Skip to content
Learn More → State by State

Delaware

Political repression plays out state by state — shaped by local institutions, prosecutors, and movements for defense. These are the documented political prisoners and cases the census holds for Delaware.

32Documented
1In custody
25Released

Eras of repression in Delaware

Where Delaware’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1800s 20 1970s 7 1910s 4 2020s 1

Documented cases

32 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

Annie Arniel
Released
Delaware factory worker and one of the most frequently jailed Silent Sentinels picketing for women's suffrage....
Samuel D. Burris
Released
Samuel D. Burris was a free Black Underground Railroad conductor from western Kent County, Delaware, documente...
Isaac W. K. Handy
Released
The Rev. Isaac William Ker Handy was a Presbyterian minister held without trial at Fort Delaware as a Civil Wa...
Burton N. Harrison
Released
Burton Norvell Harrison was a lawyer who served as private secretary to Confederate President Jefferson Davis...
Florence Bayard Hilles
Released
Delaware NWP chair and Silent Sentinel from a prominent political family (her father was Thomas F. Bayard, U.S...
Francis R. Lubbock
Released
Francis Richard Lubbock was the ninth Governor of Texas (1861–1863). After leaving office he joined the Confed...
Edward S. Sharpe
Released
Dr. Edward S. Sharpe was a physician in Salem, New Jersey, and an anti-war ("Peace") Democrat who was detained...
Mabel Vernon
Released
Suffragist, pacifist, and longtime organizer for the National Woman's Party who was one of the first Silent Se...
G
Gary Watson
In Custody
Gary Watson (inmate #098990) is the last still-imprisoned member of the "Smyrna Five" (S-5) — a group of radic...
R
Richards
Released
Richards, of Delaware, was a young Delawarean of strong Southern proclivities held as a political prisoner and...
W
William Bradley
Released
William Bradley, of Sussex County, Delaware, was one of six Sussex County, Delaware citizens 'charged with dis...
W
William Bright
Released
William Bright, of Wilmington, Delaware, was a Methodist layman held for Southern sympathies on much the same...
T
Thomas Cannon
Released
Thomas Cannon, of Sussex County, Delaware, was one of six Sussex County, Delaware citizens brought in together...
C
Carlos M. De La Mar
Released
Carlos M. De La Mar, of Wilmington, Delaware, was a British subject held as a political prisoner whose stated...
S
Sterling Hobbs Fatir
One of the 'Smyrna 7' at the Delaware Correctional Center who, per the defense committee in The Black Panther...
H
Henry C. Hearne
Released
Henry C. Hearne, of Sussex County, Delaware, was one of six Sussex County, Delaware citizens 'charged with dis...
P
Patrick H. Hearne
Released
Patrick H. Hearne, of Laurel, Sussex County, Delaware, was one of six Sussex County, Delaware citizens 'charge...
C
Carl Vincent Henry
One of the 'Smyrna 7' found guilty in Sept. 1976 of escape-related charges at the Delaware Correctional Center...
W
William H. Hitch
Released
William H. Hitch, of Sussex County, Delaware, was one of six Sussex County, Delaware citizens brought in toget...
J
John Hunn
Released
John Hunn was a Quaker Underground Railroad stationmaster in Delaware, often called the "superintendent" of th...
C
Curtis Jordan
One of the 'Smyrna 7' at the Delaware Correctional Center who, per the defense committee in The Black Panther...
O
Oscar Jordan
One of the 'Smyrna 7' brothers at the Delaware Correctional Center who, per the defense committee in The Black...
H
Henry W. Long
Released
Henry W. Long, of Sussex County, Delaware, was an outspoken Southern sympathizer arrested as a 'prisoner of St...
B
B. H. McCown
Released
B. H. McCown, of Smyrna, Delaware, was a Smyrna dentist of strong Southern sympathies who circulated a petitio...

Institutions in Delaware

Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Delaware that appear in the census’s case files.

Fort DelawareDelaware City, Delaware
57 cases
Delaware Correctional CenterSmyrna, Delaware
6 cases
James T. Vaughn Correctional CenterSmyrna, Delaware
1 case