Skip to content
Learn More → State by State

Massachusetts

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 Massachusetts.

343Documented
1In custody
203Released
3Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Massachusetts

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

1930s 103 1920s 40 1800s 32 1970s 30 1980s 27 1910s 27

Documented cases

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

S
Simon Harzigan
Simon Harzigan was a militant member of the Textile Workers Protective Union in Lowell. A rank-and-file corres...
S
Simon Harzigian
Simon Harzigian is individually identified in Page 3, Communist city-engineer candidate and Lawrence Strikers...
F
Francis X. Hennessey
Released
Francis X. Hennessey was a conscientious objector from Massachusetts imprisoned during World War I. Court-mart...
A
Arthur Hetman
Arthur was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike. The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike re...
R
Robert Hillegass
Robert Hillegass served 15 days after a 1986 peace-leafleting protest at Draper Laboratories.
D
Diantha Hoag
Released
Diantha Hoag was an electrical worker cited for contempt of Congress after refusing to answer Senator McCarthy...
J
Jean Holladay
Released
Jean Holladay was a nurse, mother of four, and grandmother from Massachusetts who became one of the most commi...
O
Otis Hood
Released
Otis Archer Hood was the chairman of the Massachusetts Communist Party and the lead figure among the "Bay Stat...
H
Henry Howe
Henry Howe was jailed in Boston after the May 1854 attempt to rescue Anthony Burns from rendition to slavery....
G
Grace Hutchins
Grace Hutchins’s signed retrospective describes her arrest among State House pickets seeking to prevent the ex...
M
Margaret Inness
Released
Margaret Mary Inness (November 6, 1944 – August 22, 2021) was a Boston native, a Regis College graduate, a for...
H
H. J. Canter
H. was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike. The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report...
T
Thomas Jackson
Thomas Jackson was a defendant jailed in Boston after the May 1854 attempt to rescue Anthony Burns from rendit...
J
Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs was among seven anti-fascist demonstrators prosecuted after protesting Nazi propagandist Ernst H...
A
Arvid Johnson
Arvid Johnson was among seven anti-fascist demonstrators prosecuted after protesting Nazi propagandist Ernst H...
N
Nathan Kay
Nathan Kay was individually named with Fred Biedenkapp and Israel Prager among speakers arrested at the Boston...
T
Thomas Keester
Thomas was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike. The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike re...
A
Antoinette F. Konikow
Antoinette F. Konikow was a physician and birth-control lecturer. In her February 1, 1941 Militant article she...
I
Ivan Kracevich
Ivan Kracevich was arrested in Lawrence under federal deportation proceedings, according to the November 17 di...
K
Krasevich
Released
Krasevich, also reported as Kravcevich, was held at the East Boston immigration detention station during the 1...
J
John Kuryla
John was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike. The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike repo...
A
Alphonse Lameiras
Alphonse Lameiras was arrested on a disturbing-the-peace allegation during the Monday picketing described by W...
J
Jean Lanthier
Jean Lanthier was among seven anti-fascist demonstrators prosecuted after protesting Nazi propagandist Ernst H...
E
Etienne Lebrun
Etienne Lebrun was arrested with TUUL organizer Bill Dunne on vagrancy charges November 9 in Lawrence, accordi...

Institutions in Massachusetts

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

Fort WarrenBoston, Massachusetts
75 cases
Norfolk County Jail Dedham, Massachusetts
10 cases
Boston Court House
3 cases
Charlestown State PrisonBoston, Massachusetts
2 cases
Deer Island PrisonBoston, Massachusetts
2 cases
Boston JailBoston, Massachusetts
2 cases
Hampshire County Jail (Northampton)Northampton, Massachusetts
1 case
Salem, MA federal jailSalem, Massachusetts
1 case