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Minnesota

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 Minnesota.

278Documented
7In custody
215Released
15Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Minnesota

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

1910s 52 2020s 50 1940s 44 1930s 33 1970s 25 2010s 19

Documented cases

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

Samuel Frey
Released
Samuel Frey was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit arson in St. Paul. Conspira...
George Frosig
Released
George Frosig was vice president of Minneapolis Local 544-CIO. He was prosecuted alongside union officers, ran...
Max Geldman
Released
Max Geldman was a Polish-Jewish-born Trotskyist organizer of WPA workers in Minneapolis. Born in Warsaw and br...
Luce Guillen-Givins
Released
Luce Guillen-Givins was one of the RNC 8. All charges dropped.
Clarence Hamel
Released
Clarence Hamel was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) or Minneapolis Teamsters Local 544 prosecuted...
Henry Hammer
Released
Henry Hammer was a teamster from Osseu, Minnesota. Henry Hammer was convicted at the mass IWW trial in Sacrame...
Emil Hansen
Released
Emil Hansen was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) or Minneapolis Teamsters Local 544 prosecuted in...
Robert Harden
Released
Robert Harden was an IWW member from Duluth, Minnesota. Robert Harden was convicted of threatening the life of...
Aditya Wahyu Harsono
Released
Aditya Wahyu Harsono is an Indonesian citizen, recent Southwest Minnesota State University graduate, and suppl...
Stanley Hill
Stanley Hill was a Black man from St. Paul, Minnesota, whose rape conviction became the subject of a defense c...
Kristin Holm
Released
Kristin Holm — SOA Watch line-crosser at Fort Benning, Georgia. Convicted of trespass on a military installati...
Carlos Hudson
Released
Carlos Hudson was the Secretary of the Minneapolis branch of the Socialist Workers Party; editor of "544 Weekl...
Shador Tommie Cortez Jackson
Released
Shador Tommie Cortez Jackson was federally prosecuted for breaking into Target Corporation’s Minneapolis headq...
Paul Ervin Johnson
Released
Paul Ervin Johnson was a Minneapolis contractor who documented and protested federal immigration operations du...
Emily Johnston
Released
Emily Nesbitt Johnston is a Seattle poet, writer and climate activist. On October 11, 2016, she and fellow Val...
Ben Joldersma
Released
Ben Joldersma was arrested on October 11, 2016. Ben is a climate activist who served as a support person for...
Jon Jost
Released
Jon Jost is an independent filmmaker who was imprisoned for refusing military service during the Vietnam era.
Linwood Kaine
Released
Linwood Kaine was arrested on March 4, 2017. Obstructing legal process at March 2017 St. Paul counter-protest...
Barbara Katt
Released
Barbara Katt was a painter and peace activist in Bemidji, Minnesota who on August 10, 1984 walked into the Spe...
Justin Keezer
Released
Justin was an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) water protector charged with criminal trespass for the June 2021 Fire Light...
Cameron Kennedy
Awaiting Trial
Cameron Kennedy is one of the Minnesota 15, a group federally indicted in June 2026 over organizing and demons...
Mark Kenney
Released
Mark Kenney, an Omaha Catholic Worker and former Navy sailor, served separate federal prison terms for nonviol...
Abdul Maumin Khabir
Released
Abdul Maumin Khabir is a falsely accused political prisoner, sentenced to life under RICO laws. He was indicte...
Kevin Kjonaas
Released
Kevin Kjonaas is an animal rights activist imprisoned as part of the SHAC 7, animal rights activists of the or...

Institutions in Minnesota

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

FCI SandstoneSandstone, Minnesota
21 cases
FCI WasecaWaseca, Minnesota
9 cases
Ramsey County District CourtSt. Paul, Minnesota
7 cases
U.S. District Court, District of MinnesotaMinneapolis, Minnesota
5 cases
White Earth Tribal Court
3 cases
Ramsey County JailSt. Paul, Minnesota
2 cases
Hennepin County JailMinneapolis, Minnesota
1 case
FPC DuluthDuluth, Minnesota
1 case