BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota man and a Rhode Island woman are the first people to be sent to jail for protesting the Dakota Access pipeline.
Sixty-four-year-old Mary Redway and 27-year-old Alexander Simon were convicted Oct. 19 of misdemeanor disorderly conduct during the protests in North Dakota.
Redway, of Providence, Rhode Island, was sentenced to four days in jail and Simon to 18 days. Simon comes from Fort Yates, North Dakota, but The Bismarck Tribune reports he’s teaching in New Mexico.
The Water Protector Legal Collective says the sentences show the judge’s bias because similar protest-related cases tried by other judges have resulted in suspended jail sentences or jail time offset by time served. The judge disputes that.
Protests against the pipeline resulted in 761 arrests from August 2016 to February 2017.
