Political prisoners are people prosecuted for their political beliefs or ideologies, activities, and affiliations with social movements. Political prisoners can be anybody from any race, culture, age, or gender. They are often associated and identified as leaders in organizations or movements opposed to the atrocities committed by the United States government. Some examples of these crimes are the infringement of privacy, police brutality, genocide of indigenous people,forced dispossession of land.        
 

The objective of the incarceration of political leaders by the government is to destabilize social movements of resistance. Political prisoners are often given harsh, long term sentences in prisons where they are mistreated on a daily basis. Mistreatment includes extensive periods of time in solitary confinement, denied recreational time, and insufficient visiting time.The primary purpose of mistreatment of political prisoners is to prevent organizing behind prison walls. The government often paints a negative picture of political prisoners by calling them criminals or terrorists in an effort to justify the imprisonment of these people to the general public. Often times when Political Prisoners are being prosecuted, they are charged with other crimes to hide the fact they are being imprisoned for their political beliefs.Their commonality is that they are fighting government oppression and were unjustly prosecuted in an effort to destroy their respective movements.