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Illinois

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 Illinois.

718Documented
6In custody
382Released

Eras of repression in Illinois

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

1920s 169 1930s 134 1960s 70 1910s 69 2020s 64 1970s 61

Documented cases

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

Mickey White
Released
Michael "Mickey" White was a member of the Black Panther Party jailed in 1969. According to The Black Panther...
Donna Willmott
Released
Donna Jean Willmott is most often documented as a long-term fugitive associated by federal authorities with Pu...
Robert Hugh Wilson
Released
Robert Hugh Wilson ("Standing Deer") was an enrolled Oneida from the Oneida Nations of Wisconsin and an active...
Jan Wittenber
Released
Jan Wittenber was a coal-field organizer for the International Labor Defense and one of fourteen unemployed wo...
Amanda R. Wolf
Released
Amanda R. Wolf, age 23, of Lombard IL, was arrested June 1, 2020 and charged with attempted terrorism and poss...
John Arthur Young
Released
John Arthur Young was a U.S. Army Vietnam prisoner of war from Grayslake, Illinois, identified in contemporary...
A
Albert Garza
In Custody
Albert Garza joined Leonard Peltier and Standing Deer in the 1984 hunger fast for Native religious freedom whi...
M
Michael D. Stover
In Custody
Michael D. Stover pleaded guilty to transmitting an online threat against federal immigration authorities. On...
N
Nataniel Buchie
Nataniel Buchie was taken into custody during the September 19, 2025 protest at the Broadview federal immigrat...
A
Antonio Reyes (Broadview)
Antonio Reyes was taken into custody during the September 19, 2025 protest at the Broadview federal immigratio...
J
Judy Laut
Judy Laut was taken into custody during the September 19, 2025 protest at the Broadview federal immigration fa...
H
Henry Coe
Henry Coe was jailed in Chicago following arrests of people picketing City Hall in the name of the Unemploymen...
M
Mary Casey
Mary Casey was jailed in Chicago following arrests of people picketing City Hall in the name of the Unemployme...
M
Mary Heffer
Mary Heffer was jailed in Chicago following arrests of people picketing City Hall in the name of the Unemploym...
H
Harry Martin
Harry Martin was jailed in Chicago following arrests of people picketing City Hall in the name of the Unemploy...
R
Raymond Sarocco
Raymond Sarocco was the Chicago correspondent for Unita Operaia and an organizer of Works Progress Administrat...
H
H. Floris
H. Floris was jailed in Chicago following arrests of people picketing City Hall in the name of the Unemploymen...
J
Joseph Brown
Joseph Brown was a federal prisoner, essayist and jailhouse lawyer described in a 1976 Marion Brothers support...
B
Bill Ruiz
Bill Ruiz was a prisoner described in a 1976 Marion Brothers support pamphlet as confined in the Control Unit...
L
Lucia Dryanski
Lucia Dryanski was imprisoned in connection with nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons. The report individu...
F
Frank Fessler
Frank Fessler was imprisoned in connection with nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons. Frank Fessler and Ma...
M
Margaret Volpe
Margaret Volpe was imprisoned in connection with nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons. Margaret Volpe and...
K
Kim Trapkus
Kim Trapkus was imprisoned in connection with nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons. Kim Trapkus was convic...
B
Bob Romic
Bob Romic was imprisoned in connection with nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons. The report individually...

Institutions in Illinois

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

Cook County JailChicago, Illinois
58 cases
Chicago police lockupChicago, Illinois
9 cases
MCC ChicagoChicago , Illinois
8 cases
Woodstock Jail (McHenry County)
7 cases
Southern Illinois Penitentiary, ChesterChester, Illinois
6 cases
FCI Pekin Satellite CampPekin, Illinois
5 cases
USP MarionMarion, Illinois
5 cases
FCI PekinPekin, Illinois
4 cases