Biography
Hawaii anti-nuclear and anti-militarism activist, founder of Malu 'Aina Center for Non-Violent Education and Action, arrested numerous times for nonviolent direct action including at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island. Convicted of federal trespass and related charges across multiple actions. Documented in PFOC Breakthrough magazine.
Albertini participated with Jim Douglass and Chuck Giuli in the March 2, 1972 Hickam Air Force Base protest against the Vietnam air war. He and Douglass were convicted of misdemeanor conspiracy and destruction of government property; Giuli’s charges were dismissed. Albertini initially received probation and a $500 fine, then served 90 days for refusing payment. 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
Three separately documented 1984 arrests
The original appellate opinion identifies James Vincent Albertini and gives February 4, March 3 and April 7, 1984 as separate Pearl Harbor leafletting arrests. These have separate rows with exact arrest dates. The February count resulted in acquittal in July 1986. The March and April convictions carried suspended prison terms and were reversed on October 15, 1987. Neither suspended punishment nor the reversal establishes actual incarceration or release; those endpoints and durations remain unknown. United States v. Albertini, 830 F.2d 985, original opinion.
Other Hickam and Hilo episodes are not combined with these arrests. Existing identified photograph and the earlier 1972 records are retained. The generic Pohakuloa record still needs independently established custody endpoints.
Individually documented 1985–1986 custody chronology
Albertini’s first-person account, originally printed February 13, 1984 and reproduced here, describes the first of his three 1984 Pearl Harbor gate arrests: Navy police took him to their building and kept him in a holding room for an hour or so before issuing a violation notice. The independently established first-arrest day, February 4, 1984, therefore also identifies this initial temporary military holding-room custody. It is not a full-day prison term, and the reproduced passage does not explicitly date physical release. No served-day counter is assigned; the later acquittal is not discharge. The article separately notes a 1985 sentence stayed on the day he surrendered, which must not be flattened into proof of uninterrupted later imprisonment.
The Nuclear Resister No. 37, January 20, 1986, original PDF pages [2].
The Supreme Court reviewed a separate prosecution arising from Albertini’s May 16, 1981 return to Hickam during an Armed Forces Day open house. He had received a military bar order after the 1972 action. A bench trial produced a three-month sentence. On June 24, 1985 the Supreme Court reversed the appellate First Amendment ruling and remanded, leaving a separate due-process argument for consideration.
The Hawaii report explicitly dates Jim Albertini’s three-year Hilo Harbor sentence July 12, 1985. His later August 30 Boron arrival lasted only ninety minutes before the sentence was stayed and he went home. Neither the August 5 order nor the three-year nominal term proves continuous admission from that date; the subsequent longer imprisonment remains separately unresolved.
Albertini actually reached Boron Federal Prison Camp on August 30, 1985, was held ninety minutes, then told he should go home because his sentence had been stayed. This short realized phase is not a three-year continuous imprisonment; his future September bail hearing does not extend it. No full-day counter is claimed for ninety minutes.
The newsletter describes Albertini returned to jail after a cancelled June 13 hearing and physically released July 14,1986. It separately reports a July 10 jury conviction in the 1984 Pearl Harbor prosecution; July 21 sentencing remained future.
The report dates the Hilo Bay swimming-blockade jury verdict July 9,1985 before visiting Judge Spencer Williams. Its announced sentencing dates were prospective, distinct from later confirmed sentences and custody.
