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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.

120Documented
2In custody
112Released
1Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Wisconsin

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

1970s 21 1910s 19 2020s 18 1930s 17 1960s 16 2000s 12

Documented cases

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

S
Sam Herman
Released
Sam Herman was a Communist Party organizer at Racine, Wisconsin during the 1934–35 Horlick's malted-milk strik...
J
John Hilty
Released
John Hilty was one of the leaders of the 6 March 1930 unemployment demonstration in Milwaukee — a crowd estima...
S
Sam Hochstetler
Released
Sam Hochstetler is a Mennonite peace activist who has been repeatedly arrested for civil disobedience at U.S....
D
David Hofstetter
Released
David Hofstetter was one of four University of Wisconsin–Madison activists arrested on May 4, 1971 following a...
D
Donna Howard-Hastings
Released
On April 21, 1996 Donna and Tom Howard-Hastings cut down three transmission-line poles at the U.S. Navy's Proj...
F
Forrest Jackson
Released
Forrest Jackson was arrested in the Wisconsin farm strike at Wausau during the 1933 farm revolt. The farm revo...
M
Max Kagan
Released
Max Kagan was one of the leaders of the 6 March 1930 unemployment demonstration in Milwaukee — a crowd estimat...
M
Michael Legoth
Released
Michael Legoth appears in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecutions...
W
Willard Lenton
Released
Willard Lenton was one of four University of Wisconsin–Madison activists arrested on May 4, 1971 following a d...
C
Carl Lester
Released
Carl Lester was sentenced to ten months for rioting and unlawful assembly in a Milwaukee relief demonstration...
E
Earl Leverette
Released
Earl Leverette (also spelled Levrettes) was a member of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin chapter of the Black Panther...
J
Jeff Leys
Released
Jeff Leys was arrested for trespass at Project ELF, the U.S. Navy's extremely-low-frequency submarine command...
E
Elmer Lochner
Released
Elmer Lochner was a well-known anti-fascist of Milwaukee and a co-defendant with George Loh in the same 1936 s...
G
George Loh
Released
George Loh was the editor of the German-language liberal newspaper Arbeiter in Milwaukee. In 1936, after teari...
C
Cailin Elizabeth Major
Released
Cailin Elizabeth Major, age 25, of Milwaukee, was one of the Asheville 11 indicted for the May 1, 2010 May Day...
S
Sonia Mason
Released
Sonia Mason was one of the leaders of the 6 March 1930 unemployment demonstration in Milwaukee — a crowd estim...
S
Scott Mathern-Jacobson
Released
Scott Mathern-Jacobson was arrested for trespass at Project ELF, the U.S. Navy's extremely-low-frequency subma...
V
Van L. Mayes
Released
Van L. Mayes, 37, of Milwaukee, allegedly planned to firebomb the Milwaukee PD District 7 station during the A...
J
James Reynolds Mendoza
Released
James Reynolds Mendoza was a 19-year-old Chicano from Milwaukee's Southside held in the city jail for the July...
E
Ernest Louis Meyer
Released
Ernest Louis Meyer was a conscientious objector from Wisconsin imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed...
T
Tyler John Norman
Awaiting Trial
Tyler John Norman is defendant #41 of the 61 people indicted on September 5, 2023 under the Georgia RICO Act (...
G
George Ostensen
Released
Acting as the Harmonic Disarmament for Life action (Aug. 16, 1987), he cut down three ELF poles and damaged co...
F
Floyd W. Pearson
Released
Floyd W. Pearson was a Pentecostal conscientious objector from Wisconsin imprisoned during World War I. Court-...
J
John Perlich
Released
John Perlich was one of the leaders of the 6 March 1930 unemployment demonstration in Milwaukee — a crowd esti...

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