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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.
840Documented
10In custody
552Released
3Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in Pennsylvania
Where Pennsylvania’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1930s 260
1700s 79
1910s 76
1920s 73
1960s 69
1800s 61
Recent dashboard entries from Pennsylvania
The newest published events and reporting located in Pennsylvania, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Protest
About 100 protesters rally at Philadelphia City Hall for a data-center moratorium
Arrest
Five protesters arrested for failure to disperse after an attempted flag burning at Philadelphia's July Fourth celebrations
Arrest
Former Pennsylvania state representative Todd Eachus arrested after removal from an Amazon data-center hearing
Prosecution
Former Delco woman tied to the Zizians extremist group charged with her parents' murder
Prosecution
Expelled Pitt student in limbo ahead of Gaza encampment trial
Prosecution
Swarthmore 9 protesters urge Delco DA to drop trespassing case tied to pro-Palestinian encampment
Other
Police tracked anti-data-center speech as extremism
Protest
Southwest Philadelphia residents rally to save 925 affordable-housing units
Documented cases
840 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
Christopher Columbus Jones
Released
Christopher Columbus Jones was a Philadelphia carpenter and Greenback-Labor activist who led the small Philade...
Robert Joyner
Robert Joyner was a member of the Philadelphia Black liberation group known as the Revolutionaries and one of...
Norman Edgar Lowry Jr.
Released
Norman Edgar Lowry Jr. is a Pennsylvania peace activist and former urban-ministry chaplain who repeatedly prot...
Josephine Kaczor
Released
Josephine Kaczor was a labor organizer and Brookwood Labor College graduate involved in the 1929–1930 hosiery...
William Kantor
Released
William Kantor was drafted in 1917 and imprisoned as a conscientious objector at Fort Leavenworth and Alcatraz...
John Kehoe
Released
John Kehoe was a Girardville tavern-keeper and county delegate of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. John Kehoe...
Edward J. Kelly
Released
Edward J. Kelly was convicted of the September 3, 1875 murder of mine superintendent John P. Jones and hanged...
Robert Klonsky
Released
Robert Klonsky was a Communist Party organizer and union figure who served as organizational secretary for the...
Steve Kurepa
Released
Steve Kurepa was secretary of a United Mine Workers local at Harwick, Pennsylvania. He attended a Sacco-Vanzet...
Sherman Labovitz
Released
Sherman Labovitz was a Communist Party defendant indicted and arrested in Philadelphia in 1953 under the Smith...
George Lakey
Released
George Lakey is a Quaker activist, writer and educator in nonviolent action. During the 1963 civil-rights camp...
Wayne Paul Lauser
Released
Wayne Paul Lauser was a Quaker conscientious objector who left compulsory hospital service and walked from Cle...
Jack Law
Released
Jack Law was a machinist from Boston, Pennsylvania. Jack Law was convicted at the mass IWW trial in Chicago, s...
Israel Lazar
Released
Israel Lazar, also known as Bill Lawrence and later William Lazar or Bill Lazarre, was a Communist Party organ...
Celeste Legere
Awaiting Trial
Celeste Legere was arrested on October 19, 2024.
Worcester, Massachusetts anarchist arrested October 19, 2024...
Da'Jon Lengyel
Released
Da'Jon Lengyel, and Christopher Alan West damaged and destroyed by fire a Pittsburgh police vehicle and damage...
Elijah Lewis
Released
Elijah Lewis was a Defendant in the federal treason prosecution following the September 11, 1851 Christiana Re...
Spencer Bernard Liberto
Released
Spencer was an activist from Pennsylvania arrested January 18, 2023 during law enforcement raids on the Weelau...
Tito Ligi
Released
Tito Ligi was an Italian anarchist born in Sassoferrato who immigrated to the United States in 1912 and associ...
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, of Pittsburgh, PA was charged with obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder. On Ma...
Elmer Maas
Released
Elmer Maas was a musician, music teacher, and Catholic peace activist who joined the Plowshares Eight at the G...
Matthew Ernest Macar
Released
Matthew was an activist from Pennsylvania arrested January 18, 2023 during law enforcement raids on the Weelau...
Institutions in Pennsylvania
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Pennsylvania that appear in the census’s case files.
Fort MifflinPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
48 cases
Allegheny County WorkhouseBlawnox, Pennsylvania
34 cases
Walnut Street JailPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
20 cases
Philadelphia GaolPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
18 cases
United States Penitentiary, LewisburgLewisburg, Pennsylvania
14 cases
Butler County PrisonButler, Pennsylvania
11 cases
FCI AllenwoodWhite Deer, Pennsylvania
10 cases
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas / SCI Pennsylvania state prisonsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
9 cases