Pro-Lifer Convicted Over Peaceful Protest Sentenced To Notorious Federal Prison

A pro-life Christian convicted for joining a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion facility has been ordered to report next month to a notoriously violent federal prison, he told The Daily Wire. 

Calvin Zastrow, 57, is expected to serve his six month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institute Thomson in Illinois beginning October 15. The Thomson facility has been the focus of intense media and lawmaker scrutiny over reports of rampant violence and abuse at the prison over the last few years.

Last year, a special management unit at Thomson was shut down after an NPR report found there were five suspected homicides and two suspected suicides from 2019 until February 2023 in the unit. In October 2023, Sen. Joni Ernst  (R-IA) demanded answers on how the facility handled some 275 reports of sexual misconduct against prison employees in 2022.

Just last week, the prison was placed in lockdown when an employee was hospitalized after finding a suspicious substance in a housing unit. 

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Zastrow was sentenced to six months in prison by Judge Aleta Trauger on July 3 over his participation in a peaceful protest at an abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, in March 2021. During the protest, Zastrow and a group of other pro-lifers sat in a hallway in the office building of the Carafem Health Center Clinic where they prayed, sang hymns, and urged women not to get abortions. Zastrow and others were charged with conspiracy against rights and violating the FACE Act.

Zastrow hopes to get a stay of sentence while he appeals his conviction in Tennessee. A federal judge is set to consider motions to dismiss convictions on similar charges in Detroit. 

In the meantime, Zastrow told The Daily Wire that he is spending time with his family and ministering to others. 

“Our family is doing fantastic. We’re doing really good in the Lord. God is really awesome to us,” he said Wednesday, adding that he was also trying to raise awareness about the challenges faced by other imprisoned pro-lifers like Heather Idoni in Michigan. Idoni was sentenced to two years in prison over a pro-life protest in Washington, D.C. 

Zastrow also faces an upcoming civil lawsuit from the Department of Justice over his participation in a peaceful protest at the Planned Parenthood-operated Fort Myers Health Center. He said that the DOJ was trying to impose an injunction that could lead to him being permanently blocked from participating in pro-life sidewalk counseling. 

“That’s their end game, to silence us, and to get us off the streets and silence dissent against what they’re doing,” he said. “They’re going to make an example of us.”

Zastrow said the government gave him an offer to settle before the case went to trial and pay a $30,000 fine, but he refused. He replied to the offer with a message: “Baby murdering will end in the name of Jesus and so will all lawless tyranny upholding it.”

“So I proverbially poked them in the eye and said, ‘fight, fight, fight,'” he said. 

The Biden-Harris Justice Department has cracked down on pro-life protesters across the country, pursuing stiff penalties using Reconstruction-era civil rights laws to charge protesters with conspiring against rights. In Washington, D.C., one pro-life activist was sentenced to over five years in prison under the new legal strategy.