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North Dakota

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 North Dakota.

25Documented
2In custody
23Released

Eras of repression in North Dakota

Where North Dakota’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

2020s 7 2010s 6 1930s 6 1910s 4 1980s 1 1970s 1

Documented cases

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

Cameron Monte Smith
In Custody
Cameron Monte Smith, a Canadian national in the U.S. illegally, age 49, fired shots into the Wheelock Substati...
Yorie von Kahl
In Custody
Yorie von Kahl is the son of Gordon Wendell Kahl and, like his father, was associated with the Posse Comitatus...
Michael Foster
Released
Michael Foster is a environmental activist and valve-turner who was convicted of felony conspiracy to commit c...
Frank Geizler
Released
Frank Geizler was an Austrian member of the Industrial Workers of the World. He was held at Grand Forks, North...
Chase Iron Eyes
Released
Chase A. Iron Eyes, 39, was charged February 1, 2017 with felony inciting a riot and misdemeanor criminal tres...
Gordon Wendell Kahl
Released
Gordon Wendell Kahl was a North Dakota farmer, World War II veteran, and tax protester associated with the Pos...
Steve Martinez
Released
Steve Martinez is an activist who refused to testify before a secret federal grand jury seeking to charge orga...
Jonathan Montanez
Released
Jonathan Montanez was charged by grand jury indictment with one count of civil disorder for knowingly committi...
Arthur C. Townley
Released
Arthur C. Townley was the founder of the Nonpartisan League, the agrarian political movement that swept North...
C
Carl Christofferson
Released
Carl Christofferson was one of the Westby, North Dakota / Plentywood, Montana farmers of the United Farmers' L...
E
Elmer Dodin
Released
Elmer Dodin was one of the Westby, North Dakota / Plentywood, Montana farmers of the United Farmers' League ar...
C
Chelsie Leann Eggers
Released
Chelsie Eggers, 27, of Fargo, ND was charged with arming rioters, attempting to commit assault, rioting, and d...
E
Ed Ferguson
Released
Ed Ferguson was one of the Westby, North Dakota / Plentywood, Montana farmers of the United Farmers' League ar...
C
Claus Gunderson
Released
Claus Gunderson was a North Dakota man prosecuted in federal court in 1918, during the wave of Espionage Act c...
A
Abdimanan Bana Habib
Released
Abdimanan Bana Habib, 21, of Fargo ND, threw rocks at police and attempted to light a Molotov cocktail during...
S
Simon Habonimana
Released
Simon Habonimana, 22, was charged in Fargo, ND with arming rioters, attempting to commit assault, rioting, and...
A
Alfred Hjelm
Released
Alfred Hjelm was one of the Westby, North Dakota / Plentywood, Montana farmers of the United Farmers' League a...
S
Sam Jessup
Released
Co-defendant and videographer in the North Dakota Valve Turner case alongside Michael Foster, who shut off the...
B
Brandon Aaron Miller-Castillo
Released
Brandon Aaron Miller-Castillo, age 22, was one of five Standing Rock NoDAPL Water Protectors federally charged...
B
Brennon J. Nastacio
Released
Brennon J. Nastacio (Bravo One), age 36, was one of five Standing Rock NoDAPL Water Protectors federally charg...
T
Thorvald Nielsen
Released
Thorvald Nielsen, brother of Victor, was held five days in a Minot cell — one of the Westby, North Dakota / Pl...
V
Victor Nielsen
Released
Victor Nielsen was seized by a U.S. Marshal and was one of the Westby, North Dakota / Plentywood, Montana farm...
T
Thomas Alexander Starks
Released
Thomas Alexander Starks, age 30, of Lisbon ND, used an axe to smash the entrance window of a Republican U.S. S...
E
Errick Steven Toa
Released
Errick Steven Toa, 33, jumped on top of an occupied police car and broke its windshield during the May 30, 202...

Institutions in North Dakota

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

Morton County District CourtMandan, North Dakota
1 case
Cass County JailFargo, North Dakota
1 case
North Dakota state prisonFargo, North Dakota
1 case
U.S. District Court, District of North DakotaFargo, North Dakota
1 case
North Dakota state prison (Cass County)Fargo, North Dakota
1 case