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Tennessee
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 Tennessee.
105Documented
2In custody
74Released
1Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in Tennessee
Where Tennessee’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1930s 31
2020s 16
1800s 16
2000s 10
1960s 6
1910s 6
Recent dashboard entries from Tennessee
The newest published events and reporting located in Tennessee, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Arrest
Memphis Safe Task Force agents tackle and arrest activist Hunter Demster while he records them
Arrest
Congressional candidate Adam Heimerman arrested on four felony counts over damaged Flock cameras
Protest
Data center outrage: Hundreds pack in to protest during hours-long meeting in Nashville
Other
DHS issued ‘be on the lookout’ alert for comedian Ben Palmer
Other
DHS issued ‘be on the lookout’ alert for comedian Ben Palmer
Protest
Three arrested at Tennessee Capitol over Memphis redistricting
Prosecution
Charges dropped against three arrested at the Memphis No Kings protest
Protest
About 400 rally at the Madison County courthouse for 'No Kings'
Documented cases
105 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
Milton Eugene Lindsey
Released
Milton Eugene Lindsey was a 23-year-old Black worker, husband and father of two in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Ear...
Tom Lumpkin
Released
Rev. Tom Lumpkin participated in anti-nuclear civil disobedience at the Y-12 weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenne...
William E. Martin
Released
William E. Martin was a carpenter from Tennessee. William E. Martin was convicted of making "scurrilous and in...
Ralph Moore
Released
Ralph Moore led Black Panther organizing in Chattanooga. A supermarket boycott seeking support for community p...
Pamela Moses
Released
Pamela Moses is a Memphis voting-rights activist and founder of the local Black Lives Matter chapter. Born on...
Diane Nash
Released
Diane Nash was the central organizer of the Nashville sit-in movement, a co-founder of SNCC, and the strategis...
Thomas A. R. Nelson
Released
Thomas A. R. Nelson was a leading East Tennessee Unionist elected to the United States Congress in 1859. Thoma...
Estefany Rodríguez
Awaiting Trial
Estefany Rodríguez Flórez is a Colombian-born journalist who worked as a reporter for Nashville Noticias, a Sp...
John Scopes
Released
John Scopes was a 24-year-old high-school teacher and football coach in Dayton, Tennessee when he was indicted...
Wesley Somers
Released
Wesley Somers was charged with malicious destruction of property using fire after taking part in smashing wind...
Donnie Thornsbury
Released
Donnie Thornsbury is a union miner who was involved in the bitter 15-month strike of the A.T. Massey Coal Comp...
Tilghman Vestal
Released
Tilghman Vestal was a young Quaker who refused to pay the Confederate exemption tax and was drafted. When he w...
Michael Walli
Released
Michael Walli is a Vietnam War veteran (he served two tours in Vietnam, 1968–1969) who returned to the U.S. an...
Terry Marvell Whitmore
In Exile
Terry Marvell Whitmore was a Black U.S. Marine from Memphis who was wounded in Vietnam and decorated by Presid...
Calvin Zastrow
Released
Calvin Zastrow, Gallagher cluster co-defendant in the March 5, 2021 Mt. Juliet TN clinic blockade. Convicted;...
C
Charles Damien Darden
In Custody
Charles Damien Darden, 17, drove the car in the January 14, 1995 Westerman shooting (Morrow shot from passenge...
F
Freddie Morrow
In Custody
Freddie Morrow, 17, with co-defendants Damien Darden, Marcus Merriweather, and Tony Andrews, followed and shot...
B
Bobby Talbert
Bobby Talbert was a student involved in the southern desegregation movement. The December 19, 1962 Student Voi...
E
Elsa Milbank
Released
Elsa Milbank was a National Textile Workers Union organizer jailed at Elizabethton, Tennessee, during a 1931 c...
L
Levon Carlock
Levon Carlock was a young Black Memphis worker whose killing by police became the focus of an International La...
P
Pam Beziat
Released
Pam Beziat participated in the August 2004 anti-nuclear demonstrations at the Y-12 weapons complex in Oak Ridg...
R
Ron Dale
Released
Ron Dale participated in the August 2004 anti-nuclear demonstrations at the Y-12 weapons complex in Oak Ridge,...
K
Kim Redigan
Released
Kim Redigan participated in the August 2004 anti-nuclear demonstrations at the Y-12 weapons complex in Oak Rid...
K
Kip Williams
Released
Kip Williams participated in the August 2004 anti-nuclear demonstrations at the Y-12 weapons complex in Oak Ri...
Institutions in Tennessee
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Tennessee that appear in the census’s case files.
Knox County JailKnoxville, Tennessee
4 cases
Brushy Mountain Penitentiary
3 cases
Robertson County Circuit Court
2 cases
Tennessee state prison (Davidson County)Nashville, Tennessee
2 cases
Perry County JailLinden, Tennessee
1 case
Knox County Detention FacilityKnoxville, Tennessee
1 case
FCI Memphis Satellite CampMillington, Tennessee
1 case
Shelby County Circuit Court
1 case