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Florida

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 Florida.

300Documented
15In custody
200Released
9Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Florida

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

1930s 70 2000s 46 2020s 32 1950s 30 1970s 27 2010s 26

Documented cases

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

S
Sam Rogers
Released
Sam Rogers was arrested on November 30, 1935. Sam D. Rogers was a Socialist Party member and Modern Democrats...
F
Frances Romero
Released
Frances Romero, also known as Frances Mendoza Romero and Mama Romero, was a Mexican immigrant, Tampa cigar wor...
V
Vesper Romero
Vesper Romero, a child of Tampa cigar worker Mama (Frances) Romero, was arrested at age 14 during the November...
V
Vladimir Romero
Vladimir Romero, a child of Tampa cigar worker Mama (Frances) Romero, was arrested at age 10 during the Novemb...
Y
Yorkina Romero
Yorkina Romero, a child of Tampa cigar worker Mama (Frances) Romero, was arrested at age 16 during the Novembe...
A
Anna Rosenblatt
Released
Anna Rosenblatt was cited for contempt with Bertha Teplow on the first day of the Florida Legislative Investig...
W
Walter Rousch
Walter Rousch was a Socialist and member of the Modern Democrats arrested in the November 30, 1935 Tampa raid....
M
Miguel Ángel Ruiz Alicea
Released
Miguel Ángel Ruiz Alicea was one of six Mayagüez nationalist cadets whom Dávila Marichal identifies as convict...
M
Martin Rutrell
Released
Martin Rutrell was held at the Raiford prison complex in Florida and listed as a political prisoner by PFOC....
V
Victor Daniel Salamanca
Released
Victor Daniel Salamanca (El Viejito), lead defendant in the Salamanca cluster - the FARC ICE-sting case in whi...
J
Joseph Santos-Cecilia
Joseph Santos-Cecilia was individually named in an FBI announcement of ten arrests in South Florida on Septemb...
M
Mike Shantzek
Released
Mike Shantzek was an Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran jailed in the 1954 Dade County 'subversive activities' pr...
M
Max Shlafrock
Released
Max Shlafrock was cited and jailed in the 1954 Dade County 'subversive activities' probe for refusing, on Fift...
A
Amarilys Silverio-Garcia
Amarilys Silverio-Garcia was individually named in an FBI announcement of ten arrests in South Florida on Sept...
A
Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith is identified in the July 1937 Southern Worker among three Black turpentine workers forcibly retu...
D
Darnell Smith
Darnell Smith was held at Florida State Prison, where a newsletter alleged guards beat him. The newsletter id...
H
Home Smith
Released
Home Smith was a citrus-union worker jailed after authorities accused union members of responsibility for hous...
T
Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith was among a group of white men hanged in Gadsden County, Florida, in 1846. The Espy chronology cl...
C
Charles Smolikoff
Released
Charles Smolikoff was a former Transport Workers organizer jailed without bail in the 1954 Dade County 'subver...
A
Anthony Smyth
Released
Anthony Smyth, US citizen, IRA gun-running co-defendant; convicted; 36 months federal prison.
R
Rubin Stacey
Rubin Stacey was a Black man lynched at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on July 19, 1935. The February 1936 Catholic...
N
Nicolas Tapasco Romero
Released
Nicolas Ricardo Tapasco Romero, a former detective with the Colombian Department of Administrative Security; S...
B
Bertha Teplow
Released
Mrs. Bertha Teplow was one of the first witnesses cited for contempt by the Florida Legislative Investigating...
C
Carol Thomas
Carol Thomas was a Southern Conference Educational Fund organizer in Gainesville, Florida. A contemporary repo...

Institutions in Florida

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

FCI MariannaMarianna, Florida
8 cases
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of FloridaGainesville, Florida
8 cases
Florida State PrisonRaiford, Florida
8 cases
Raiford PenitentiaryRaiford, Florida
7 cases
Palm Beach County JailWest Palm Beach, Florida
7 cases
Miami FDCMiami, Florida
4 cases
Polk County JailBartow, Florida
4 cases
Fort TaylorKey West, Florida
4 cases