Biography
Susan Crane is widely described as a long-running anti-nuclear resister whose activism has relied on civil disobedience at military and weapons-related facilities. A major episode in her arrest history centers on the 2009 “Disarm Now” action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, where a small group cut fences, walked deep into the base toward a nuclear weapons storage area, performed prayers and symbolic gestures, and were arrested by military security.
The case led to felony convictions (including conspiracy, trespass, and property-damage counts) and a 15-month federal prison sentence imposed in 2011. Crane’s record is often discussed as part of a decades-long pattern of arrests for entering restricted spaces to challenge nuclear policy, with the Kitsap-Bangor prosecution serving as one of the clearest examples of the legal consequences imposed on Plowshares-style actions. Imprisoned February 2, 2001 for probation violation tied to the 'Plowshares vs Depleted Uranium' direct-disarmament action of December 19, 1999, in which Catholic Worker / Plowshares activists hammered on A-10 anti-tank warplanes (which fire depleted-uranium rounds) at the Maryland Air National Guard's Warfield ANG Base. The probation itself stemmed from the Prince of Peace Plowshares action of February 14, 1997, when six activists hammered and poured blood on a Tomahawk cruise-missile launching system aboard the USS The Sullivans at Bath Iron Works in Maine.
The July 2013 Ground Zero newsletter individually names Susan Crane among the fourteen people arrested on the federal side of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor during the Pacific Life Community action on March 4, 2013. It also identifies this person among seven defendants arraigned June 5 on a trespass/re-entry charge under 18 U.S.C. 1382, pleading not guilty and awaiting an October 21 trial. The possibility of jail was prospective. The report does not establish a complete jail interval or an eventual prison sentence. Source: https://www.gzcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/July-13-newsletter-for-website.pdf#page=7
The July 2025 Ground Zero newsletter reports that Crane had returned from Germany after serving about seven and a half months in prison. This is rounded retrospective evidence of the German stay already recorded, not a new United States imprisonment or a reason to replace the independently verified June 2024–January 2025 endpoints. Source: https://www.gzcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/July-2025-newsletter-for-website.pdf#page=3
The October 2017 Ground Zero newsletter names Susan Crane among fourteen roadway protesters arrested at Bangor on May 13, 2017. All were released in less than an hour; the threatened weekend in jail did not occur. No full day of imprisonment is inferred. Source: https://www.gzcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/October-2017-newsletter-for-web-2.pdf#page=4
The Paschal 2023 Catholic Peace Fellowship Philadelphia newsletter reports participation in the January 28, 2023 Chestnut Hill College discussion following a screening of The Nuns, The Priests and The Bombs. Its profile identifies Crane as a retired schoolteacher and grandmother in the Redwood City Catholic Worker community, and dates her first Plowshares action to Jubilee Plowshares West at the Sunnyvale Lockheed Martin facility in 1995. This corroborates an existing case without another imprisonment. Source: https://www.cpfphila.com/ARTICLES/2023_May/2023-05-Paschal-CPF-Newsletter.pdf#page=8
Distinct 2010s prison stays review October 13, 2026: The two historical 1997 prosecution records incorrectly extended imprisonment into October 2012. Their unsupported 2012 release endpoints and uninterrupted day totals were cleared, leaving their actual historical discharge unresolved rather than guessing. DOJ identifies November 2, 2009 action and March 28, 2011 sentence; original NCR reporting confirms immediate remand. The April 25, 2012 support report explicitly records actual Dublin release that day. That interval is added separately. The original July 25 hearing report identifies July 23, 2012 imposition of 60 additional days; the August 22 report confirms actual return to Dublin. Original Nuclear Resister issue 168, page 5, rendered and visually inspected, explicitly records October 16 discharge from that distinct supervision-violation term. Planned reporting dates, unrelated later endpoints, and sentence-length calculations are not substituted for these documented events.
Separate February 2001 probation-violation imprisonment
The December 2001 Prisoners for Peace roster individually names Susan Crane and explicitly says imprisonment began February 2, 2001 for a probation violation following the December 19, 1999 Plowshares vs. Depleted Uranium action. It distinguishes that return to custody from the original February 14, 1997 Prince of Peace Plowshares action. This is added as a separate custody episode, not extended backward through the earlier imprisonment or bail gaps. The roster’s February 1, 2002 end was still in the future when published; it is retained only as a projection, not entered as an actual discharge. The source does not establish an exact sentence-imposition day, arrest day or completed release, so no custody total is calculated. Its contact-address grouping is not used to assert every institution or transfer in this person’s term.
Separate March 4, 2018 brief Nevada detention and same-day release
The April 2018 Ground Zero newsletter, original page 6, individually names Susan Crane among twenty-four Pacific Life Community participants arrested at the Nevada National Security Site on March 4, 2018. Felice Cohen-Joppa’s report says the participants crossed the site boundary, were escorted to a nearby pen, briefly held, processed and released. This is a same-day temporary detention and release, not an overnight prison stay, a served-day sentence, or continuous custody beginning that day. No imprisonment counter or new discrete prison episode is added, and other case dates remain unchanged.
1995 custody evidence and limits
The Fall 1995 Pathfinder identifies Susan Crane and Steve Kelly in the August 7,1995 Jubilee Plowshares West action at Lockheed-Martin in Sunnyvale, followed by local detention. The movement chronology clarifies an initial state-custody spell ending after48 hours, followed by an August 11 federal-court appearance and bond amounts. That appearance alone does not prove remand. The sources must not be flattened into uninterrupted custody from August 7 until a later federal sentence. Exact discharge day and any later admission remain unknown here.
Nukewatch Pathfinder, Fall 1995, printed page 7. Plowshares movement chronology, relevant1994/1995 action.
The December2000 original peace-prisoner roster places Susan Crane in actual Maryland confinement for Plowshares versus Depleted Uranium, distinct from the existing February2,2001 probation-revocation term. The participant movement chronology explicitly describes the December19,1999 Warfield Air National Guard Base action, individual Federal Air Police arrests and immediate jailing pending trial. Arrest and admission are therefore December19,1999, rather than assuming custody from an action alone. The 27-month nominal sentence is not a completed actual-service total. The chronology lists January3 and12,2001 third-party-custody releases for Crane and Berrigan without unambiguously mapping those days here, so actual release remains blank. Their February2001 return to prison is a separate interval.
