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Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania.

425Documented
6In custody
371Released
2Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Pennsylvania

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

1700s 77 1910s 73 1930s 68 2020s 41 1950s 36 1970s 30

Documented cases

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

Spencer Bernard Liberto
Released
Activist from Pennsylvania arrested January 18, 2023 during law enforcement raids on the Weelaunee forest in A...
Jessica Lopez
Released
Jessica Lopez is a Lancaster, Pennsylvania woman convicted by jury of riot and criminal conspiracy for her rol...
Walter Lowenfels
Released
Walter Lowenfels was a poet and journalist whose activism was tightly linked to labor and anti-racist politics...
Nicholas Lucia
Released
Nicholas Lucia, 25, of Pittsburgh, PA was charged with obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder. O...
Elliot Madison
Released
Elliott "Smokey" Madison is a former social worker and a member of The Curious George Brigade (CGB), an anarch...
Luther Manning
Released
Luther Manning was a Lincoln University student arrested in 1950 for refusing segregated theater seating. He a...
Hugh McGehan
Hugh McGehan was convicted of the July 6, 1875 murder of Tamaqua policeman Benjamin F. Yost and hanged at Pott...
Steve Mendola
Released
Steve Mendola was one of the three progressive Pittston, Pennsylvania anthracite miners framed with Sam Bonita...
Frank Minnick
Released
Frank Minnick was a conscientious objector from Pennsylvania imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed fo...
Cara Mitrano
Awaiting Trial
Worcester, Massachusetts anarchist arrested October 19, 2024 with her partner Celeste Legere for allegedly cut...
Adam Moleski
Released
Adam Moleski was one of the three progressive Pittston, Pennsylvania anthracite miners framed with Sam Bonita...
Devin Montgomery
Released
Devin Montgomery, 24, was charged in Pittsburgh, PA with malicious damage to property of an organization recei...
Thomas P. Moran
Released
Thomas P. Moran was a conscientious objector from Pennsylvania imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed...
Richard Morano
Released
Richard Morano is a Pennsylvania activist who traveled to Toronto, Canada to protest the G-20 Summit in June 2...
Frank Moser
Released
Frank Moser was a conscientious objector from Pennsylvania imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for...
Thomas Munley
Thomas Munley was convicted of the September 1, 1875 murders of mine boss Thomas Sanger and miner William Uren...
Pete Muselin
Released
Pete Muselin was a member of the Communist Party from Woodlawn. Muselin, along with codefendants Tom Zima and...
Scott Nearing
Released
Scott Nearing was a radical economist, pacifist, and later a founder of the American back-to-the-land movement...
Steve Nelson
Released
Steve Nelson was one of the most prominent American Communists of the twentieth century. Born Stjepan Mesaroš...
Jamal Newman Jr.
Released
Jamal Newman Jr. is a Lancaster, Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty to riot and related charges, including da...
Tyvarh Nicholson
Released
Tyvarh Nicholson, 29, was indicted in Erie on charges of obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder...
Ray Peltz
Released
Ray Peltz, a Young Communist League organizer at Chester, was arrested in January 1930 for leafleting the unem...
James Pemberton
Released
James Pemberton, a Philadelphia merchant, legislator, and later a founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Societ...
John Pemberton
Released
John Pemberton, a Quaker minister and younger brother of Israel and James Pemberton, was one of the "Virginia...

Institutions in Pennsylvania

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

Allegheny County WorkhouseBlawnox, Pennsylvania
23 cases
Walnut Street JailPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
20 cases
Philadelphia GaolPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
18 cases
Butler County PrisonButler, Pennsylvania
13 cases
United States Penitentiary, LewisburgLewisburg, Pennsylvania
13 cases
FCI AllenwoodWhite Deer, Pennsylvania
12 cases
SCI DallasDallas, Pennsylvania
12 cases
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas / SCI Pennsylvania state prisonsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
9 cases