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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

Documented cases

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

Elliot Madison
Released
Elliot “Smokey” Madison is a former social worker and member of the anarchist collective Curious George Brigad...
Luther Manning
Released
Luther Manning was a Lincoln University student arrested in Oxford, Pennsylvania on January 11, 1950 after he...
Hugh McGehan
Released
Hugh McGehan was convicted of the July 6, 1875 murder of Tamaqua policeman Benjamin F. Yost and hanged at Pott...
Gerry McGeough
Released
Gerry McGeough is an Irish republican who was extradited from Germany to the United States to face weapons cha...
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
Cara Mitrano was arrested on October 19, 2024. Worcester, Massachusetts anarchist arrested October 19, 2024 w...
Adam Moleski
Released
Adam Moleski was one of the three progressive Pittston, Pennsylvania anthracite miners framed with Sam Bonita...
Tony Monteiro
Released
Anthony Monteiro is a Philadelphia scholar and organizer whose activism includes the Revolutionary Action Move...
Devin Montgomery
Released
Devin Montgomery was charged in Pittsburgh, PA with malicious damage to property of an organization receiving...
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
Released
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...
Joan Nicholson
Released
Joan Nicholson was arrested on September 6, 1970. At 36 the oldest of the eight Flower City Conspiracy defend...
Tyvarh Nicholson
Released
Tyvarh Nicholson was indicted in Erie on charges of obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and p...
Diop Olugbala
Diop Olugbala was an Uhuru organizer whose arrest was reported by Defenestrator. Defenestrator reported the a...
William Parson
Released
William Parson was a Slovan striker shot in the arm and arrested during the National Miners' Union coal strike...
Kathryn Patterson
Released
Kathryn Patterson was a Franklin & Marshall College student arrested at Lancaster’s September 2020 protest fol...
Ray Peltz
Released
Ray Peltz was the Communist Party section organizer in Chester, Pennsylvania. In January 1930, police arrested...

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