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Michigan
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 Michigan.
334Documented
1In custody
185Released
8Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in Michigan
Where Michigan’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1930s 74
1980s 51
1910s 45
1920s 33
1950s 22
2020s 21
Recent dashboard entries from Michigan
The newest published events and reporting located in Michigan, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Prosecution
Michigan nurse charged with helping immigrant flee ICE custody
Arrest
Five protesters arrested after an anti-ICE march reached the Grand Rapids ICE field office
Arrest
Police report 22 arrests during an anti-Islam demonstration and counterprotest outside Dearborn's council meeting
Prosecution
Four pro-Palestine activists released on bond after FBI arrests
Prosecution
DOJ Targets Michigan Palestine Solidarity Activists With Federal Charges
Arrest
8 arrested in FBI raids related to pro-Palestine advocacy at University of Michigan
Protest
UAW Local 2093 strikes American Axle over stagnant wages
Protest
Hundreds marched in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in a nationwide general strike against the ICE crackdown in Minneapolis (no arrests)
Documented cases
334 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
Henry Sweet
Released
Henry Sweet was the younger brother of Detroit physician Ossian Sweet who admitted firing a weapon during the...
Ossian Sweet
Released
Ossian Sweet was a Black physician who, in September 1925, moved his family into a previously all-white Detroi...
Michael Sykes
Released
Michael Sykes is an environmentalist anarchist from Lambertville, MI. At age 17, he was sentenced as an adult...
James Victory
Released
James Victory was a Detroit car washer, World War I veteran and member of the Charles Young American Legion po...
Rafael Viera
Rafael Viera was Chief Medical Cadre of the Young Lords Organization. In a February 1970 first-person newspape...
Ian Wallace
Released
Ian Jacob Wallace was convicted of attempting to destroy federal property in the November 2001 attempted fireb...
Elizabeth Walters
Released
Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) and Plowshares peace activist arrested for a disarmament action a...
Earl Ward
Released
Intellectual leader of the 1952 Michigan State Prison riot at Jackson — at the time the largest prison rebelli...
Monica Washington-Padula
Released
Monica Washington-Padula is an Afro-Indigenous (Ojibwe) activist and human rights advocate based in Kalamazoo,...
Colin Hunter Weger
Awaiting Trial
Colin Weger is one of four pro-Palestine activists arrested by the FBI in June 2026 in connection with a prote...
Peggy Wellman
Released
Peggy Wellman was a Detroit activist and the wife of Michigan Smith Act defendant Saul Wellman. Immigration au...
Saul Wellman
Released
Saul Wellman was a Spanish Civil War veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a wounded U.S. Army veteran of th...
Helen Winter
Released
Helen Winter was a Detroit Communist Party organizer and the wife of imprisoned Smith Act defendant Carl Winte...
Monroe Wulff
Released
Monroe Wulff was from Benton Harbor, Michigan, a member of the Israelite House of David religious community,....
Bill Wylie-Kellermann
Released
Bill Wylie-Kellermann is a Detroit-born United Methodist pastor, theologian, author, and nonviolent activist....
Jonathan Hongru Zou
Awaiting Trial
Jonathan Hongru Zou is one of eight Palestine-solidarity activists federally indicted in May 2026 over a Unive...
W
William Turner
William Turner was a young Detroit worker whose arrest after an altercation at a fire station prompted a local...
G
Gordon Judd
Gordon Judd was individually named among four anti-nuclear demonstrators arrested August 9, 1983 at Williams I...
M
Mel Hall
Mel Hall was individually named among four anti-nuclear demonstrators arrested August 9, 1983 at Williams Inte...
J
Jim Smit
Jim Smit was individually reported as having actually served seven days in Marquette County Jail for a protest...
J
John Zettner
John Zettner was individually named among three anti-nuclear resisters arrested October 21, 1983 after chainin...
J
Joe DuBois
Joe DuBois was individually named among three anti-nuclear resisters arrested October 21, 1983 after chaining...
W
Wendell Banks
Wendell Banks was individually named among three anti-nuclear resisters arrested October 21, 1983 after chaini...
M
Matthew Goodheart
Matthew Goodheart was imprisoned in connection with nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons. Matt Goodheart,...
Institutions in Michigan
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Michigan that appear in the census’s case files.
Federal Correctional Institution, MilanMilan, Michigan
6 cases
FCI MilanMilan, Michigan
3 cases
Bay County JailBay City, Michigan
3 cases
Michigan State Prison (Jackson)
3 cases
Wayne County Jail
3 cases
State Prison of Southern MichiganJackson, Michigan
2 cases
Marquette State PrisonMarquette, Michigan
2 cases
Detroit RRMMilan, Michigan
1 case