Biography
Theologian and author ("JFK and the Unspeakable"). Co-founded the Pacific Life Community in January 1975 with his wife Shelley to confront construction of the Trident submarine base at Bangor, WA, after whistleblower Robert Aldridge exposed the system. In November 1977 they purchased 3.8 acres next to the base and named it Ground Zero. Led the White Train tracking campaign and dozens of Bangor line-crossing arrests through the 1980s.
In 1972, while teaching religion at the University of Hawaii, Douglass participated in catholic Action of Hawaii’s Lenten campaign against the air war in Southeast Asia. At Hickam Air Force Base on March 2 he poured blood on military files. The ensuing Hickam Three prosecution ended in misdemeanor convictions, probation and a fine. He later described the action as an attempt to expose the human consequences of electronic warfare. Sources: https://thestreetspirit.org/2015/06/08/street-spirit-interview-with-james-douglass/ ; https://www.ilind.net/2019/07/01/nuremberg-prosecutor-featured-on-60-minutes-defended-hawaii-peace-activists-in-1972-case/ ; https://kyouyou.agu.ac.jp/achievements/file/Journal_204.pdf#page=48
In a 2015 Street Spirit interview, Douglass recalled being convicted after a 1968 Honolulu protest against the deployment of Hawaii National Guard troops. He said the judge imposed a two-week jail sentence and described his confinement in Halawa County Jail. Separately, he recalled that federal marshals arrested him at his Birmingham home years after his arrest at a 2003 White House antiwar vigil, because he had declined to attend the Washington trial. After Sister Lynn McKenzie intervened, the judge imposed a one-day sentence; Douglass said he actually spent a weekend in the local jail. The interview does not establish exact custody endpoints for either episode, and the weekend stay is not converted to a numeric duration.
Distinct anti-nuclear custody episodes
In his June 8, 2015 Street Spirit interview, Part 2, Douglass describes the August 12, 1982 boat-blockade arrest and detention in a temporary camp near the Trident base. Charges were dropped within days; no exact discharge is stated. This sourced episode now has its own row. The previous generic February 15, 1983 arrest/admission claim was not corroborated and is retained here only as a withdrawn claim, not an exact custody fact.
The same interview separately describes a six-month Boron prison term following the October 28, 1979 mass action. Interviewer Terry Messman's July 1981 release is his own, not a documented release date for Douglass. No endpoint is transferred between the two men or between these separate episodes. Original interview.
Separate 1981 Boron imprisonment
The March 1981 newsletter, page 1, reports that Jim Douglass began a second six-month term in January and was transferred to Boron. The June 20, 1981 follow-up, page 3, confirms his actual release on May 15 after approximately four and a half months. It identifies contempt of court after refusal to pay a fine from a Bangor Trident-base fence-crossing case. This stay is separate from his later 1982 boat blockade and 1984 White Train cases. Only the January admission month is known: January 1 is a month-precision storage anchor, not an asserted admission day. No exact day total is calculated.
Jim Douglass, Street Spirit interview, compilation PDF pages 13–14 and 39–40. Retrospective accounts remain attributed; existing case dates and duration counters are preserved.
The January 1981 report dates his revocation sentence to December 17 and McNeil Island admission to January 2. The earlier completed Lompoc term is separate.
