Skip to content
Learn More → State by State

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

Documented cases

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

D
David Benson
Released
David Benson was a young CNVA peace activist from Morgantown, West Virginia, active in Massachusetts. He destr...
J
Jos. A. Berman
Released
Jos. A. Berman was a conscientious objector from Massachusetts imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed...
M
Manuel Bernado
Manuel Bernado was a boy in the New Bedford Strikers Children’s Club taken from a mill picket line to the stat...
A
Anthony Bimba
A. Bimba was a labor speaker actually arrested after a Brockton speech criticizing the Lithuanian clergy and r...
B
Bridget Bishop
Bridget Bishop was imprisoned on a witchcraft accusation during the Salem prosecutions in Massachusetts in 169...
W
Walter Bishop
Released
Walter Bishop was also recorded as Wesley Bishop. Walter Bishop was a Black defendant jailed during Boston’s 1...
J
John Bly
Released
John Bly was a participant in Shays’ Rebellion. Unlike the movement’s leaders, who were pardoned, Bly was conv...
J
John Boampong
Released
On June 1, 2020 around 3 a.m., Boampong was driving near Arlington & Boylston in Boston in front of a store th...
C
Charles Bonaccorsi
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested betwe...
P
Peter Borizuk
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested betwe...
P
Peter Borrick
Peter Borrick was a Lawrence textile striker whom the Daily Worker, October 22, 1931, page 3 reports as beaten...
M
Maria Botelho
Maria Botelho was one of the New Bedford textile strikers individually named as arrested at the Sharp Mill in...
S
Samuel Bramhall
The November 9, 1931 Lawrence strike report individually lists this worker among those actually arrested betwe...
R
Robert Branconnier
Robert Branconnier was individually named in the April 5, 1985 GTE peace witness. The GTE account individually...
M
Mark Brier
The March11,1977 WorkersVanguard report identifies Mark Brier as a strike supporter in the Cambion-ThermionicC...
D
David Brown
Released
David Brown was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and day laborer who believed that the United States Congres...
E
Earl Brown
Released
Black University of Massachusetts football player convicted in the same 1974 Amherst robbery frame-up as Craem...
T
Timothy Burr
Timothy Burr was among seven anti-fascist demonstrators prosecuted after protesting Nazi propagandist Ernst Ha...
G
George Burroughs
George Burroughs was imprisoned on a witchcraft accusation during the Salem prosecutions in Massachusetts in 1...
P
Patrick Cabral
Patrick Cabral was taken from his home and arrested in the New Bedford textile-strike prosecution reported on...
H
Harry Cantor
Released
Harry Cantor was a printer imprisoned for carrying a banner at the 1928 Sacco-Vanzetti memorial denouncing Gov...
M
Martha Carrier
Martha Carrier was imprisoned on a witchcraft accusation during the Salem prosecutions in Massachusetts in 169...
R
Ralph Carrington
The Black Panther reports that police raided the Carrington family home in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on Friday,...
R
Roger Carrington
The Black Panther reports that police raided the Carrington family home in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on Friday,...

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