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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
Recent dashboard entries from Massachusetts
The newest published events and reporting located in Massachusetts, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Prosecution
Judge accused of enabling immigrant to escape ICE gets a rare public reprimand
Arrest
Five arrested during climate protest that blocked traffic in Copley Square
Arrest
Climate protestors block rush hour traffic in downtown Boston
Protest
Protesters demand Charles River Laboratories end beagle testing at its downtown Worcester lab
Arrest
Two arrested plastering anti-ICE posters on a Citizens Bank branch in Boston, part of a campaign over its financing of ICE detention operators
Protest
11 arrested in civil disobedience at Burlington ICE facility
Protest
11 arrested after protesting outside Burlington ICE facility
Protest
Eleven activists arrested trying to deliver care packages to detainees at the Burlington ICE facility
Documented cases
343 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
P
Philip C. Nies
Released
Philip C. Nies was a Weatherman activist involved in the 1969 Boston English High School confrontation during...
L
Laura Nunes
Laura Nunes was individually named among four Potomska Mill pickets arrested in New Bedford on the morning of...
M
Michael O'Connor
Released
Michael O'Connor appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’1969 current-prisoner lists of d...
P
Patrick O'Dea
Released
Patrick O'Dea was a Massachusetts Communist Party leader jailed in 1940 on contempt-of-Congress charges arisin...
P
Paul A. Oehme
Released
Paul A. Oehme was a conscientious objector from Massachusetts imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed f...
H
Henry A. Olson
Released
Henry A. Olson was a Weatherman activist involved in the 1969 Boston English High School confrontation during...
M
Mines Pappas
Mines was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike.
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike rep...
J
Jason Parmenter
Released
Jason Parmenter was one of the leaders of Shays Rebellion in Massachusetts. He was convicted of high treason o...
E
Eli Parsons
Released
Eli Parsons was a Revolutionary War veteran from Adams, Massachusetts, and Shays' Rebellion co-commander. He l...
F
Fred Pelegrino
Fred was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike.
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike repo...
J
John Pezycek
John was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike.
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike repo...
A
Allen Kellogg Philbrick
Released
Allen Kellogg Philbrick was a Harvard junior and secretary of the National Students League. Police arrested hi...
W
Walter Phoenix
Released
Walter Phoenix was a Black defendant jailed after the May 26, 1854 attempt to rescue Anthony Burns in Boston....
F
Frank Pikor
Frank was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike.
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike rep...
A
August Pinto
August Pinto was reported held for deportation because of labor activity in the July 4 account of Boston ILD d...
R
Ruben Pizer
Ruben was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike.
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike rep...
S
Sandi Polaski
Sandi Polaski is identified in the March11,1977 WorkersVanguard report as a strike leader in the Cambion-Therm...
S
Samuel L. Popkin
Samuel L. Popkin was a political scientist jailed for civil contempt after declining some grand-jury questions...
S
Simon Poresky
Released
Simon Poresky was a conscientious objector from Massachusetts imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed f...
M
Mary Lucy Pottier
Released
Mary Lucy Pottier was a Boston suffrage demonstrator. Updated Boston custody chronology: arrested and incarcer...
I
Israel Prager
Released
Israel Prager was arrested as a speaker when Boston police broke up a 1930 Sacco–Vanzetti memorial demonstrati...
A
Alfred Predette
Alfred was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike.
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike re...
G
Giacomo Quattrone
Released
Giacomo Quattrone of Boston was a foreign-born radical arrested for deportation under the McCarran-Walter Act...
D
David A. Reed
Released
David A. Reed was a Harvard student who served a jail term after the March 1966 CNVA protest at Boston Army Ba...
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