Update, July 27, 2026: Hoopes Begins 30-Month Prison Sentence at Minimum-Security Camp in Oregon
Robert “Jacob” Hoopes surrendered to authorities on Thursday, July 23, and began serving his 30-month sentence. He is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Sheridan, in Sheridan, Ore., according to a Bureau of Prisons database of inmates. Hoopes is housed in a minimum-security satellite camp at the prison, according to a post on a website maintained by his father, Tom Hoopes.
The family website encourages supporters to choose one of 900 days of Jacob Hoopes’s sentence and spend the day performing actions that reflect their values, then write to Jacob and his family about what they did. Suggestions include attending a city council meeting or preparing food for a neighbor. The site also invites supporters to contact Tom Hoopes for an address to which they can send letters to Jacob Hoopes.
Prisonpedia says the minimum-security prison camp lacks traditional jail cells and houses incarcerated people “dormitory-style” and that people living there can “be assigned to work details outside the secure perimeter, including grounds and support work for the broader institution.” Everyone incarcerated at the prison is male. FCI Sheridan houses 1,509 people; 266 live in the camp, according to a Federal Bureau of Prisons webpage.
An orientation handbook for the prison states that medically cleared incarcerated people will have paid jobs and will receive re-entry support to facilitate their return to the community after their sentences. Recreational activities include sports, board games, hobby crafts, music programs, and movies, according to the handbook. Religious and psychological services are available. People living in the prison may volunteer to serve as supportive companions for incarcerated people who experience suicidal thoughts.
A 2024 report by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General noted significant understaffing at the prison, leading to lack of or delay in administering medical, dental, and psychological care as well as limitations in educational and vocational programming for people living in the facility. Inspectors visited the prison unannounced between November 27, 2023, and December 1, 2023. The report states that the prison took steps to reduce the backlogs in care that the inspectors discovered.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
Original story, June 11, 2026
Hoopes Sentenced to More Than Two Years in Prison for Assaulting an ICE Agent
Robert “Jacob” Hoopes was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of probation, and ordered to pay $8,097 in restitution after pleading guilty to aggravated assault against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, according to court transcripts. Federal judge Adrienne Nelson sentenced the 25-year-old man, who grew up in a Quaker family and has ties to Newtown (Pa.) Meeting, on June 11, 2026, at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in Portland, Ore.
During a protest on June 14, 2025, Hoopes threw a rock from outside a federal building in Portland at an ICE agent inside the building, hitting the officer above the eye and causing a cut that required treatment, according to previous court transcripts.
Hoopes is scheduled to self-surrender in six weeks and will serve his sentence in a minimum-security section of the Federal Correctional Institution, Sheridan, in Sheridan, Ore., court transcripts state. The minimum-security level will allow for regular family visits.
Leah Bolstad, assistant U.S. attorney, showed a security video of Hoopes throwing the rock into the federal building and noted that it was one of four rocks or bricks Hoopes had thrown at the building over the course of approximately half an hour, according to court transcripts.
Charges related to Hoopes allegedly using a stop sign as a battering ram to do approximately $7,000 worth of damage to the ICE building in South Portland were dismissed under a plea deal, previous court transcripts stated.
In the plea petition, signed February 18, Hoopes stated that he understood he would not be eligible for parole.
Bolstad argued for a 46-month prison term with three years probation and monetary restitution. She noted that sentencing should not necessarily favor a defendant with an outpouring of support, such as Hoopes had, over defendants who faced their sentence with no one to accompany them at their hearings. She also stated that sentencing should serve as a deterrent to others who might emulate Hoopes’s actions.
According to court transcripts, Hoopes addressed the court—which included approximately 60 of his supporters—at the sentencing hearing, saying, in part:
First, I want to make clear that I accept full responsibility for what I did. As the video showed, I was violent. It’s not right. It’s more than not a moral way to solve problems, it’s not an effective way either. I acknowledge that, and I understand that I made a mistake, and more than any felony conviction that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, I will carry the knowledge that I did this for the rest of my life.
In a pre-sentencing public letter, Hoopes expressed regret and reflected on his Quaker values, saying, in part:
To ward the armored people back, with adrenaline narrowing my focus and pepperballs and tear gas burning my eyes and skin, I threw a rock at the guards through one of the partially opened doors of the facility. I knew there were heavily armored agents on the other side of the door, but at that moment I did not think that my act would or could injure any of them. At that point in time, I was under the impression that these agents were invulnerable. That impression was wrong. . . .
I know that I betrayed my Quaker values by violently disregarding the safety of another human being. My actions were not justified, nor were they effective, and I did something that cannot be forgotten or undone. In all my lifelong, vocal affirmation of the power of nonviolence, I tried to solve a problem in a way that contradicted that belief. In this, I have been a hypocrite. I will do better.
Judge Nelson explained that she weighed a variety of factors to determine the sentence, including the severity of the crime, the need for deterrence, and Hoopes’s lack of criminal record. She also considered his family and community—60 of whom wrote letters of support—and his current enrollment in a master’s degree program in urban and regional planning at Portland State University.
In a sentencing memorandum filed on June 3, Hoopes’s attorney Matthew McHenry argued for the minimum sentence allowed by the plea agreement.
“A 24-month sentence is a profound deprivation of liberty, and for a young man with absolutely no prior criminal history, it is more than sufficient to accomplish the goals of sentencing, including general and specific deterrence,” the defense memo states.
The government’s sentencing memo, filed on June 3 by U.S. Attorney Scott Bradford, referred to a group chat investigators found on Hoopes’s phone in which the writer of a text message stated that they were laughing at Hoopes’s actions, which the writer had seen reported in the media.
Bradford called for a sentence that would discourage potential crimes by people such as the writer of the text message.
“A 46-month sentence for this conduct sends a powerful deterrence message to those contemplating engaging in similar violence at the ICE Building. It sends a strong message to those agitators who, seeing these events unfold, sit back and ‘LMFAO’ [an internet term meaning “laughing my f—ing a— off”] as a federal property is destroyed and federal officers are assaulted. The government urges this court to impose a 46-month sentence. It will promote, and it may even help restore, respect for the law,” the government’s sentencing memo states.
Very grateful for Sharlee Dimenichi’s excellent article re Jacob Hoopes. These are truly challenging times to maintain adherence to our testimonies and values as Quakers. I thank Jacob for his admirable statement of accountability. I hold him in the Light with hope that his faith is strengthened as he serves his time.
I would have hoped that Friends would refrain from violent protests in these difficult days. Friends convinced me years ago of the reality of the spiritual world. This would transcend petty political disputes and creaturely displays of emotion. In the past Friends fed the starving in Ireland and Germany and rescued Jews from Hitler. This acting out is a failure of the communication of Friends’ traditions and practices to the contemporary world.
At the actual sentencing, Jacob was sentenced to 30 months at the Sheridan, Oregon Federal Minimum Security facility, with the option of early parole explicitly excluded. He will self-report to the Sheridan facility When Jacob spoke at the sentencing, he was filled with both contrition and determination, wiping tears from his eyes when he sat down. I believe that although this experience will follow Jacob for the rest of his life, his testimony of non-violent resistance will have even larger impact. Multnomah Monthly Meeting is committed to supporting him through his incarceration and beyond.
Kevin Johnson might want to reflect on the self-criticism that Jacob Hoopes has already expressed…and then on what he believes entitles him to nevertheless pass judgment on Hoopes from the safety of his keyboard a continent away.