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Massachusetts
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 Massachusetts.
351Documented
1In custody
196Released
3Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in Massachusetts
Where Massachusetts’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1930s 102
1920s 38
1970s 30
1980s 27
1800s 27
1910s 24
Recent dashboard entries from Massachusetts
The newest published events and reporting located in Massachusetts, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Prosecution
Judge accused of enabling immigrant to escape ICE gets a rare public reprimand
Arrest
Five arrested during climate protest that blocked traffic in Copley Square
Arrest
Climate protestors block rush hour traffic in downtown Boston
Protest
Protesters demand Charles River Laboratories end beagle testing at its downtown Worcester lab
Arrest
Two arrested plastering anti-ICE posters on a Citizens Bank branch in Boston, part of a campaign over its financing of ICE detention operators
Protest
11 arrested in civil disobedience at Burlington ICE facility
Protest
11 arrested after protesting outside Burlington ICE facility
Protest
Eleven activists arrested trying to deliver care packages to detainees at the Burlington ICE facility
Documented cases
351 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
M
Mary Ann Munroe
Mary Ann Munroe, secretary-treasurer of United Electrical Workers Local 262, was arrested outside the courtroo...
B
Barry Musi
Released
Massachusetts native, age 23 at indictment; a draft and military counselor who left his conscientious-objector...
P
Philip C. Nies
Released
Philip C. Nies was a Weatherman activist involved in the 1969 Boston English High School confrontation during...
L
Laura Nunes
Laura Nunes was individually named among four Potomska Mill pickets arrested in New Bedford on the morning of...
R
Rebecca Nurse
Rebecca Nurse was imprisoned on a witchcraft accusation during the Salem prosecutions in Massachusetts in 1692...
M
Michael O'Connor
Released
Michael O'Connor appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’1969 current-prisoner lists of d...
P
Patrick O'Dea
Released
Patrick O'Dea was a Massachusetts Communist Party leader jailed in 1940 on contempt-of-Congress charges arisin...
P
Paul A. Oehme
Released
Paul A. Oehme was a conscientious objector from Massachusetts imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed f...
H
Henry A. Olson
Released
Henry A. Olson was a Weatherman activist involved in the 1969 Boston English High School confrontation during...
M
Mines Pappas
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested betwe...
A
Alice Parker
Alice Parker was imprisoned on a witchcraft accusation during the Salem prosecutions in Massachusetts in 1692....
M
Mary Parker
Mary Parker was imprisoned on a witchcraft accusation during the Salem prosecutions in Massachusetts in 1692....
J
Jason Parmenter
Released
Jason Parmenter was one of the leaders of Shays Rebellion in Massachusetts. He was convicted of high treason o...
E
Eli Parsons
Released
Eli Parsons was a Revolutionary War veteran from Adams, Massachusetts, and Shays' Rebellion co-commander. He l...
F
Fred Pelegrino
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested betwe...
J
John Pezycek
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested betwe...
A
Allen Kellogg Philbrick
Released
Allen Kellogg Philbrick was a Harvard junior and secretary of the National Students League. Police arrested hi...
W
Walter Phoenix
Released
Walter Phoenix was a Black defendant jailed after the May 26, 1854 attempt to rescue Anthony Burns in Boston....
F
Frank Pikor
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested betwe...
A
August Pinto
August Pinto was reported held for deportation because of labor activity in the July 4 account of Boston ILD d...
R
Ruben Pizer
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested betwe...
S
Sandi Polaski
The March11,1977 WorkersVanguard report identifies Sandi Polaski as a strike leader in the Cambion-ThermionicC...
S
Samuel L. Popkin
Samuel L. Popkin was a political scientist jailed for civil contempt after declining some grand-jury questions...
S
Simon Poresky
Released
Simon Poresky was a conscientious objector from Massachusetts imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed f...
Institutions in Massachusetts
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Massachusetts that appear in the census’s case files.
Fort WarrenBoston, Massachusetts
75 cases
Norfolk County Jail Dedham, Massachusetts
10 cases
Boston Court House
3 cases
Charlestown State PrisonBoston, Massachusetts
2 cases
Deer Island PrisonBoston, Massachusetts
2 cases
Boston JailBoston, Massachusetts
2 cases
Hampshire County Jail (Northampton)Northampton, Massachusetts
1 case
Salem, MA federal jailSalem, Massachusetts
1 case