Biography
Larry Morlan was a Catholic peace activist arrested in a Plowshares disarmament action against nuclear weapons systems in the 1980s and held at FCI Sandstone, Minnesota. Convicted of federal sabotage and depredation of government property. Documented in PFOC Breakthrough magazine.
Father Larry Morlan was a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois who participated in the Gods of Metal Plowshares action at Andrews Air Force Base Open House in May 1998 - hammering on a B-52 bomber. Sentenced to 4 months in federal prison on January 4, 1999.
The Winter 1998–99 Nukewatch Pathfinder names Kathy Shields Boylan, Carol Gilbert, Ardeth Platte, Frank Cordaro and Larry Morlan as the Gods of Metal Plowshares participants who hammered and poured blood on a B-52 at an Air Force weapons display in May 1998. Their Maryland trial began September 22. The report explicitly states that all five were convicted and jailed before sentencing. January 4 was the announced future sentencing date, and a possible year in prison was exposure rather than completed service. Source: https://www.laka.org/docu/magazines/nukewatch_pathfinder/1998-4-winter.pdf#page=5
Life-date source
- The Catholic Post, September 12, 2013 — reports that Father Lawrence Morlan was born February 20, 1960, and died August 31, 2013, and documents his Plowshares actions and lifelong peace and social-justice work.
Missing 1986 Silo Plowshares episodes
The original Nuclear Resister arrest report names Morlan and records March 28 arrest and recognizance release that evening. Its trial continuation reports his separate seven-day contempt sentence and immediate jailing. A September 23 press release reproduced in Insurgent dates the five participants' federal prison entry September 15. The movement chronology supplies August 22 sentencing, April 18, 1990 halfway-house transfer and July 20 release on probation. It loosely describes imprisonment since the action, but the original same-day release report rules out treating March-to-July 1990 as one continuous prison stay. These episodes are added separately; existing Pentagon and 1998-99 records are not silently repurposed.
Separate completed 1985 Rock Island Arsenal stay
The October 21, 1985 Rock Island Arsenal action report individually identifies Larry Morlan and Lucia Dryanski as convicted of disorderly conduct November 8 and sentenced to 30 days. Its subsequent statement that all the named defendants have served their time verifies the actual 30-day stay. Exact admission and discharge are not given. This is distinct from the later 1986 Silo Plowshares and other cases already recorded; no overlap is added to those later terms.
The Nuclear Resister No.36, December 9, 1985, original PDF pages 5.
Historical Silo Plowshares transfer, not a new custody interval
The December 1986 Silo Plowshares update reports that the three men had been moved to different prisons, and its directory individually places Larry Morlan in transit to Marion. This is a contemporary placement/transfer record in the existing Silo Plowshares imprisonment, not a separate new arrest or admission. It supplies no exact initial confinement or physical-release day. The printed seven- or eight-year nominal term is not an actual completed duration.
The Nuclear Resister No.43, December 12, 1986: Original PDF page 7 (printed page 6); Original PDF page 4 (printed page 3).
Actual January 1985 release in a separate earlier Rock Island case
Larry Morlan and Chuck Trapkus posted bond and were explicitly released from jail January 25, 1985, pending separate Rock Island Arsenal trials in March. This earlier detention cannot be the October–November 1985 Arsenal case recently added, nor the 1986 Silo Plowshares cases. The report does not state the earlier action, initial jail-admission date or completed duration. January 25 is an actual bond-release date, not one of the future trial dates; no admission is back-calculated.
The Nuclear Resister No.29, February 27, 1985, original PDF pages 8.
Earlier 1984–1985 custody chronology
The January 23 original identifies January 3, 1985 as the day Larry Morlan, Chuck Trapkus and Margaret Volpe returned to the Arsenal rather than attend arraignment, were brought in, and were held on cash bond. Larry and Chuck were still jailed at publication. This supplies the missing actual January 3 start for Larry's already recorded January 25 bond-release episode, giving 22 elapsed days. It is not the separate October–November 1985 Arsenal term or his earlier 1982 Arsenal case.
The January 1985 update explicitly says Larry Morlan finally served two actual months after prolonged litigation for his part in a Holy Saturday 1982 Rock Island Arsenal prayer protest. It distinguishes Chuck Quilty's three months and Frank Fessler's fine/probation. Actual first admission and final release dates are unprinted; neither Holy Saturday nor the issue date is used as admission. This is not his 1983 Pentagon, January 1985 Arsenal, or later 1985/1986 cases.
The Nuclear Resister No. 28, January 23, 1985, PDF pages [2, 3, 8].
The Winter 1990 Write Through the Walls directory clearly prints historical prisoner identifier 03788-045. This unstamped entry supplies the identifier obscured by the later Fall 1990 FREE stamp. It fills the blank number field; a dated mailing observation does not establish a new admission, physical release date or completed custody duration.
The Rock Island account individually says Larry Morlan received a thirty-day sentence April 19, 1985 and was physically released five days later, April 24, with twenty-five days previously served credited. The five subsequent actual days are recorded separately; the prior credit is not a continuous thirty-day interval. Exact physical intake is not independently stated and is left blank. The prior January record and its different calendar count remain unchanged.
