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Wisconsin
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 Wisconsin.
119Documented
2In custody
111Released
1Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in Wisconsin
Where Wisconsin’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1970s 21
1910s 19
2020s 17
1930s 17
1960s 16
2000s 12
Documented cases
119 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
James Larson
Released
James Larson, a brick maker from Barronet, Wisconsin, was sentenced to fifteen months in prison. He served in...
Grace Martin
Released
Grace Martin is an activist from Wisconsin who was arrested on March 5, 2023 at the Atlanta Public Safety Trai...
Doug Marvy
Released
Doug Marvy was a 27-year-old draft-resistance organizer and one of the Milwaukee 14. He served 14 months in Wi...
Kayley Meissner
Released
Kayley Meissner is an activist from Wisconsin who was arrested on March 5, 2023 at the Atlanta Public Safety T...
Anthony Mullaney
Released
Father Anthony Mullaney was a 39-year-old Benedictine priest of St. Anselms Abbey in Manchester, New Hampshire...
Edmund Basil O'Leary
Released
De La Salle Christian Brother and professor of economics at Saint Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota when he...
Fred Ojile
Released
Fred Ojile was a 23-year-old Minneapolis draft counselor and one of the Milwaukee 14. He served 14 months in W...
Kyle Olson
Felon-in-possession of firearm during May 31 2020 Madison unrest. Sentence: 27 months federal prison. Verified...
Lawrence Rosebaugh
Released
Oblate priest born in Appleton, Wisconsin, ordained 1963; co-founder of a Catholic Worker house in Milwaukee w...
Salah Sarsour
Released
Salah Sarsour, age 53, is a Palestinian-American lawful permanent resident and the president of the Islamic So...
Francis X. Schilling
Released
Francis X. Schilling, from Marathon City, Wisconsin, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison and served in...
Erwin Schwaer
Released
Erwin Schwaer, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, began serving a prison sentence on May 3, 1918.
Christian Yearous
Released
Christian Yearous, a sixty-one-year-old farmer from Wisconsin, alleged he was "framed up " under the Espionage...
H
Hekima Ana
Released
RNA citizen from Milwaukee, age 29 at the time of the August 18, 1971 raid. Convicted of firing the shot that...
C
Chumaimari Fela Askadi
Released
Born Charles Stallings; took the New Afrikan name Chumaimari Fela Askadi. RNA citizen from Milwaukee, present...
J
John Bachman
Released
John Bachman was arrested for trespass at Project ELF, the U.S. Navy's extremely-low-frequency submarine comma...
C
Cory Bartholomew
Released
Anti-nuclear activist arrested for nonviolent direct action against the Navy's Project ELF submarine transmitt...
F
Fred Bassett
Released
Fred Bassett was one of the leaders of the 6 March 1930 unemployment demonstration in Milwaukee — a crowd esti...
N
Nate Bellamy
Nate Bellamy was the Milwaukee Panther information lieutenant. After a collision, he was hospitalized under po...
E
Eddie Benton-Banai
Released
Edward "Eddie" Benton-Banai was an Ojibwe-Anishinaabe spiritual leader, educator, and co-founder of the Americ...
O
Oscar Bobby
Released
Oscar Bobby was one of the leaders of the 6 March 1930 unemployment demonstration in Milwaukee — a crowd estim...
C
Caleb A. Brown
Released
Caleb A. Brown, 24, was arrested May 1, 2024 at the UW Madison Palestine encampment after grabbing a Madison p...
P
Paul Brown
Released
Paul Brown (born Samuel Horowitz) was a Communist Party official who changed his name to avoid blacklisting an...
E
Ellen R. Budow
Released
Ellen R. Budow was born in 1952 and became active against the Vietnam War while attending Evanston Township Hi...
Institutions in Wisconsin
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Wisconsin that appear in the census’s case files.
FCI OxfordOxford, Wisconsin
12 cases
Milwaukee House of CorrectionMilwaukee, Wisconsin
11 cases
Dane County JailMadison, Wisconsin
7 cases
Ashland County JailAshland, Wisconsin
5 cases
Dane County Circuit Court
2 cases
Wisconsin state prisonMilwaukee, Wisconsin
2 cases
Wisconsin State PrisonWaupun, Wisconsin
2 cases
U.S. Federal Custom House Jail, MilwaukeeMilwaukee, Wisconsin
1 case