almost a month after arrival is not converted into an admission date.
The August 2018 roundup reports that Susan Crane and John LaForge entered Büchel air base on August 6, were detained by military personnel and were released at 8:45 p.m. that evening. Their action concerned U.S. nuclear weapons stored in Germany; this brief military detention is not a measured prison term. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The March 2, 2015 Sunnyvale Lockheed Martin report names Susan Crane 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: Susan Crane 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.
Susan Crane began serving her Pentagon-protest sentence on July 22, 2006. A subsequent report confirms release in late August after thirty days behind bars. The source gives the release month, not an exact day. Her separate March Pentagon prosecution is not included.
Sources: The Nuclear Resister, No.142, No.143.
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.
