On February 16, Philip Berrigan received a prison visit from Mairead Maguire, co-founder of Northern Ireland's Peace People and a winner of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.  As a Nobel laureate, Maguire has the honor of nominating others for the prize she received, and in January she had nominated Philip and his brother Daniel for the international honor.  Berrigan is serving a two-year sentence for his part in the Prince of Peace Plowshares disarmament action of Ash Wednesday, 1997, when he and five others took hammers to a navy warship in Maine.

At the conclusion of their visit, after the prisoners had left the visiting area, Maguire staged a nonviolent protest in solidarity with Berrigan and against the looming threat of war against Iraq by refusing to leave the visiting room.  After three hours, she was removed by local police and jailed overnight.  The next morning, embarrassed officials hustled her off to court where, at the request of prosecutors, all charges were dismissed.  Maguire was free to go, and she returned to Northern Ireland.  Berrigan, meanwhile, was sent to the hole for 10 days.

Three weeks later, on March 10, Berrigan was taken before a disciplinary hearing and informed that he was guilty of provoking Maguire's action, which "did disrupt the orderly operation of the facility," according to a prison spokesman.  Berrigan acknowledged that Maguire had spoken of her planned protest, but that he had only encouraged her to follow her conscience. Consequently, his visitation rights were suspended for one year.

This punishment sparked a storm of protest from both sides of the Atlantic.  In letters to the director of the Bureau of Prisons and Attorney General Reno, Maguire insisted the action she took was hers alone; that she was willing to accept any punishment herself but charges had been dismissed.

Berrigan's supporters responded with scores of letters and phone calls protesting the loss of visitation as cruel and unjust, punishing not only the guiltless but his family as well.  Eventually, the disciplinary sentence was reduced, and Berrigan may once again receive visitors after June 12.

Berrigan's co-defendant Steve Kelly has also experienced a loss of contact.  His refusal to take a random alcohol breathalyzer test landed him in the hole, stripped of his property and addresses.  As he now had a different prison address but little way to inform correspondents, some letters were returned to sender marked "UNK" (unknown).  He was due out of the hole May 24 and expected to be transferred again, as he also refuses to work.

Susan Crane, the only other Prince of Peace Plowshares activist still behind bars, recently lost her job as a teacher preparing women to take the GED exam.  As part of encouraging discussion about current events, she brought in an open letter addressed to Pope John Paul II from ex-political prisoner Assata Shakur, now living in exile in Cuba.  A new Bureau of Prisons teacher listened in to part of the discussion before calling in the senior teacher. The senior teacher proceeded to take over the class even before they had finished reading Shakur's entire letter.

Crane writes: "He told me that I was encouraging anti-social behavior in the women by giving them something to read and discuss that was critical of the government and justice system.  Then I was told that I was a political prisoner pushing my political ideas in the classroom.  The next day, the new BOP teacher was hiring someone to replace me..."

Crane quickly found another prison job, as caretaker for the outdoor recreation field.

Tom Lewis-Borbely was released from prison February 25.  He and previously released co-defendants Steve Baggarly and Mark Colville are currently refusing to pay restitution to the Navy. Colville and Baggarly have been informed that their probation officers will report to the sentencing judge in early June on their refusal to pay.  Both were told to make a "good faith effort to pay restitution", or, as Colville told the Nuclear Resister, "to pay for these weapons.  Which means, if I don't make a good faith effort to exercise bad faith, I will be violating (the court order)."  The judge will also receive a report that Colville may have left his home state of Connecticut without permission, as he was reported seen at a demonstration at Bath Iron Works, the scene of the Plowshares action.  A probation violation hearing will then be set at the judge's convenience.

Baggarly was originally prevented by the probation office from returning to his home and family at the Norfolk Catholic Worker community.  After ten weeks, he was allowed to leave Maine and return to Norfolk, and report monthly by phone and letter.

Letters of support should be sent to
-Phil Berrigan #14850-056, FCI Petersburg, P.O. Box 1000,  Petersburg, VA 23804-1000.
-Susan Crane #87783-011, FCI Dublin Unit A, 5701 8th St., Dublin, CA 94568.
-Steve Kelly SJ #00816-111, c/o Magdalene House Catholic Worker, 1678 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94602.

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last updated July 10 1998