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Illinois

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 Illinois.

716Documented
5In custody
402Released

Eras of repression in Illinois

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

1920s 169 1930s 134 1960s 70 1910s 69 2020s 63 1970s 60

Documented cases

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

O
O. H. McCarver
O. H. McCarver was already under arrest at the Tamaroa railroad station when Walter S. Hawkes encountered him,...
L
Leonides McDonald
Leonides McDonald is named in the June22 Chicago report among arrested Vincennes Hotel anti-segregation protes...
M
McSweeney
McSweeney is named in the June22 Chicago report among arrested Vincennes Hotel anti-segregation protesters who...
J
James Miller
Released
James was a New Afrikan political prisoner held at the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, listed as a Nort...
J
Jennie Miller
Released
Jennie Miller was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ U...
W
William C. Miller
Released
William C. Miller was a Mennonite conscientious objector from Illinois imprisoned during World War I. Court-ma...
E
Eddie Moleski
Eddie Moleski, also printed Meliski in the July 26, 1928 Daily Worker, was a Zeigler labor prisoner reported a...
E
Esther Monarch
Esther Monarch was individually named as arrested for contempt during the Chicago garment-strike proceedings r...
S
Sarah Mondello
Sarah Mondello was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Compa...
G
Grady Moore
Grady “Slim” Moore was reported held in Cook County Jail on one attempted-murder count after the confrontation...
E
Edward Moran Jr.
Released
Edward Moran Jr. was a young Black man from Chicago's South Side and a member of De Mau Mau, an organization f...
B
Buckner S. Morris
Buckner S. Morris was a former Illinois judge and Chicago lawyer confined at Camp Douglas, according to Marsha...
A
Ann Morton
Released
Ann Morton was a coal miner's daughter and an Unemployed Councils organizer in Springfield, Illinois. On April...
J
Jeremy Mott
Released
Jeremy Mott was a Quaker who resisted the Vietnam-era draft. After leaving alternative service, he was impriso...
C
Charles Motter
Charles Motter was still in jail after his case was dismissed in January 1920, according to the Chicago IWW co...
L
Lena Movich
Released
Lena Movich was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Uni...
J
John Munch
Released
John Munch was listed among the class-war prisoners on the International Labor Defense's 1930 Winter Relief ro...
C
Charles Muse
Released
Charles “Charlie” Muse was a draft resister who served a federal prison term at Allenwood and was released in...
J
John Myles
Released
John Myles was one of the Stateville Four, indicted in April 1977 for aggravated battery following the January...
O
Otto Nelson
Otto Nelson was a member of the Unemployed Council in Chicago. A March 16 dispatch printed in the March 23, 19...
A
Andrew Newhoff
Andrew Newhoff was a worker named among six people arrested when armed county officials and anti-union forces...
H
H. W. Newland
Released
H. W. Newland was arrested on August 19, 1862. Marshall identifies Newland as a farmer near Benton, Franklin...
J
Jane Newton
Released
Jane Newton was the white wife of Black labor and civil-rights organizer Herbert Newton in Chicago. The Daily...
J
Joe Novak
Joe Novak was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Company in...

Institutions in Illinois

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

Cook County JailChicago, Illinois
57 cases
Chicago police lockupChicago, Illinois
9 cases
MCC ChicagoChicago , Illinois
8 cases
Woodstock Jail (McHenry County)
7 cases
Southern Illinois Penitentiary, ChesterChester, Illinois
6 cases
FCI Pekin Satellite CampPekin, Illinois
5 cases
USP MarionMarion, Illinois
5 cases
FCI PekinPekin, Illinois
4 cases