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Washington
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 Washington.
404Documented
2In custody
321Released
2Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in Washington
Where Washington’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1910s 155
1970s 38
2000s 28
1960s 28
2020s 25
1980s 25
Recent dashboard entries from Washington
The newest published events and reporting located in Washington, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Other
Federal agents search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington home
Other
White House excludes Politico from Air Force One press pool
Protest
Pro-Data Center Party Interrupted by Protesters in DC
Other
White House excludes CNN from Air Force One press pool for presidential trips
Protest
Thousands join protest outside Kennedy Center, expressing concern that Trump might tear it down
Other
CNN, MS NOW and Politico barred from White House access; outlets challenge the ban
Protest
Protesters hit Hagerstown to protest major data center proposed for city
Arrest
He brought a guillotine to D.C. He didn’t expect to get arrested.
Documented cases
404 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
A
Ali Shokri
Released
Ali Shokri was a former member of the Iranian Air Force who defected to the United States in 1973 and sought p...
B
Bobbi Lee Silva
Released
Bobbi Lee Silva was one of nine people federally arrested on July 15, 2025 over the June 11 protest that block...
G
George Simmons
George Simmons was a Muckleshoot prisoner at Washington State Penitentiary. Revolutionary Worker reported raci...
J
James Simmons
James Simmons, also called Jimi, was George Simmons’s Muckleshoot brother and a Washington State Penitentiary...
J
Joshua Simpson
Released
Joshua Simpson is an Iraq War combat veteran and former Fort Lewis Army interrogator who became an anti-war or...
R
Richard Sinclair
Richard Sinclair was jailed in Bellingham for posting Communist literature. The Daily Worker of November 15, 1...
L
Louis Skaroff
Louis Skaroff was an Everett free-speech activist arrested during the Industrial Workers of the World campaign...
A
Aaron Slutzker
Released
Aaron Slutzker, also printed as Aaron Slutzkar in the same immigration file, was arrested in Seattle on Novemb...
H
Henry Smith
Henry Smith was one of the former Hudson’s Bay Company employees whom Washington territorial authorities held...
L
Lyon A. Smith
Lyon A. Smith was one of the former Hudson’s Bay Company employees whom Washington territorial authorities hel...
D
David Sohappy Jr.
David Sohappy Jr. was a Yakama fisherman convicted with his father, David Sohappy Sr., of selling salmon and s...
E
E. J. Sonnenburg
Released
E. J. Sonnenburg was serving a prison sentence at McNeil Island Penitentiary from July 31, 1918, to June 21, 1...
W
W. E. Spear
Released
W. E. Spear was the Seattle district secretary-treasurer of an IWW industrial union organization. On April 22,...
E
Ellen Steppleton
Released
Ellen Steppleton was jailed following the July 1984 blockade of the White Train carrying nuclear weapons at Ba...
D
Deborah Stout
Released
Deborah Stout volunteered with the Coalition Against Fur Farms. In 1994 she was confined for civil contempt af...
F
Forest Student
Forest Student was an Olympia community organizer jailed after a May Day 2008 antiwar and immigrant-sanctuary...
O
Olaf Sundin
Olaf Sundin was individually named among four defendants at an August 12, 1983 hearing concerning refusal of $...
C
Carl Swanson
Carl Swanson was an Industrial Workers of the World prisoner who died by suicide in Spokane County Jail on Sep...
C
Carl Swelgin
Carl Swelgin was a German-born IWW organizer whose United States naturalization was annulled after government...
A
Al M. Talaga
Released
Al M. Talaga, 32, of Auburn, WA was arrested and charged federally as a felon in possession of a firearm. On J...
R
Ramon Tancioco
Released
Ramon Tancioco chaired the Portland defense committee for members of the Filipino cannery workers’ union, late...
S
St. William Thomas
Released
St. William Thomas was a conscientious objector from Washington imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed...
J
James P. Thompson
Released
James P. Thompson was one of the founders of the IWW, from Seattle, Washington. James P. Thompson was convicte...
G
Glenn Timpke
Released
Glenn Timpke appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’1969 current-prisoner lists of draft...
Institutions in Washington
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Washington that appear in the census’s case files.
Snohomish County JailEverett, Washington
75 cases
McNeil Island Federal PenitentiarySteilacoom, Washington
67 cases
USP McNeil IslandSteilacoom, Washington
43 cases
Washington State PenitentiaryWalla Walla, Washington
13 cases
SeaTac Federal Detention CenterSeaTac, Washington
9 cases
Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla / U.S. District Court, W.D. WashingtonWalla Walla, Washington
8 cases
US Forest Service, Sullivan LakeMetaline Falls, Washington
7 cases
Washington State Penitentiary at Walla WallaWalla Walla, Washington
5 cases