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Terry Bisson

Released
Full name:Terry Ballantine Bisson
Date of birth:12. 02. 1942
Date of death:10. 01. 2024
Age:81 Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1980s
State:New York
Time Imprisoned:
2 Months 25 Days
Support
Anti-Imperialism Anti-Racism John Brown Anti-Klan Committee
Terry Bisson

Biography

Terry Bisson was a science-fiction writer — later celebrated for "Bears Discover Fire" and "They're Made Out of Meat" — and a longtime anti-imperialist activist, a member of the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee in New York. On March 27, 1985 he was served with a subpoena to the federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. investigating the November 1983 Capitol bombing and related actions claimed by the Red Guerrilla Resistance and Armed Resistance Unit. One of six John Brown Anti-Klan Committee-linked activists who refused to cooperate in that wave, he declared he would go to prison rather than become an informer, and served three months for contempt. He was never charged with a crime, and later recounted the episode in his poem "RSVP to the FBI."

Case

Charges: Civil contempt.
Arrested: Mar 27, 1985
Incarcerated: Jul 8, 1985
Released: Oct 3, 1985
Sentence: Held in civil contempt and jailed from July 8 to October 3, 1985 -- 87 days. Verdict as recorded: Never charged with an underlying offense — jailed for civil contempt Charges as recorded: Civil contempt for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury. Served with an FBI grand jury subpoena on March 27, 1985, he refused to cooperate, stating that he would not provide information about political associates. He was never charged with participating in any bombing or other illegal activity -- his only offense was refusing to testify.
Convicted: No