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Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania.

431Documented
6In custody
377Released
2Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Pennsylvania

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

1700s 77 1910s 73 1930s 68 2020s 41 1950s 36 1970s 30

Documented cases

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

S
Samuel Arbitman
Released
Samuel Arbitman was a conscientious objector from Pennsylvania imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed...
A
Andrew Augustyniak-Duncan
Released
On May 30, 2020 during ongoing protests after George Floyd's murder, Andrew Augustyniak-Duncan was part of a c...
P
Paul Babish
Released
Paul Babish was listed on the ILD's 1932 winter-relief roster of Western Pennsylvania class-war prisoners — co...
E
Elizabeth Baer
Released
Dr. Elizabeth Baer was the recording secretary of the Philadelphia Socialist Party who, with Charles Schenck,...
J
John Barnett
Released
John Barnett was among the western Pennsylvania men taken into federal custody during the suppression of the W...
J
Jim Barr
Released
Irish republican supporter held at the Philadelphia Detention Center in connection with US federal charges ari...
A
Agnes Bauerlein
Released
Agnes Gertrude Bauerlein was a Dutch-born mother, grandmother, and lifelong social activist in Ambler and Phil...
J
Joseph Beginsky
Released
Joseph Beginsky was a conscientious objector from Pennsylvania imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed...
S
Sam Benato
Released
Sam Benato was an anthracite miner of the Pittston, Pennsylvania region jailed in the Eastern State Penitentia...
E
Edgar S. Benedict
Released
Edgar S. Benedict was a Church of the Brethren conscientious objector from Pennsylvania imprisoned during Worl...
A
Anne Bennis
Released
Anne Bennis was a teacher from Philadelphia active in the Atlantic Life Community network of nonviolent resist...
M
Martin Bergen
Martin Bergen was convicted of murder in the anthracite-region violence and hanged at Pottsville on January 16...
S
Sam Betti
Released
Sam Betti was listed on the ILD's 1932 winter-relief roster of Western Pennsylvania class-war prisoners — coal...
G
George Bingula
Released
George Bingula was a union coal miner of Harmarville, Pennsylvania, arrested several times by the coal-and-iro...
J
John Black
Released
John Black was among the western Pennsylvania men taken into federal custody during the suppression of the Whi...
R
Renee Claire Blanchard
Released
Renee Claire Blanchard joined the Hatfield’s Ferry smokestack protest against the Bush administration’s energy...
I
Israel Blankenstein
Released
Israel Blankenstein was an organizer for the Communist Party prosecuted in Pennsylvania for underground Commun...
A
Anna Bogansky
Released
Anna Bogansky was arrested at the furriers' convention delegation in Philadelphia in May 1932 and charged with...
T
Tom Boich
Released
Tom Boich was a miner serving twenty months, gravely ill with stomach trouble at the Blawnox Workhouse, one of...
D
David Bolton
Released
David Bolton was among the western Pennsylvania men taken into federal custody during the suppression of the W...
P
Phineas Bond
Released
Phineas Bond was among the Philadelphians seized in the September 1777 arrests and named in the exile records...
W
William Bonham
Released
William Bonham was among the western Pennsylvania men taken into federal custody during the suppression of the...
T
Tom Borich
Released
Tom Borich was listed on the ILD's 1932 winter-relief roster of Western Pennsylvania class-war prisoners — coa...
H
Harry Boswell
Released
Harry Boswell was a twenty-eight-year-old striker shot and wounded after a tear-gas attack in the Westland mar...

Institutions in Pennsylvania

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

Allegheny County WorkhouseBlawnox, Pennsylvania
23 cases
Walnut Street JailPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
20 cases
Philadelphia GaolPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
18 cases
Butler County PrisonButler, Pennsylvania
13 cases
United States Penitentiary, LewisburgLewisburg, Pennsylvania
13 cases
FCI AllenwoodWhite Deer, Pennsylvania
12 cases
SCI DallasDallas, Pennsylvania
12 cases
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas / SCI Pennsylvania state prisonsPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
9 cases