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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.

G
Gerald Simms
Released
Gerald Simms was identified in contemporary rosters of prisoners confined for conscientious or antiwar resista...
J
John Smith
John Smith was the Black vice president and checkweighman of the Cornett-Lewis union local at Louellen, Kentuc...
P
Paul Smith
Paul Smith was a United Mine Workers Local 2496 activist. Workers Vanguard reported him jailed without bail in...
R
Robert Smith
Robert Smith of Kitts, Kentucky, was individually listed among men actually confined in Harlan jail in a June...
V
V. Smith
V. was arrested in a National Miners Union office raid and held on criminal-syndicalism charges. The March ch...
F
Frank Stanley
Released
Frank Stanley was a Louisville integration leader (an assistant to the publisher of the Louisville Defender) j...
R
Richard H. Stanton
Released
Richard H. Stanton of Maysville, Kentucky was arrested on October 2, 1861 by order of General William Nelson,...
E
Edward Stevenson
Released
Edward Stevenson was a minister in Russellville, Kentucky. On June 30, 1862, federal authorities arrested him...
R
Roy Storms
Roy Storms was one of eight NMU miners arrested at Arjay Saturday, June 25, 1932 under an old federal injuncti...
M
Mac Sumner
Mac Sumner was an active National Miners Union member reported abducted from his home on December 3, 1931 by t...
C
Chip Tallon
Released
Chip Tallon was listed among imprisoned draft and conscientious resisters in contemporary CCCO reports from 19...
A
Allan Taub
Allan Taub was arrested on an obstructing-justice charge on January 6, 1932, according to the contemporary chr...
T
Thomas J. Taylor
Released
Thomas J. Taylor was a Pentecostal conscientious objector from Kentucky imprisoned during World War I. Court-m...
P
Pless Thomas
Released
Pless Thomas was a Harlan County, Kentucky coal miner prosecuted after the May 5, 1931 Battle of Evarts. He wa...
H
Harry Thornton
Harry Thornton is identified in Portelli as a Black Harlan miner jailed for drunkenness after attending Nation...
H
Hannah Toliver
Released
Hannah Toliver was a free Black woman arrested in 1864 for violating Kentucky's law against "enticing a slave,...
K
Kevin Towle
Released
Kevin Towle was a Vietnam-era draft resister associated with Monadnock Meeting. He was imprisoned for refusing...
B
Bill Turpin
Released
Bill Turpin was a union miner prosecuted for first-degree murder after the May5,1931 Battle of Evarts in Harla...
L
Lee Valentine
Lee Valentine was one of eight NMU miners arrested at Arjay Saturday, June 25, 1932 under an old federal injun...
G
G. Vaughan
G. Vaughan appears among the Kentucky miners on the September 1934 ILD prisoner roster. It places him at Kentu...
A
Andy Vaughn
Released
Andy Vaughn was an Evarts miner jailed in the Harlan roundup after the 5 May 1931 Battle of Evarts, one of the...
J
Jessie Wakefield
Released
Jessie London Wakefield was an International Labor Defense field representative who organized legal defense an...
A
Adelaide Walker
Adelaide Walker was named among those indicted for criminal syndicalism after the November 1931 Dreiser commit...
C
Charles M. Walker
Released
Charles M. Walker was a Jehovah's Witnesses conscientious objector from Kentucky imprisoned during World War I...

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