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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.

J
James McCarthy
James McCarthy was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Compa...
O
O. H. McCarver
Marshall's account of Walter S. Hawkes names Rev. O. H. McCarver among the men already under arrest at the Tam...
L
Leonides McDonald
Leonides McDonald is named in the June22 Chicago report among arrested Vincennes Hotel anti-segregation protes...
M
McSweeney (Chicago hotel protest defendant, 1932)
McSweeney is named in the June22 Chicago report among arrested Vincennes Hotel anti-segregation protesters who...
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...
E
Eddie Moleski
Eddie Moleski, also printed Meliski in the July 26, 1928 Daily Worker, was a Zeigler labor prisoner reported a...
E
Esther Monarch
Esther Monarch was individually named as arrested for contempt during the Chicago garment-strike proceedings r...
S
Sarah Mondello
Sarah Mondello was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike picket employed by the International Tailoring Compa...
G
Grady Moore (Chicago, 1969)
Grady “Slim” Moore was reported held in Cook County Jail on one attempted-murder count after the confrontation...
E
Edward Moran Jr.
Released
Edward Moran Jr. was a young Black man from Chicago's South Side and a member of De Mau Mau, an organization f...
B
Buckner S. Morris
Marshall identifies Morris as a former Illinois judge and Chicago lawyer arrested in November 1864 and confine...
A
Ann Morton
Released
Ann Morton was a coal miner's daughter and an Unemployed Councils organizer in Springfield, Illinois. On April...
J
Jeremy Mott
Released
Jeremy Mott was a Quaker who resisted the Vietnam-era draft. After leaving alternative service, he was impriso...
C
Charles Motter
The Chicago IWW conspiracy report says Motter’s case was dismissed January 22, 1920 but he remained in the cou...
L
Lena Movich
Released
Lena Movich was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Uni...
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
Charles “Charlie” Muse was a draft resister who served a federal prison term at Allenwood and was released in...
J
John Myles
Released
John Myles was one of the Stateville Four, indicted in April 1977 for aggravated battery following the January...
O
Otto Nelson
Otto Nelson was a member of the Unemployed Council in Chicago. A March 16 dispatch printed in the March 23, 19...
A
Andrew Newhoff
Andrew Newhoff was a worker named among six people arrested when armed county officials and anti-union forces...
H
H. W. Newland
Released
Marshall identifies Newland as a farmer near Benton, Franklin County, Illinois. He reports arrest on August 19...
J
Jane Newton
Jane Newton was the white wife of Black labor and civil-rights organizer Herbert Newton in Chicago. The Daily...

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