70-year-old Bremerton nun leaves prison today

She'll return home Sunday but may not stay long under terms of her probation.

The Sun ( Bremerton , Washington ) Friday March 4, 2005
By Steven Gardner, Sun Staff
March 4, 2005

Jackie Hudson, a Bremerton Dominican nun imprisoned for vandalizing a Colorado nuclear missile silo in 2002, gets out of prison today.

She'll return Sunday to Bremerton but may not be allowed to stay long.

Hudson and two other nuns cut a missile silo fence in October 2002, entered the site, hammered on the top of the silo and poured their own blood to paint a cross.

All three were convicted of damaging government property in July 2003. Hudson , 70, spent most of her jail time in Victorville , Calif. , and will be the first of the three released. The other two will leave prison later this year.

Probation officials in Washington denied her request to remain in her home in Bremerton for the three-year probation she was ordered to serve because she is refusing to pay $3,200 in fines and restitution to the U.S. government.

Glen Milner, a member of the local peace organization Ground Zero for Nonviolent Action, said Hudson 's refusal is an act of conscience. "It's very likely that $3,000 would go toward the type of weapons she was protesting. I'm sure that's not acceptable to her," he said.

In a letter Hudson sent to supporters in December, she wrote: "We have refused to pay money to this morally bereft government which presently spends over ONE BILLION dollars a day to slaughter or in planning the slaughter of millions of innocent persons. I am complicit enough by claiming citizenship in this nation."

A Ground Zero press release estimates supporters have offered to donate $112,000 to peace groups or charities as alternative restitution.

Probation officials said in November that Hudson 's refusal to pay restitution violates probation conditions.

"She does not plan to change her position and refuses to pay anything to the restitution. Therefore, this district is denying her relocation to the Western District of Washington," wrote Margaret Kellow, senior probation officer in Seattle .

The nuns are appealing their convictions. Should they win, Hudson would be allowed to return to Bremerton , Kellow wrote. If she is not allowed to stay in Washington , she will probably be required to move to Colorado until her probation is complete.

Ground Zero members plan to hold a welcome home event Sunday evening.

Reach reporter Steven Gardner at (206) 714-3003, (360) 779-3131 or at sgardner@kitsapsun.com .