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Ohio

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 Ohio.

349Documented
6In custody
215Released
1Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Ohio

Where Ohio’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1930s 83 1910s 66 2020s 42 1950s 31 1800s 31 1920s 23

Documented cases

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

Devon Bryce Poland
Released
Devon Bryce Poland, 22, was charged in Cleveland, OH with co-defendant Brandon Michael Althof Long for the sam...
Mary Pospisil
Mary Pospisil was a housewife sympathetic to the miners, imprisoned in Cadiz, Ohio, for violating an injunctio...
A. Philip Randolph
Released
A. Philip Randolph was a Black socialist labor organizer, civil-rights leader, and co-editor (with Chandler Ow...
Timothy Reed
Released
Timothy Reed was known as “Little Rock” and became known as a Native American prisoner-rights advocate and cri...
Christopher Reynolds
Released
Activist from Ohio arrested January 18, 2023 during law enforcement raids on the Weelaunee forest in Atlanta,...
James E. Robinson
Released
James E. Robinson, age 33, of Akron OH, used the Twitter handle AkronPhoenix420 to claim DDoS attacks on multi...
Charles Emil Ruthenberg
Released
Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born to Prussian Lutheran immigrants in Cleveland; joined the SP in 1909 and edite...
Fred J. Saal
Released
Fred J. Saal was from Cleveland, Ohio. Fred J. Saal began serving a ten-year prison sentence for "seditious ut...
Max Sandin
Released
Max Sandin was a Russian-Jewish immigrant living in Cleveland. Max Sandin was a WWI absolutist who refused all...
Mark Alden Schmucker
Released
Mennonite biology senior at Goshen College from Alliance, Ohio, mailed a letter to Selective Service in August...
John H. Scott
Released
John H. Scott was a Black harness-maker in Oberlin, Ohio. John H. Scott was one of the twenty men jailed for t...
Jacob R. Shipherd
Released
Jacob R. Shipherd was one of the twenty men committed to the Cuyahoga County Jail for the 1858 Oberlin–Welling...
James Slovik
Released
James Slovik was the secretary of the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union, Local 200, from Cleveland, Oh...
DeCourcy Squire
Released
A Quaker antiwar activist and former Antioch College student from Cincinnati, known for a lengthy jail hunger...
Joshua Stafford
Released
Joshua Stafford was an activist connected to the Occupy Cleveland movement who was arrested on April 30, 2012...
Lee Donald Stern
Released
Lee Donald Stern was an American Quaker pacifist imprisoned during World War II after refusing to report for C...
Connor Stevens
Released
Connor Stevens was an activist involved in the Occupy Cleveland movement who was arrested on April 30, 2012 as...
Robert Swann
Released
Robert Swann was an American peace activist and community land trust pioneer. A conscientious objector during...
John Swinglish
Released
John Swinglish was from Cleveland, Ohio, living in Washington DC and age 28 at indictment; he was a Navy veter...
Mourad Topalian
Released
Mourad Topalian, 57, suspected leader of the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG), was sentenced...
Caroline Foulke Urie
Released
Caroline Foulke Urie was a Quaker relief worker and founding member of the Peacemakers tax-refusal committee....
Clement Vallandigham
Released
Clement Vallandigham was a former U.S. Representative from Ohio and the leader of the antiwar 'Copperhead' fac...
Loring Wadsworth
Released
Loring Wadsworth was a Wellington, Ohio man among the twenty committed to the Cuyahoga County Jail for the 185...
Alfred Wagenknecht
Released
Alfred Wagenknecht was a Marxist organizer whose early activism included organizing “street meetings” and part...

Institutions in Ohio

Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Ohio that appear in the census’s case files.

Cuyahoga County JailCleveland, Ohio
21 cases
Summit County JailAkron, Ohio
12 cases
Camp ChaseColumbus, Ohio
6 cases
U.S. District Court, Northern District of OhioCleveland, Ohio
4 cases
Camp MansfieldMansfield, Ohio
4 cases
Hamilton City JailHamilton, Ohio
4 cases
Licking County JailNewark, Ohio
3 cases
Elkton FCILisbon, Ohio
2 cases