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The following information is c/o the UK ELP group in response to inquiries made about what Fran was in prison for. The best person to ask about this would be Fran herself. She tends to be open and honest with people, even though she has never really courted publicity. The only reason the international direct action movement even really knows about her was that back in 1997 she wrote to the British VPSG asking them if they would help her secure a vegan diet. She mentioned she use to be an animal rights and environmental campaigner. The VPSG had never heard of her so approached ELP to see if we could find anything out about her. With a few enquiries we established the following story about her. Fran use to live in Nebraska where she appears to of owned some land. She describes it herself as a farm, but I have no idea what she "farmed" as she is an active vegan animal rights & environmental campaigner. Whilst "on the out" Fran was active in various campaigns on a general "green" theme, including campaigning against nuclear power stations, campaigning against intensive animal farming and also campaigning on local environmental issues. One of the few photos Fran ever sent to me of herself shows her sporting an Earth First! t-shirt. Anyway as to her imprisonment. According to Fran one of her neighbours decided he wanted to get his hand on Frans farm and asked Fran to marry him. Fran declined the offer, but this guy wouldn't take no for an answer and started to stalk Fran. The stalking reached the point that the neighbour broke into Frans house. Fran owed a gun. Fearing for her safety she grabbed her gun and shot the stalker dead. Fran has never denied she shot and killed the stalker. However she has always denied it was murder. Instead she has always argued it was self-defence. Anyway in court things went really badly for Fran. She believes that because of her previous campaigning activities the courts had it in for her and she says she was not allowed to enter her plea of self-defence. Instead all the Jury were presented with was a murder charge, and the fact was she did shoot and kill the guy. Anyway Fran was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. This was in the early 1990s as I understand it.Since being imprisoned Fran has continued to campaign for animal rights by writing letters of protest and by actively saving worms. Apparently the soil around the prison she use to be in contains limestone and when it rains heavily the soil creates carbonic acid which burns the worms and forces them to the surface where the prisoners & Screws use to step on them, so she formed a one woman "Operation Worm Rescue" (OWP) in 1993 where she basically got permission to rescue the worms every time it rained. Initially her OWP was ridiculed by other prisoners who use to shout "Eeeee-ooooohhhh!" at her (which I assume is the American version of the British "Ooh-Aah") but over the years she has been able to get other women involved with her OWP and by the time she left her last prison in 2003 a number of others use to join her on her task to save the worm (as she says "they were almost the only oher Earth creatures I ever saw there"). In the year 2000 Fran caused a bit of a stir in the prisoner support community by admitting in a prison support magazine (Out of Time magazine) that she was applying for the Death Penalty for herself. Apparently some local American politician had been talking about introducing a Bill which would allow Lifers to apply for the death penalty. Fran got very excited about this and applied, only to feel great disapointment when she discovered the Bill had never become Law and she wasn't allowed to volunteer herself for lethal injection. Fran has always rejected people writing any articles about her which run along the line of "poor little Fran", but she did agree that ELP could publish the following about her literal death wish..... "In November, 1998, it was reported in a Nebraskan newspaper that legislation is being proposed to allow Life prisoners to opt for death by lethal injection. ELP have learnt that eco-activist Fran Thompson is looking to seek execution under this legislation if it does become law. ELP is totally apposed to the death penalty but we understand fully the feelings & emotions Fran is going through in making this request. To support Fran whilst she is inside, and hopefully to dissuade her from her death quest, a support campaign has been set up for her. For more info contact 'Free Fran Movement', 333 Agro Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78209, USA." (ELP Newsletter - July 2001) Since being rejected for the death penalty Fran does appear to be a little happier and she is even talking about setting up a new OWP in her new prison because the soil is simular to the soil in the last prison and she is again concerned about the worms. Fran is a nice woman and worth supporting. It would be nice is NC did do a piece about her. But the best person to get info from about her would obviously be Fran herself. Fran has always wanted ELP to list her as an Animal Rights prisoner because she says this is the best description of her beliefs. However I've explained to her we can't list her as AR because her charges do not relate to an AR offence. But in a compromise we do now list her as an Eco-Defence prisoner. So yeah, I am sure she'd be really pleased to get a mention in NC (as long as it shows her as the strong activist jailed for a crime she did not commit, rather than a woman who was a victim of a male stalker) and when you write to her please do mention ELP and tell her that it was us who told you about her. Her address is: |