Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson: An Archived Record, 2003–2004
This editorial is a historical reconstruction of an archived ColoradoPeace.org page, last updated December 27, 2003. It describes past events and does not report present circumstances, availability, ownership, or contact information.
The Sentencing
According to the archived page, on July 25, 2003, Sisters Jackie Hudson, Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte were sentenced in Denver federal court under sabotage charges. The charges followed a symbolic act described in the source as “disarming” nuclear missile silo N-8 in northeastern Colorado. The page states that the three women were taken immediately to interim jails in Colorado to begin their sentences.
The archived account lists the terms as 31 months for Jackie Hudson, 33 months for Carol Gilbert and 41 months for Ardeth Platte, describing the act as non-violent civil resistance protesting nuclear weapons.
Conditions Reported in December 2003
The page quoted Liz of Jonah House, in a note dated December 17, 2003, on how the three women were faring. The quoted account said each was doing well in her own right but that none found the experience easy. It characterized prisons as variations of military installations and said they tended to prefer violent criminals to nonviolent protesters, especially those who spoke their minds and challenged officers on violence.
The same account said Carol had been described as having an attitude problem; that Ardeth’s visiting list had been disregarded by a counselor who called it a list of criminals he did not want in his visiting room; and that Jackie had made clear she would not and could not walk several miles a day to work initially assigned to her. The quoted writer observed that such stands, the more lovingly taken, aroused more ire, and expressed a belief that the women would in time be loved.
Terms as Listed at the Time
- Ardeth Platte: 41 months, listed as out 12/05
- Carol Gilbert: 33 months, listed as out 5/05
- Jackie Hudson: 30 months, listed as out 3/05
The page also listed then-current prison addresses for correspondence and invited readers to write. Those addresses are reproduced here only as part of the historical record; they are not presented as current or valid.
Related Material Cited on the Page
The archived page referred readers to a January 2004 letter from Ardeth, to photographs from an inspection of Silo N-8 by Jackie Hudson’s family and friends on July 26, 2003, and to public statements by the three sisters and the Jonah Community House at the time of sentencing. It also cited a one-hour documentary on the case, a Baltimore Sun item, and material on nuclear missiles in Colorado and international and U.S. law.
The page carried a photograph caption stating that the nuns were arrested at gunpoint on October 6 after using bolt cutters to enter a fenced Minuteman missile site, and another caption describing jumpsuits bearing the acronym CWIT, for Citizen Witness Inspection Team, and an arrest 44 minutes after entry.
Archival Note
This editorial relies only on the archived ColoradoPeace.org page and does not verify its claims independently. It records what the page said as of December 2003 and should be read as history, not as a statement about any person’s or organization’s present situation.