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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
Recent dashboard entries from Illinois
The newest published events and reporting located in Illinois, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Other
Marimar Martinez sues federal government over Border Patrol shooting
Prosecution
Immigration judge finds Salah Sarsour deportable; his lawyers plan an appeal
Prosecution
Broadview Six prosecutor resigns, alleging U.S. attorney directed the failed felony prosecution
Protest
Federal agents mace 10 protesters outside the Broadview ICE facility; two are hospitalized
Prosecution
Broadview 6 grand jury transcripts released, showing alleged prosecutorial misconduct
Prosecution
Now-cleared ‘Broadview 6’ immigration protesters seek evidence of White House pressure to indict
Protest
Hundreds rally in Morris against a proposed hyperscale data center
Prosecution
Charges dropped against four Broadview ICE protesters over misconduct
Documented cases
718 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
Cheri Honkala
Cheri Honkala was arrested in Chicago during the August2024 Democratic National Convention protest period. Chi...
John Hossack
Released
John Hossack was an Ottawa, Illinois grain merchant and Underground Railroad activist who had helped build the...
Clyde Hough
Released
Clyde Hough was an IWW activist associated with open defiance of World War I conscription. In 1917, he and oth...
George W. Howard
Released
George W. Howard was an American Railway Union director and Eugene V. Debs co-defendant in the federal contemp...
Gordon Hutchins
Released
Gordon Hutchins was an unemployed-workers' organizer from Hillsboro, Illinois. Police arrested him in Nokomis...
Abraham Isaak
Released
Abraham Isaak was an anarchist publisher arrested and detained during the September 1901 roundup of anarchists...
Abraham Isaak Jr.
Released
Abraham Isaak Jr. was the son of the anarchist publisher Abraham Isaak. He was born in Russia and immigrated w...
Marie Isaak
Released
Marie Isaak was the roughly sixteen-year-old daughter of the anarchist publishers Abraham and Mary Isaak. She...
Mary Isaak
Released
Mary Isaak was an anarchist arrested with Abe Isaak and other anarchists in September 1901 during the roundup...
Paul Ivery
Released
Paul Ivery was arrested during a September 27, 2025 protest outside the Broadview ICE detention facility. His...
Jacqueline Jackson
Released
Jacqueline Jackson, civil-rights activist and wife of Rev. Jesse Jackson, was arrested with nine other activis...
John Gregory Jacobs
Released
John Gregory Jacobs, commonly known as “J.J.”, was a Students for a Democratic Society leader and a principal...
Gustave H. Jacobsen
Released
Gustave H. Jacobsen was convicted in a 1917-1918 federal World War I-era prosecution and pictured in Butterick...
Hamza N. Jilani
Hamza N. Jilani was arrested during the August 2024 Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago and hel...
Jorge Luis Jimenez
Released
Jorge Luis Jimenez was a Chicago member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. A federal grand jury indicted t...
Ricardo Jimenez
Released
Ricardo Jimenez was one of 11 FALN members arrested on April 4, 1980 in Evanston, Illinois. He was convicted o...
José "Cha Cha" Jiménez
Released
José "Cha Cha" Jiménez founded the Young Lords in Chicago, transforming a Puerto Rican street gang into a revo...
Sandor John
SandorJohn, a SpartacusYouthLeague spokesman, was arrested November22,1977 while distributing literature chall...
Mary Harris Jones
Released
Mary Harris Jones was an Irish-born American labor organizer whose half-century of agitation against industria...
Nathaniel Junior
Released
Nathaniel Junior was an Illinois Black Panther Party field secretary arrested in Chicago on April 11, 1969, in...
John Jurkanin
John Jurkanin was identified by the August 30, 1934 Daily Worker as a Young Peoples Socialist League organizer...
Vanda Kaleto
Released
Vanda Kaleto was a Chicago garment-strike picket associated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Un...
Mike Karadich
Released
Mike Karadich was one of the eight miners convicted by February 18, 1926 in the "Zeigler frame-up" — the prose...
Ludwig E. Katterfeld
Released
Ludwig E. Katterfeld was convicted under the Illinois criminal syndicalism law and received a one- to five-yea...
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