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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.

326Documented
4In custody
302Released

Eras of repression in Illinois

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

1910s 66 1920s 38 1960s 37 1970s 30 1980s 25 1930s 22

Documented cases

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

J
John D. Mamis
Released
John D. Mamis appears in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecutions a...
J
John D. Mantis
Released
John D. Mantis, of Chicago, Illinois, began serving a prison sentence on November 21, 1918. He was arrested du...
S
S.J. Marner
Released
S.J. Marner was a Mennonite conscientious objector from Illinois imprisoned during World War I. Court-martiale...
J
James Miller
Released
New Afrikan political prisoner held at the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, listed as a North American p...
J
Jennie Miller
Released
Jennie Miller was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ U...
W
William C. Miller
Released
William C. Miller was a Mennonite conscientious objector from Illinois imprisoned during World War I. Court-ma...
T
Tony Minerich
Released
Tony Minerich was the editor of the Croatian paper Narodni Glasnik, threatened with deportation in 1953. His c...
E
Edward Moran Jr.
Howard Moran was a young Black man from Chicago's South Side and a member of De Mau Mau, an organization forme...
A
Ann Morton
Released
Ann Morton was a 23-year-old coal miner's daughter jailed in 1934 while leading an unemployed demonstration at...
L
Lena Movich
Released
Lena Movich was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Uni...
F
Frank Mucci
Released
Frank Mucci was a militant young miner and "red" alderman of Taylor Springs, one of fourteen Progressive Miner...
J
John Munch
Released
John Munch was listed among the class-war prisoners on the International Labor Defense's 1930 Winter Relief ro...
C
Charles Muse
Released
One of the fifteen (Charlie Muse, age 21) who burned some 40,000 Chicago draft records on May 25, 1969, and wa...
J
John Myles
Released
One of the 'Stateville Four,' Black prisoners at Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois framed for the 197...
M
Mark Neiweem
Released
Mark Neiweem — anti-NATO summit arrestee, Chicago, May 2012. Charged under Illinois terrorism statute with sol...
L
Lise Olsen
Released
Lise Olsen was a nurse and animal rights activist who on July 4, 1992 hung a banner in protest of fur farms ov...
E
Eric Ostrom
Released
Eric Ostrom was a conscientious objector from Illinois imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for refu...
R
Roy E. Peters
Released
Roy E. Peters was a Church of the Brethren conscientious objector from Illinois imprisoned during World War I....
J
John Phillips
Released
One of the fifteen (age 25) who broke into the Chicago Selective Service office and burned roughly 40,000 draf...
J
John Pietra
Released
A Roman Catholic priest (Fr. John Pietra, age 33), he was one of the fifteen who burned some 40,000 Chicago dr...
B
Bertha Plantt
Released
Bertha Plantt was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ U...
L
Linda Quint
Released
A laywoman (age 22), Quint was one of the fifteen who burned some 40,000 Chicago draft records on May 25, 1969...
F
Freda Reicher
Released
Freda Reicher was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ U...
T
Theresa Rhode
Released
Theresa Rhode was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ U...

Institutions in Illinois

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

Cook County JailChicago, Illinois
34 cases
MCC ChicagoChicago , Illinois
12 cases
Southern Illinois Penitentiary, ChesterChester, Illinois
7 cases
FCI Pekin Satellite CampPekin, Illinois
5 cases
USP MarionMarion, Illinois
5 cases
Woodstock Jail (McHenry County)
5 cases
FCI PekinPekin, Illinois
4 cases
Stateville Correctional CenterCrest Hill, Illinois
4 cases