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Florida

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 Florida.

301Documented
18In custody
195Released
11Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Florida

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

1930s 70 2000s 46 2020s 35 1950s 30 1970s 28 2010s 26

Documented cases

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

H
Hector Rodriguez-Acevedo
Released
Hector Ignacio Rodriguez-Acevedo (Nacho Rodriguez), age 49, conspired to send weapons to the United Self-Defen...
S
Sam Rogers
Released
Sam D. Rogers was a Socialist Party member and Modern Democrats organizer in Tampa. He held a medical degree f...
F
Frances Romero
Released
Frances Romero, also known as Frances Mendoza Romero and Mama Romero, was a Mexican immigrant, Tampa cigar wor...
V
Vesper Romero
Vesper Romero, a child of Tampa cigar worker Mama (Frances) Romero, was arrested at age 14 during the November...
V
Vladimir Romero
Vladimir Romero, a child of Tampa cigar worker Mama (Frances) Romero, was arrested at age 10 during the Novemb...
Y
Yorkina Romero
Yorkina Romero, a child of Tampa cigar worker Mama (Frances) Romero, was arrested at age 16 during the Novembe...
A
Anna Rosenblatt
Released
Anna Rosenblatt was cited for contempt with Bertha Teplow on the first day of the Florida Legislative Investig...
W
Walter Rousch
Walter Rousch was a Socialist and member of the Modern Democrats arrested in the November 30, 1935 Tampa raid....
M
Miguel Ángel Ruiz Alicea
Miguel Ángel Ruiz Alicea was one of six Mayagüez nationalist cadets whom Dávila Marichal identifies as convict...
M
Martin Rutrell
Released
New Afrikan political prisoner held at the Raiford prison complex in Florida, #042600. Listed as a North Ameri...
V
Victor Daniel Salamanca
Released
Victor Daniel Salamanca (El Viejito), age 63, lead defendant in the Salamanca cluster - the FARC ICE-sting cas...
M
Mike Shantzek
Released
Mike Shantzek was an Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran jailed in the 1954 Dade County 'subversive activities' pr...
M
Max Shlafrock
Released
Max Shlafrock was cited and jailed in the 1954 Dade County 'subversive activities' probe for refusing, on Fift...
A
Arthur Smith (McCleny peonage victim)
The July 1937 Southern Worker identifies Arthur Smith among three Black turpentine workers forcibly returned t...
D
Darnell Smith
The newsletter identifies eighteen-year-old Darnell Smith as a Florida State Prison inmate and alleges guards...
F
Frank Lee Smith
Frank Lee Smith was sentenced to death in Florida for a murder he did not commit. He died in custody on Januar...
H
Home Smith
Released
Home Smith was a citrus-union worker jailed after authorities accused union members of responsibility for hous...
T
Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith was among a group of white men hanged in Gadsden County, Florida, in 1846. The Espy chronology cl...
C
Charles Smolikoff
Released
Charles Smolikoff was a former Transport Workers organizer jailed without bail in the 1954 Dade County 'subver...
A
Anthony Smyth
Released
Anthony Smyth, 43, US citizen, IRA gun-running co-defendant; convicted; 36 months federal prison.
R
Rubin Stacey
Rubin Stacey was a Black man lynched at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on July 19, 1935. The February 1936 Catholic...
N
Nicolas Tapasco Romero
Released
Nicolas Ricardo Tapasco Romero, age 45, a former detective with the Colombian Department of Administrative Sec...
B
Bertha Teplow
Released
Mrs. Bertha Teplow was one of the first witnesses cited for contempt by the Florida Legislative Investigating...
C
Carol Thomas
Carol Thomas was a Southern Conference Educational Fund organizer in Gainesville, Florida. A contemporary repo...

Institutions in Florida

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

FCI MariannaMarianna, Florida
8 cases
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of FloridaGainesville, Florida
8 cases
Florida State PrisonRaiford, Florida
8 cases
Raiford PenitentiaryRaiford, Florida
7 cases
Palm Beach County JailWest Palm Beach, Florida
7 cases
Miami FDCMiami, Florida
4 cases
Polk County JailBartow, Florida
4 cases
Fort TaylorKey West, Florida
4 cases