Biography
Christin Schmidt was a university student and peace worker from Rhode Island at the time of Pershing Plowshares. The group's banner at the action read "Violence Ends Where Love Begins."
Separate 1982, 1983 and 1984-1985 custody episodes
Contemporary Nuclear Resister reports identify two earlier short jail stays, added as separate cases rather than folded into the Pershing sentence: September 11-13, 1982 after a die-in at the USS Michigan commissioning in Groton, Connecticut; and April 15-18, 1983 after the Tax Day action at Electric Boat in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. In both episodes Schmidt initially withheld her name and was released after identifying herself. The April report distinguishes the dropped obstruction charge from the disorderly-conduct charge still awaiting arraignment.
The Pershing action, arrest and initial jail admission were April 22, 1984, not April 21. The May 9 newsletter reports the group still jailed and refusing bond; the August 2 issue reports July 26 sentencing and continued federal custody. Schmidt was released from prison to a Boston halfway house on July 3, 1985. That is the endpoint recorded here for imprisonment, not a claim that probation or all custodial supervision ended. September 24 was an expected later parole release, not an independently confirmed actual date. No extra prison days are added for the halfway-house period.
Schmidt herself corrected the newsletter in December 1984: her sentence was three years for depredation and five years of probation for conspiracy, with restitution, not an additional suspended five-year prison sentence. The earlier published summary is superseded by her correction. No securely identified photograph was located; photographs of unrelated contemporary professionals with the same name were excluded.
Sources: Nuclear Resister 12, October 18, 1982, printed page 6; issue 17, June 6, 1983, page 5; issue 25, May 9, 1984, pages 1 and 3; issue 26, August 2, 1984, page 1; issue 27, December 3, 1984, page 10, Schmidt correction; issue 32, July 10, 1985, page 6.
Pershing Plowshares: custody episodes distinguished
The original May 1984 newsletter dates the action and initial detention to April 22, 1984 and reports continued detention while the eight refused bond. The August issue establishes sentencing on July 26, 1984. However, Jim Perkins subsequently described a period of freedom before the trial ended. The initial detention and later sentenced imprisonment are therefore recorded separately; the exact intervening release and later remand dates remain unresolved. The July 26 sentencing date is not silently treated as a new prison-admission date, and no arrest-to-final-release continuous total is inferred.
The sentence was three years for depredation and five years probation for conspiracy, with restitution. Christin Schmidt expressly corrected the earlier newsletter account of an extra suspended five-year term, and Perkins independently describes the same sentence.
Sources: Nuclear Resister 25, May 9, 1984, pages 1 and 3; issue 26, August 2, 1984, page 1; issue 27, December 3, 1984, page 10, Schmidt correction; Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Spring 1986, Perkins firsthand account pages 4-5.
This supersedes the continuous 437-day estimate produced by the preceding update: the newly located pretrial-release account prevents that inference. The July 3, 1985 release from prison to a Boston halfway house remains confirmed; September 24 was an anticipated later parole date only. The separately added 1982 and 1983 short stays remain unchanged. Source: Nuclear Resister 32, July 10, 1985, page 6.
Contemporary 1983–1984 custody evidence
For the August 1983 Quonset Point action, Christin Schmidt refused a fine and community service, was jailed, and the follow-up explicitly states she stayed until January 31, 1984, when she paid the remainder to attend a court date in Washington. This is a distinct sentence-service episode, not the April 1983 Tax Day or later Pershing custody. The exact intake and sentence day remain unknown; January 31 is actual release, not a date inferred from a nominal term.
The Nuclear Resister No. 23, February 12, 1984, original PDF 6 / printed 5.
The Spring/Summer 1986 Write Through the Walls directory individually lists Christin Schmidt under historical prisoner number 03826-018, with correspondence directed to WFCI Box A, Alderson, West Virginia. The original name, individual number and political-prisoner group context match this existing profile. This is dated historical correspondence information, not a present mailing instruction or an independently established admission, transfer, release or completed custody duration.
