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Kentucky

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 Kentucky.

225Documented
2In custody
148Released

Eras of repression in Kentucky

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

1930s 138 1970s 21 1960s 19 1950s 9 1800s 9 1980s 8

Documented cases

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

W
W. M. Bracket
W. M. Bracket was individually named among miners actually confined in Harlan jail in a June 10, 1931 letter p...
W
Will Bradbury
Released
Will Bradbury was listed among imprisoned draft and conscientious resisters in contemporary CCCO reports from...
C
Charles Bradley
Charles Bradley is individually named among miners arrested on the night of May 20, 1931 on murder indictments...
D
Daniel Bromley
Released
Daniel Bromley appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft an...
D
Dan Brustein
Released
Dan Brustein was listed among imprisoned draft and conscientious resisters in contemporary CCCO reports from 1...
W
W. M. Burnett
Released
W. M. Burnett was an Evarts miner jailed in the Harlan roundup after the 5 May 1931 Battle of Evarts, one of t...
W
Willie Burnett
Released
Willie was a Black Kentucky man convicted in 1974 and sentenced to life without parole for the rape of a white...
S
S. S. Burton
S. S. Burton was one of eight NMU miners arrested at Arjay Saturday, June 25, 1932 under an old federal injunc...
W
Walter Camp
Released
Walter Camp was a Gulston miner jailed in the Harlan roundup after the 5 May 1931 Battle of Evarts, one of the...
J
Joe Cawood
Joe Cawood was a Harlan County landowner and candidate for sheriff against John Henry Blair in 1929. The Augus...
C
C. O. Chamblee
Released
C. O. Chamblee was an Evarts-area miner jailed in the Harlan roundup after the 5 May 1931 Battle of Evarts, on...
H
Harry Chandler
Released
Harry Chandler was a young National Miners' Union organizer, jailed in the 4 January 1932 raid on the National...
C
Chester Clause
Chester Clause appears on the September 1934 ILD roster of Kentucky miners imprisoned after the Harlan labor s...
C
Clarke Clouse
Clarke Clouse, described as a leading striker, was jailed by Sheriff Broughton on a charge of banding and conf...
G
Gail Cohee
Released
Gail Cohee was a member of the Lexington, Kentucky lesbian-feminist and gay-liberation collective subpoenaed i...
G
Giles Cooper
Released
Giles Cooper was jailed for 30 hours for contempt in Lexington, Kentucky for refusing to testify against the B...
C
Charles Croix
Released
Charles Croix authored the first-person account The Students Invade Kentucky and led the second student bus. T...
E
Eleanor Curtis
Released
Eleanor Curtis was a student who refused to answer further questions after Hall challenged the legality of the...
R
Roscoe Dameron
Released
Roscoe Dameron was a Harlan miner held awaiting trial after the 5 May 1931 Battle of Evarts, one of the more t...
P
Pauline Daum
Released
Pauline Daum was a student mocked by County Attorney Walter B. Smith during the questioning. Charles Croix’s f...
G
Greg Dawson
Released
Greg Dawson was a Marine and University of Louisville mathematics student imprisoned at Camp Lejeune for resis...
R
Robert Dean
Robert Dean was a local National Miners’ Union leader detained in Harlan, Kentucky, on a criminal-syndicalism...
J
John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos was named among those indicted for criminal syndicalism after the November 1931 Dreiser commit...
B
Bill Duncan
Released
William Duncan, also known as Bill Duncan, was a Harlan County coal miner and National Miners Union organizer....

Institutions in Kentucky

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

Harlan County JailHarlan, Kentucky
18 cases
Ashland FCIDedham, Kentucky
13 cases
Bell County JailPineville, Kentucky
13 cases
FCI LexingtonLexington, Kentucky
5 cases
Federal Correctional Institution, AshlandAshland, Kentucky
5 cases
FCI AshlandAshland, Kentucky
3 cases
Federal Medical Center, Lexington (women's)Lexington, Kentucky
2 cases
FPC LexingtonLexington, Kentucky
2 cases