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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.

R
Robert Morse Lovett
Released
Robert Morse Lovett, a University of Chicago professor, observed the Sopkin dress strike with ACLU representat...
H
Harry Lowrey
Released
Harry Lowrey was a leader of the Karges Furniture Company strike in Evansville, Indiana. The Daily Worker of M...
J
John Lumino
John Lumino was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Company...
E
Erling Lunde
Released
Erling Lunde was a conscientious objector court-martialed at Camp Funston, Kansas on October 15, 1918 and impr...
B
Bedford Lurman
Marshall's account of Walter S. Hawkes names Bedford Lurman among the men already under arrest at the Tamaroa,...
J
Joe Magliono
Joe Magliono was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Company...
J
John D. Mamis
Released
John D. Mamis was listed in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecution...
L
Len Mann
Len Mann was one of five union miners tried at Marion, Illinois, for Howard Hoffman’s death in the Herrin affa...
J
John D. Mantis
Released
John D. Mantis was from Chicago, Illinois. John D. Mantis began serving a prison sentence on November 21, 1918...
A
Alberto Mares
Alberto Mares reported being placed in Marion’s Control Unit after joining a peaceful July 1972 prison work st...
D
Duilio Mari
The May 1920 Chicago conspiracy roster names Duilio Mari among defendants indicted in January 1920 for alleged...
N
Nicholas Marino
Nicholas Marino was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Comp...
M
Markoff (Laclede Steel leaflets, 1931)
Markoff was an unemployed worker arrested with another leaflet distributor outside Laclede Steel in Madison on...
S
S.J. Marner
Released
S.J. Marner was a Mennonite conscientious objector from Illinois imprisoned during World War I. Court-martiale...
J
Juan Espinoza Martinez
Released
Juan Espinoza Martinez was arrested on October 6, 2025 after federal prosecutors accused him of offering money...
A
Alexander Martini
Alexander Martini was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Co...
L
Lee Mason
Lee Mason was a Black Communist candidate for Congress on Chicago’s South Side and a speaker at an American Ne...
L
Levi Mast
Released
Levi Mast appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft and con...
D
Dave Mates
The April 15 report names these workers as arrested during the police raid on Young Pioneer and Communist Part...
W
William Matheson
William Matheson, a Communist subdistrict organizer, was arrested with Jack Johnstone when police raided the W...
A
Albert Matozzo
Kincaid police chief Albert Matozzo is individually identified among twenty-four people jailed on murder accus...
J
John Matuccak
John Matuccak was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Compan...
S
Sam Matzkin
Sam Matzkin was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Company...
H
Hubert Mazur
Released
Hubert “Luci” Mazur was arrested during a September 27, 2025 protest outside the Broadview ICE detention facil...

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