Biography
Jordan Halliday is a Utah-based animal liberation activist who was imprisoned for civil and criminal contempt after refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the 2008 release of approximately 650 mink from the McMullin Mink Farm in South Jordan, Utah. Subpoenaed in 2009 by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, Halliday repeatedly refused to answer questions about the animal liberation activist community, citing grand jury resistance principles widely held among anarchists and animal rights activists who view such proceedings as fishing expeditions used to gather intelligence on movements.
After being held in civil contempt and jailed for 108 days in 2009, Halliday was later indicted for criminal contempt of court for his continued refusal to cooperate. On November 3, 2010, he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson to 10 months in federal prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. He served his sentence and was released in 2012. His case became a rallying point for the animal liberation and anarchist movements, with the support campaign organized at supportjordan.org documenting his resistance and calling for solidarity with grand jury resisters.
The Tenth Circuit opinion of December 16, 2011 expressly distinguishes 108 days of coercive civil-contempt custody, ending when the grand jury expired, from the later criminal-contempt prosecution and ten-month sentence. It also states that Halliday received supervised release pending the appeal, so the appellate date and imposed term do not establish that ten months had already been served. The court affirmed the sentence, accepting the sentencing court’s finding of intent to impede prosecution; Halliday maintained that he lacked knowledge of the mink-farm attacks and resisted testimony as a matter of conscience. His existing 108-day civil interval and separately documented 2012 prison interval remain distinct. Source: https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca10/10-4200/10-4200-2011-12-16.pdf?ts=1411092308#page=3
Separate civil and criminal contempt custody
Halliday’s account in After Prison distinguishes an initial 2009 civil-contempt jail stay, ending when the grand jury expired, from his later criminal sentence. The Tenth Circuit’s December 16, 2011 opinion independently states that civil custody lasted 108 days and separately confirms release pending appeal of the later criminal sentence. The actual civil admission and release dates are not supplied here. They must not be guessed from the later criminal-case arrest date or joined continuously to 2012.
The zine’s original page 8 expressly dates his guilty plea July 27, 2010, sentence November 3, 2010, criminal-sentence custody January 9–July 20, 2012, and early termination of supervision August 8, 2013. The latter is not a prison-release date. Its reference to civil time running concurrently is not treated as proof that the separated 2009 and 2012 stays physically overlapped. Pages 9–10 describe county-jail and federal transfers without additional calendar endpoints; those transfers do not create separate additional custody totals.
After Prison, original pages 8–10; United States v. Halliday, No.10-4200, original opinion pages 2–4 and 11.
Fire to the Prisons reports Halliday’s March 13, 2009 civil-contempt arrest for refusing to testify before the Utah grand jury investigating mink-farm actions. Its contemporary jail listing identifies Cache County Jail and local number 24836. The article says he could remain detained until cooperation or expiry of the grand jury; June 30 was then a projected expiry, not proof of actual release. This is the already documented 2009 civil-contempt episode, not an additional criminal sentence.
