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Iowa
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 Iowa.
85Documented
1In custody
59Released
Eras of repression in Iowa
Where Iowa’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1910s 20
1930s 14
1800s 13
1960s 11
1980s 6
2010s 5
Recent dashboard entries from Iowa
The newest published events and reporting located in Iowa, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Arrest
‘I was wearing a sundress’: Cedar Rapids protester speaks out after viral arrest video
Protest
Hundreds rally at Central Park in Mason City for 'No Kings'
Protest
Iowa City Starbucks baristas join a nationwide unfair-labor strike
Protest
No Kings rally fills the Jackson County Courthouse lawn in rural Maquoketa
Protest
Des Moines students walk out over the ICE detention of their superintendent
Arrest
About 15 people charged with unlawful assembly and failure to disperse at Iowa City protests after ICE agents tackled and arrested a local grocery worker, Jorge Gonzalez Ochoa
Protest
Thousands line 8th Avenue for the Cedar Rapids No Kings protest
Documented cases
85 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
Brian Terrell
Released
Brian Terrell is co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and lives at the Strangers and Guests Catho...
S
Steve Sheridan
Steve Sheridan of the Davenport Catholic Worker community in Iowa was individually reported as having actually...
G
Gabe McMahan
Released
Gabe McMahan was arrested while blocking the Iowa Air National Guard Drone Command Center entrance in Des Moin...
T
Ted Baer
Released
Ted Baer was the Communist Party's Sioux City section organizer. In September 1939 police arrested him and two...
H
Hartwell G. Bonner
Hartwell G. Bonner, a 22-year-old Black worker, married Doris Chase in Sioux City, Iowa, on January 8, 1935, w...
K
Kirk Brown
Kirk Brown was arrested during a June 28, 2008 Des Moines anti-torture vigil and held overnight. The Nuclear R...
B
Bob Carson
Released
Bob Carson was Iowa state secretary of the Communist Party. In September 1939 he spoke at a private meeting in...
D
Doris Chase
Doris Chase was jailed in Sioux City, Iowa after marrying Black worker Hartwell G. Bonner on January 8, 1935....
C
Clive Lisbon De Patten
Clive Lisbon De Patten testified before a House subcommittee on October 8, 1970 that he was jailed in Des Moin...
E
Evelyn De Patten
Evelyn De Patten was jailed during the April 13, 1969 Des Moines confrontation following a Black Panther break...
H
Henry Clay Dean
Released
Henry Clay Dean was a Mount Pleasant lawyer and Democratic speaker arrested at Keokuk in May 1863, according t...
L
Laurence Dewees
Released
Laurence Dewees was a Quaker conscientious objector from Iowa imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed f...
W
William Nye Doty
Released
William Nye Doty was from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. William Nye Doty was a conscientious objector imprisoned during...
J
Joseph K. Evans
Released
Joseph K. Evans is identified in Marshall, former sheriff of Madison County, Iowa, among the Iowa civilians ar...
W
William Evans
Released
William Evans is identified in Marshall, a twenty-three-year-old son of Robert A. Evans and nephew of Joseph K...
J
Joseph W. Gideon
Released
Joseph W. Gideon is identified in Marshall, an Iowa farmer, among the Iowa civilians arrested around September...
V
Valentine M. Gideon
Released
Valentine M. Gideon is identified in Marshall, a brother of Joseph W. Gideon, among the Iowa civilians arreste...
S
Steven Green
Steven Green was a Des Moines Black Panther participant, also identified as Stephen Green and later Ako Abdul-...
R
Rudy Holly
Rudy Holly is named in the September 14, 1939 AP dispatch printed in the Daily Iowan September 15, page 6,, ag...
W
Wilbur Howard
Released
Wilbur Howard was one of six men jailed in Sioux City during September 1939 raids on Communist organizers foll...
R
Richard Johnstone
Released
Richard Johnstone was a graduate music student who was drafted into the United States Army in 1970. Four weeks...
C
Calvin Jones Jr.
Calvin Jones Jr. was a 19-year-old Waterloo resident arrested in Black Hawk County on December 27, 1968 in the...
M
Morris Kammen
Morris was a St. Paul Socialist draft resister confined at Camp Dodge in February 1918.
William Douglas ident...
J
James Keith
Released
James Keith is identified in Marshall, an Iowa resident, among the Iowa civilians arrested around September 15...
Institutions in Iowa
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Iowa that appear in the census’s case files.
Camp McClellanDavenport, Iowa
11 cases
Indianola jailIndianola, Iowa
6 cases
Polk County Jail (Iowa)Des Moines, Iowa
3 cases
Iowa Department of Corrections
2 cases
Keokuk military guardhouseKeokuk, Iowa
1 case