Skip to content
Learn More → State by State

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.

P
P. Weigner
Released
P. Weigner was a food clerk arrested during Brooklyn labor organizing in July 1930. The Daily Worker of July9...
H
Howard L. Weiner
Released
Howard L. Weiner was jailed for the March 1969 Stony Brook University library protest against university war r...
S
Suzanne R. Weiner
Released
Suzanne R. Weiner was jailed for the March 1969 Stony Brook University library protest against university war...
S
Sylvia Weiner
Sylvia Weiner was named among workers facing court proceedings in the grocery-strike report published May 24,...
W
William Weiner
Released
William Weiner was the Communist Party USA’s national treasurer. A federal jury convicted him of using a passp...
P
Peter Weinick
Peter Weinick was among three unemployed relief delegates arrested after visiting Emergency Relief Bureau No....
S
Sam Weinman
Sam was arrested May 24, 1933 at a Brooklyn open-air meeting opposing eviction of a family with six children;...
I
Isidore Weisberg
Isidore Weisberg was an organizer of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union. The June 4, 1930 Daily Worker...
D
David Weiss
David Weiss was a 17-year-old Young Communist League member arrested with his sister Miriam while collecting W...
G
George Weiss
George Weiss was a New York fur worker arrested during the March 1930 conflict around the B. Axel & Co. strike...
J
Joe Weiss
Joe was a fur-strike defendant in the Mineola prosecution whose conviction was under appeal in 1929. The Nove...
M
Max Weiss
Released
Max Weiss was a Communist Party leader, formerly of Chicago, arrested in New York City on September 19, 1955 u...
M
Miriam Weiss
Miriam Weiss was a 15-year-old Young Communist League member arrested with her brother David while collecting...
M
Milton Welch
Milton Welch was a labor activist arrested at an unemployed workers meeting in Yonkers, New York, on February...
N
Norval D. Welch
Released
Norval D. Welch, a National Guardian staff member, was among the people arrested at City Hall Plaza during the...
T
Thomas Welnicki
Released
Thomas Welnicki, of Rockaway Beach NY, made multiple statements to U.S. Capitol Police and Secret Service in 2...
E
Edward Welsh
Edward Welsh was among the Workers Unemployed Union members arrested during the Easter Sunday relief protest o...
F
Fred Welsh
Frederick Welsh was a Black worker described as a militant by the Daily Worker of May 14, 1934. It reports his...
S
Slim Welsh
Slim Welsh was among cafeteria pickets arrested at the Zelgreen Cafeteria, 217 West 34th Street, New York, on...
W
William Wesley
William Wesley (printed alias Shati) is individually named in the March 1973 Attica News roster of Attica upri...
J
Jerome West
Jerome West was a Brooklyn Black Panther arrested with Alfred Cain and Ricardo DeLeon on August16,1969 after l...
S
Sophia West
Released
Sophia West was individually named among women arrested at Seneca Army Depot during August 1984. The report ex...
W
William West
William was a Central Grievance Committee delegate arrested after refusing to leave a relief administrator’s o...
S
Sam Wexler
Sam was a lather arrested for defying an injunction while picketing at 86th Street and Shore Road. The Decemb...

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