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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.
David Webb
Released
David Webb is a police-accountability activist, a self-described instigative journalist and First Amendment au...
Patricia Weiland
Released
Patricia Weiland, known as Paki Wieland, was a Northampton-area peace activist and CODEPINK organizer. She par...
Richard Williams
Released
Richard Williams was associated with the United Freedom Front and the broader U.S. radical underground of the...
Elizur Wright
Released
Elizur Wright was an abolitionist newspaper editor (Boston Chronotype, Commonwealth) and Boston Vigilance Comm...
R
Raymond Demers
Released
Raymond Demers was individually named among six Mustard Seed Catholic Worker House participants arrested for t...
C
Celia Jessa-Ivy
Released
Celia Jessa-Ivy was individually named among six Mustard Seed Catholic Worker House participants arrested for...
S
Suzanne Belote
Suzanne Belote was individually named among three resisters who had recently served seventeen days in jail for...
P
Paul Hood
Paul Hood was individually named among three resisters who had recently served seventeen days in jail for a De...
C
Colin Kerbawy
Colin Kerbawy was arrested with Paul Hood and John Travers at Draper Laboratories December 28, 1983 and initia...
J
Joseph Costa
Joseph Costa was a young New Bedford textile striker. A September 14 dispatch reports him arrested again on a...
C
Casmiero Lamieras
Casmiero Lamieras was among the New Bedford textile pickets arrested and taken to jail after police broke thei...
J
John Cordiera
John Cordiera was among the New Bedford textile pickets arrested and taken to jail after police broke their Pa...
J
John Pazkus
John Pazkus is named in contemporary reporting of political protest or labor-organizing-related arrest or conf...
S
Saraduk
Saraduk was arrested during the Lawrence textile strike in November 1931.
The November 10 report describes ac...
D
Davies
Davies, whose given name is not supplied, was reported held for deportation in Boston in an account by a Briti...
C
Coe
Coe, identified as the Boston port delegate of the Marine Workers Industrial Union, was arrested Sunday, July...
J
Joseph A. Grasso
Joseph was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike.
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike re...
A
Abijah Adams
Released
Abijah Adams was the brother of Thomas Adams, editor of Boston's Independent Chronicle, and worked at the news...
M
Michael Akins
Michael Akins was a Boston Black Panther arrested at Guido’s Pizza in Boston on January 21, 1969 and booked at...
B
Blanche Almeda
Blanche Almeda was individually named among four Potomska Mill pickets arrested in New Bedford on the morning...
M
Marion Alston
Released
Marion Alston was a Boston mother arrested on July 20, 1969 after protesting officers' treatment of people lis...
G
Giuseppe Amari
Giuseppe Amari of East Boston was an anarchist activist repeatedly arrested and prosecuted during the Sacco an...
S
Samuel Bakely
Samuel was a worker arrested during the 1931 Lawrence textile strike.
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike re...
S
Sara Barr
Sara Barr was among seven anti-fascist demonstrators prosecuted after protesting Nazi propagandist Ernst Hanfs...
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