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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.

F
Frank E. Biltonen
Frank was named Industrialisti-related defendant in the Duluth criminal-syndicalism prosecution. The June 1920...
J
James Rolf Bjerkan
Released
James Rolf Bjerkan was a conscientious objector imprisoned for refusing induction during the Vietnam War. He b...
S
Stanley S. Brandberg
Released
Stanley S. Brandberg was a conscientious objector from Minnesota imprisoned during World War I. Court-martiale...
G
G. D. Brewer
Released
G. D. Brewer was listed in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecutions...
B
Brotman
Brotman is named in the May 8, 1934 Minneapolis report among defendants sentenced for the April 6 CWA relief d...
A
Axel W. Carlson
Released
Axel W. Carlson was a conscientious objector from Minnesota imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for...
R
Richard A. Carlson
Released
Richard A. Carlson was a conscientious objector from Minnesota imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed...
R
Robert Cohen
Robert Cohen was among the St. Paul draft resisters transferred to Fort Snelling after their civilian jail sen...
R
Richard Connell
Released
Richard Connell was a Minneapolis WPA striker imprisoned following the 1939 strike against changes to federal...
C
Charles Connors
Released
Charles Connors was a Minneapolis WPA striker imprisoned following the 1939 strike against changes to federal...
R
Ralph Core
Released
Ralph Core was a Minneapolis WPA striker imprisoned following the 1939 strike against changes to federal work-...
E
E.H. Daniels
Released
E.H. Daniels was a conscientious objector from Minnesota imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for re...
S
S. E. Davis
Released
S. E. Davis was a Minneapolis unemployed-relief protester arrested during a September 1935 demonstration at Ci...
S
S. K. Davis
Released
S. K. Davis was sentenced to 50 days in a 1934 Minneapolis relief demonstration case. The April 20, 1934 Dail...
S
Sam K. Davis
Sam K. Davis was arrested on September 13, 1935 after addressing Minneapolis City Hall on behalf of unemployed...
M
Mike DeBartolo
Released
Mike DeBartolo was listed among imprisoned draft and conscientious resisters in contemporary CCCO reports from...
M
Matthew DePalma
Released
Matthew DePalma was arrested on August 28, 2008. Anarchist convicted of illegally possessing Molotov cocktail...
J
Jesse Dunning
Released
Jesse Dunning was a member of the IWW from Bemidji, Minnesota. Jesse Dunning was arrested for possessing IWW l...
F
Frank Ellis
Released
Frank Ellis organized Austin meatpacking workers. The Militant’s retrospective describes his prosecution as an...
E
E. A. Engelin
Released
E. A. Engelin was from Minneapolis, Minnesota. E. A. Engelin began serving a five-year prison sentence on May...
F
Frank Enoch Carlson
Frank Enoch Carlson was among the St. Paul draft resisters transferred to Fort Snelling after their civilian j...
S
Steven Evans
Released
Steven Evans was listed among imprisoned draft and conscientious resisters in contemporary CCCO reports from 1...
E
E. B. Ford
E. B. Ford was a Minnesota socialist newspaper publisher and former Communist candidate for Congress in the st...
E
Elizabeth Ford
Released
Elizabeth Ford was a Socialist Labor Party editor in Faribault, Minnesota who was convicted under the Espionag...

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