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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.

C
Clifford Turner
Released
Clifford Turner appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft a...
R
Rose Unafirio
Released
Rose Unafirio was individually reported released from Cook County Jail after serving her garment-strike senten...
G
George A. Vassilatos
Released
George A. Vassilatos, indicted May 16, 2024 with felony Mob Action and misdemeanor obstructing for the UIUC Ga...
J
Jessie Ward
Released
Jessie Ward worked in the Illinois Black Panther Party’s education cadre. Arrested in the June 4, 1969 FBI rai...
F
Frank Washington
Frank Washington is named as arrested on October 15, 1970, over a fight at a Black-owned business on October 1...
G
Georgia Washington
Georgia Washington was a Chicago Black Panther Party secretary and distribution worker taken into custody in t...
S
Stanley Wassel
Stanley Wassel was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Compa...
J
John T. Watkins
Released
John T. Watkins was a United Auto Workers organizer who acknowledged his own past cooperation with the Communi...
T
Terry Watson
Released
Terry Watson was a twenty-year-old Chicago Panther arrested after a police stop on June 8, 1969. He was among...
W
Webb
Released
Captain Webb, identified only by surname as a member of the Bonus Expeditionary Force, was arrested by state m...
A
August Weissenfels
Released
August Weissenfels was from Chicago, Illinois. August Weissenfels began serving a prison sentence on November...
M
Margaret Welch
Margaret Welch was a Chicago garment striker named on the four-woman committee appealing for support on March...
B
Ben Wener
Ben Wener was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Company in...
J
Joseph C. Wexler
Joseph C. Wexler was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Com...
J
John Wheeler
John Wheeler was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Company...
J
James White
James White was a Chicago Black Panther Party section leader jailed from April 28, 1969 because he could not r...
L
Larry White
Larry White was a Chicago Black Panther arrested after the July 31, 1969 police siege of the party’s West Madi...
M
Michael White
Michael White is identified in the newspaper as arrested with Merrill Harvey in the April 11, 1969 Chicago fir...
T
Thomas Whitehead
Thomas Whitehead is named as Thomas Whitehead in the May 1920 Chicago conspiracy roster among defendants indic...
H
Herman Whitfield
Herman Whitfield was arrested in June 1970 on a deadly-weapon charge concerning a bracelet with metal ornament...
C
Caroline Wiglowski
Released
Caroline Wiglowski was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Worke...
L
Lashawn L. Wilks
Released
Lashawn L. Wilks, 31, of Centralia, IL was charged by federal complaint with unlawful possession of a firearm...
B
Bob Williams
Bob Williams is named as arrested on October 15, 1970, over a fight at a Black-owned business on October 13. T...
J
James M. Williams
James M. Williams was arrested on September 1, 1862. Marshall identifies Williams as a resident of Spring Gar...

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