Photo by Angel White Eyes for NDN Collective
A beautiful and historic day –
This morning, February 18, at 8:40 a.m. eastern time, Leonard Peltier walked out of FCI Coleman in Florida and is headed home to the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota!!
He still has restrictions of home confinement, but after almost 50 years, he is no longer in a prison cell.
After 45 years of the Nuclear Resister reporting on and encouraging support for Leonard Peltier, today, with full and grateful hearts, we join many thousands of people around the world welcoming him out of prison!
From the NDN Collective
Leonard Peltier Released From 49 Years of Wrongful Incarceration
February 18, 2025
Sumterville, FL – This morning, Leonard Peltier was released from over 49 years of wrongful incarceration. Mr. Peltier is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and will reside on his tribal homelands in North Dakota.
Upon Peltier’s request, NDN Collective is bringing him home to the Turtle Mountain community. NDN Collective and partners built upon five decades of organizing and led the advocacy that secured Peltier’s release. Tomorrow, the organization is hosting a celebratory event and community feed to welcome Peltier back to his homelands.
“Today I am finally free! They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!” said Leonard Peltier. “Thank you to all my supporters throughout the world who fought for my freedom. I am finally going home. I look forward to seeing my friends, my family, and my community. It’s a good day today.”
“Leonard Peltier is free! He never gave up fighting for his freedom so we never gave up fighting for him. Today our elder Leonard Peltier walks into the open arms of his people,” said Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective Founder and CEO. “Peltier’s liberation is invaluable in and of itself – yet just as his wrongful incarceration represented the oppression of Indigenous Peoples everywhere, his release today is a symbol of our collective power and inherent freedom.”
“This moment would not be happening without Secretary Deb Haaland and President Biden responding to the calls for Peltier’s release that have echoed through generations of grassroots organizing,” said Holly Cook Macarro, Government Affairs for NDN Collective. “Today is a testament to the many voices who fought tirelessly for Peltier’s freedom and justice.”
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NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.