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New York

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 New York.

2,077Documented
25In custody
1,084Released
7Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in New York

Where New York’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1930s 715 1940s 176 1970s 173 1910s 169 1920s 165 1950s 161

Documented cases

2,077 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

Carlo Tresca
Released
Carlo Tresca was an Italian-American anarchist, syndicalist, orator, and newspaper editor who became one of th...
Henry Trigos-Celon
Released
Henry Trigos-Celon, ELN member; detained in September 2020. Pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to the ELN co...
Sojourner Truth
Released
Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree. Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist and women's r...
Jerry Tung
Released
Jerry F. Tung was jailed for the March 1969 Stony Brook University library protest against university war rese...
John Turner
Released
John Turner was a British anarcho-syndicalist and trade union organizer who became the first person prosecuted...
George Tyne
Released
George Tyne, a New York actor, was cited for contempt of Congress in 1956 after refusing to tell the House Un-...
William E. Van Amburgh
Released
William E. Van Amburgh was secretary-treasurer of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and one of eight Wat...
Harry Van Arsdale Jr.
Released
Harry Van Arsdale Jr. was business manager of New York City electrical workers’ Local 3. He was arrested after...
Peter Van Schaack
Released
Peter Van Schaack was a distinguished New York lawyer who, though sympathetic to many American grievances, cou...
Angel Luis Arzola Velez
Released
Angel Luis Arzola Velez was a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party prosecuted in the second federal ma...
Julio Veras
Released
Julio Veras was arrested in 1981. Dominican revolutionary and supporter of Puerto Rican independence, also kn...
George Sylvester Viereck
Released
George Sylvester Viereck was a German-born poet, journalist, and propagandist who worked on behalf of Nazi Ger...
Ioannis Viglakis
Released
Ioannis Viglakis (Pablo), a Greek arms dealer age 52, was arrested in Panama for attempting to sell rocket-pro...
Cristian Vintila
Released
Cristian Vintila, a former high-ranking government minister in Romania, conspired with Italian ex-MP Massimo R...
John Walsh
Released
John Walsh was an RVW leader in the early years of the movement from New York, New York. John Walsh was convic...
Meng Wanzhou
Released
Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer and deputy chair of the board of Chinese tech giant Huawei, was impr...
Roger Wareham
Released
Roger was a civil rights attorney and December 12th Movement co-founder, charged as a New York 8+ defendant in...
Albert "Nuh" Washington
Released
Albert "Nuh" Washington was a New Afrikan Black Liberation Army prisoner of war, born in New York City. A Blac...
Oscar Washington
Released
Oscar Washington was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. He was arrested on Feb...
Robert Webb
Released
Robert Webb was a Field Marshal of the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party and one of the original Pan...
Abraham Weidinger
Released
Abraham Weidinger was an International Ladies Garment Workers Union cloakmakers’ union member detained in the...
Sam Weinstein
Released
Sam Weinstein was a decorated World War I veteran and leader of the 1932 Muskin Manufacturing Company furnitur...
Louis Weinstock
Released
Louis Weinstock was a Brooklyn house-painter, longtime organizer for the painters union, and treasurer of the...
William Weinstone
Released
William Weinstone was a writer, labor organizer, editor, and founding member of the Communist Party USA. He or...

Institutions in New York

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

Ellis Island Immigration StationNew York, New York
215 cases
Fort LafayetteNew York, New York
201 cases
Manhattan House of Detention (the Tombs)New York, New York
21 cases
Attica Correctional FacilityAttica, New York
20 cases
Sing Sing Correctional FacilityOssining, New York
15 cases
Ellis IslandNew York, New York
15 cases
Metropolitan Correctional Center, New YorkNew York, New York
13 cases
Metropolitan Correctional CenterNew York, New York
10 cases