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Virginia

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 Virginia.

110Documented
2In custody
98Released
2Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Virginia

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

1800s 30 2010s 13 2000s 12 1910s 12 1970s 10 2020s 9

Documented cases

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

J
John W. McCabe
Released
John W. McCabe was a Jehovah's Witnesses conscientious objector from Virginia imprisoned during World War I. C...
B
Booker T. Millner
One of the Martinsville Seven — seven Black Virginia men arrested January 1949 for the alleged gang rape of Ru...
T
Thomas Morgan
Released
Thomas Morgan was a conscientious objector from Virginia imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for re...
I
Izhar Muhammad
Released
Izhar Muhammad, Pakistani citizen and crewmember of the dhow Yunus, indicted August 7, 2024 alongside Ghufran...
C
Camilo Pereira
Released
Camilo Pereira participated in the June 2014 blockade of Alpha Natural Resources headquarters in Bristol, Virg...
P
Percy H. Peters
Released
Percy H. Peters was a Church of the Brethren conscientious objector from Virginia imprisoned during World War...
W
William S. Pickett
Released
William S. Pickett, of Leesburg, Virginia, was a Leesburg citizen held as a hostage for civilians captured by...
J
James S. Pleasants
Released
James S. Pleasants, of Loudoun County, Virginia, was charged with harboring a Confederate soldier and giving a...
H
Homer Morris Reed
Released
Homer Morris Reed was a Church of the Brethren conscientious objector from Virginia imprisoned during World Wa...
J
John L. Rinker
Released
John L. Rinker, of Leesburg, Virginia, was a Leesburg citizen held as a hostage for civilians captured by Mosb...
E
Eddie Robinette
Released
Eddie Robinette was a conscientious objector from Virginia imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for...
G
George Ryan
Released
George Ryan, an IWW member, received a five-year prison sentence, which he served in San Quentin from November...
C
Christopher Kyle Salmon
Released
Christopher Kyle Salmon was convicted of attempted arson in connection with the January 2004 ELF-claimed Molot...
J
Jocelyn Sawyer
Released
Jocelyn Sawyer participated in the May 2013 blockade of the Alpha Natural Resources headquarters access road n...
D
David E. Scull
Released
David E. Scull was a Quaker printer of Annandale, Virginia, who refused to answer 31 questions put to him by t...
J
John Shanks
Released
John Shanks, of Norfolk, Virginia, was a Norfolk 'underground' mail carrier condemned to imprisonment after a...
G
Galen Sol Shireman-Grabowski
Released
Galen Sol Shireman-Grabowski, age 24, locked himself to a helicopter used by Mountain Valley Pipeline crews in...
T
T. Jefferson Shreve
Released
T. Jefferson Shreve, of Loudoun County, Virginia, was imprisoned for guiding the Confederate Army on the Potom...
E
Erin Sieber
Released
Erin Sieber was a Catholic Worker who in April 2001 carried out a symbolic disarmament action at the Pentagon....
A
Andrew Moore Stegner
Released
Andrew Stegner, 19, of Lynchburg, VA was charged with throwing a projectile into an occupied building (felony)...
B
Bill Streit
Released
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker (Washington, DC); took part in the 1991 ANZUS Peace Force Plowshares at Griffiss A...
J
Jesse D. Sykes
Released
Jesse D. Sykes, of Princess Anne County, Virginia, was sentenced to about a year for aiding men he believed we...
J
John Clabon Taylor
One of the Martinsville Seven — seven Black Virginia men arrested January 1949 for the alleged gang rape of Ru...
B
Barbara A. Thomas
Released
Barbara A. Thomas was a 21-year-old student at the Virginia Theological Seminary and College who served a 30-d...

Institutions in Virginia

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

Occoquan Workhouse
15 cases
FCI PetersburgHopewell, Virginia
11 cases
Occoquan Workhouse / DC JailLorton, Virginia
11 cases
Virginia State PenitentiaryRichmond, Virginia
8 cases
Charles Town Jail (Jefferson County)Charles Town, Virginia
7 cases
Castle GodwinRichmond, Virginia
3 cases
Federal Reformatory, PetersburgPetersburg, Virginia
3 cases
Norfolk Naval Station (USS Iowa) — Nuclear Navy Plowshares
2 cases