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Utah

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 Utah.

36Documented
2In custody
32Released

Eras of repression in Utah

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

1990s 13 2020s 8 2000s 5 2010s 3 1910s 3 1800s 3

Documented cases

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

Tyler Robinson
In Custody
Tyler Robinson, 22, of Washington, Utah, is the man accused of fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie...
Tim DeChristopher
Released
Tim DeChristopher was an environmental activist who attempted to bid on disputed parcels of public land during...
Jordan Halliday
Released
Jordan Halliday is a Utah-based animal liberation activist who was imprisoned for civil and criminal contempt...
Joe Hill
Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle, Sweden, was an itinerant laborer, songwriter, and organizer fo...
John Anthony Borell III
Released
John Anthony Borell was an hacktivist with the group Anonymous who in 2012 hacked a number of law enforcement...
Jacob Kenison
Released
Jacob Lymon Kenison was a Utah 'straight edge' animal-rights activist imprisoned for his part in the June 15,...
Jackson Patton
Released
Federal civil disorder; role in burning a Salt Lake City police car (2020). Sentence: 24 months federal prison...
Trev Poulson
Released
Trev Poulson was a Utah animal-liberation activist serving a two-year sentence for an alleged fur-farm mink li...
George Q. Cannon
Released
George Quayle Cannon was an LDS apostle, Utah's territorial delegate to Congress, and First Counselor in the L...
George Reynolds
Released
George Reynolds was the personal secretary to LDS Church president Brigham Young. As a test case for the Morri...
Lateesha Richards
Released
Lateesha Richards, 24, of Salt Lake City was charged as a fourth person in the burning of a Salt Lake police c...
Christopher Rojas
Released
Christopher Isidro Rojas is a Salt Lake City, Utah man sentenced to federal prison for igniting a piece of clo...
John Taylor (LDS President)
Released
John Taylor was the third President of the LDS Church (1880-1887) and a survivor of the Carthage Jail attack t...
T
Tony Alexander Hamilton
In Custody
Tony Alexander Hamilton, 58, of Beaver UT, leader of the Immanuel Foundation / Fraternity of Preparation, shot...
A
Andrew N. Bishop
Released
Andrew N. Bishop, age 24, was indicted in 1998 alongside the Ellerman brothers for the 1997 pipe-bombing of th...
J
Jamie L. Boulter
Released
Jamie L. Boulter, age 18, was charged in 1995 with aggravated arson for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail...
W
William Brandon
Released
William Brandon was a conscientious objector from Utah imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refu...
H
Harrison David Burrows
Released
Harrison David Burrows, age 18, pleaded guilty to setting fire to a Brigham Young University animal-husbandry...
J
Joshua Stephen Demmitt
Released
Joshua Stephen Demmitt, age 18, pleaded guilty to setting fire to a Brigham Young University animal-husbandry...
R
Ryan Durfee
Released
Ryan Durfee, age 19, was one of four animal-rights activists who set fire to a McDonalds under construction in...
C
Clinton Colby Ellerman
Released
Clinton Colby Ellerman was a Utah animal-liberation activist imprisoned for releasing mink from the Holt Mink...
D
Douglas Joshua Ellerman
Released
Douglas Joshua 'Josh' Ellerman was a 19-year-old Salt Lake City animal rights activist who on March 11, 1997 s...
S
Sean Albert Gautschy
Released
Sean Albert Gautschy, age 23, was indicted in 1998 alongside the Ellerman brothers for the 1997 pipe-bombing o...
J
Jackson George Green
Released
Jackson George Green, age 27, of Utah, a member of the climate group Declare Emergency, dumped red powder over...

Institutions in Utah

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

Fort Douglas War Prison BarracksSalt Lake City, Utah
17 cases
Weber County JailOgden, Utah
3 cases
Salt Lake County JailSalt Lake City, Utah
3 cases
Utah State PrisonSugar House, Utah
2 cases
Utah Territorial PenitentiarySalt Lake City, Utah
2 cases
Oxbow JailSalt Lake City, Utah
2 cases
Salt Lake County DetentionSalt Lake City, Utah
1 case
Tanforan Assembly Center / Topaz War Relocation CenterTopaz, Utah
1 case