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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

Documented cases

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

H
Harry Alger Fox
Released
Harry Alger Fox was a conscientious objector from Michigan imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for...
J
John Fox (Project ELF protester)
John Fox was imprisoned after a nonviolent protest at Michigan’s Project ELF facility in 1986.
M
Max Frocht
The AnnArbor report individually names university student and SocialistLocal member MaxFrocht as arrested for...
S
Sheila Gainey
Sheila Gainey was jailed for civil contempt after the June 11, 1984 anti-nuclear blockade at Williams Internat...
A
Anna Ganley
Released
Anna Ganley was a Russian-born Detroit activist involved in Scottsboro defense, antiwar organizing, and labor...
A
Alfred E. Goetz
Alfred E. Goetz was arrested with Philip Bart and Morris Fleishman after police broke up a Detroit Communist e...
M
Mary Gossman
Released
Mary Gossman was a young worker arrested at the Ford Hunger March in Dearborn, Michigan on 7 March 1932 — "Blo...
S
Saul Grossman
Released
Saul Grossman was executive secretary of the Michigan Committee for Protection of the Foreign Born. He was pro...
K
Ken Grunow
Ken Grunow was jailed for civil contempt after the June 11, 1984 anti-nuclear blockade at Williams Internation...
W
W. Haataja
W. Haataja was named among seven workers arrested June 22, 1934 during the Hancock relief strike. The account...
A
Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim
Awaiting Trial
Amatullah Aliasgar Hakim is one of eight Palestine-solidarity activists federally indicted in May 2026 over a...
A
Ahmed Hannan
Ahmed Hannan was convicted of document-fraud conspiracy in the Detroit terrorism prosecution, which was later...
W
Walter Hardin
Walter Hardin was a Black Communist Party section organizer and member of the Unemployed Council in Pontiac, M...
J
Jim Hart
Released
On December 12, 1977, U.S. District Judge John Feikens sentenced seven auto workers — "the Trenton 7" — to a w...
H
Harold S. Hartley
Released
Harold S. Hartley was one of the defendants actually arrested in Detroit on February 6, 1940, in the federal p...
A
Anita Hartman
Anita Hartman was a Detroit Black Panther Party breakfast program coordinator. The newspaper reports police de...
H
Harvey A. Hedden
The Jackson report individually names Hedden as arrested for circulation of anti-draft literature. No individu...
J
James Henderson
Released
James Henderson was one of the "Livernois 5," five young Black men swept up in a Detroit police dragnet after...
R
Robert Hill
Released
Robert Hill was identified in contemporary rosters of prisoners confined for conscientious or antiwar resistan...
R
Richard Hirvonen
Richard Hirvonen was named among seven workers arrested June 22, 1934 during the Hancock relief strike. The ac...
A
Ann Hitchcock
Ann Hitchcock was named with A. W. Mills and Steve Miller among five arrested when police broke up the Hands O...
R
Richard Hivonen
Richard Hivonen was arrested when the sheriff and copper-company gunmen twice attacked an antiwar parade of 1,...
J
Joseph Holliday
Released
Joseph Holliday was a Israelite House of David conscientious objector from Michigan imprisoned during World Wa...
I
Ivan Hoops
Ivan Hoops, a Fisher Body striker, was clubbed and arrested during mass picketing at Flint on July 3, 1930. Th...

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