According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’.

The term is used by persons or groups challenging the legitimacy of the detention of a prisoner. Supporters of the term define a political prisoner as someone who is imprisoned for his or her participation in political activity. If a political offense was not the official reason for detention, the term would imply that the detention was motivated by the prisoner's politics.

Some understand the term political prisoner narrowly, equating it with the term prisoner of conscience (POC). Amnesty International campaigns for the release of prisoners of conscience, which include both political prisoners as well as those imprisoned for their religious or philosophical beliefs. To reduce controversy, and as a matter of principle, the organization's policy applies only to prisoners who have not committed or advocated violence. Thus, there are political prisoners who do not fit the narrower criteria for POCs. The organisation defines the differences as follows:

Adam Charles Kokesh (born February 1, 1982) is an American activist and talk radio host. Kokesh was a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and is a veteran of the Iraq War. He is an outspoken opponent of the U.S. military intervention in Iraq and has received media attention related to anti-war protest activities. He is the son of Charles Kokesh, a Santa Fe venture capitalist, founder of a firm called Technology Funding and owner of the Santa Fe Horse Park.

Kokesh attended the Native American Preparatory School in San Ysidro, New Mexico. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1999. In 2004, he served in Fallujah. He was a liaison between the U.S. military and Iraqi civilians as a member of the 3rd Civil Affairs Group. He also worked a security checkpoint while in Iraq. He brought home a pistol from Iraq in 2004 in violation of military rules, which prevented his return for a second Iraq tour. Kokesh "had risen to the rank of sergeant after three-and-a-half years in the Reserves" and "was demoted to corporal and soon thereafter discharged honorably with a re-enlistment code that basically said, 'you can't re-enlist.'" Having experienced combat in Fallujah, Kokesh received the Combat Action Ribbon and the Navy Commendation Medal after his honorable discharge from active duty.

Germano Nati (1946-2008) was an Eritrean politician. He joined EPLF in 1977 and, since independence, has held the following positions: member of the Central Council and Executive Committee of PFDJ, member of the National Assembly, Administrator of the Gash-Setit Province and Head of Social Affairs in the Southern Red Sea Region.

Mr. Nati died on March 17, 2008, in the prison cell of the PFDJ's regime of Isaias Afwerki.

Fritz Artz Springmeier is an American conspiracy theorist and religious right wing author, formerly a resident of Corbett, Oregon, who has written a number of books claiming that satanic forces are behind a move toward world domination by various families and organizations. He has described his goal as "exposing the New World Order agenda."

Springmeier has written and self-published a number of books based on the ideology of what's been described as an "ultra-right-wing group" called the Christian Patriot Association; this group was shut down in 2002 after convictions for tax fraud and tax evasion. He has endorsed the plausibility of Project Monarch, a purported Central Intelligence Agency mind control project whose conjectured existence is based only on the testimony of Cathy O'Brien under hypnosis.

Springmeier's early work, The Watchtower & the Masons, focuses on the relationship between Jehovah's Witnesses and Freemasonry. In this book he describes a relationship between Charles Taze Russell and the so-called "Eastern Establishment". Springmeier followed these links into Masonry and did a further examination of the Eastern establishment.^{[citation needed]}

Antonio "Tony" Montana is a fictional character and the main character of the 1983 film Scarface. He is portrayed by Al Pacino in the movie, and is voiced by André Sogliuzzo in the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. A prequel novel written by L.A. Banks, "Scarface: The Beginning", tells the tragic events that lead into the movie. Tony Montana has become a cultural icon and is one of the most famous movie characters of all time, embodying the rise from the bottom to the top. In 2008, Montana was named the 27th Greatest Movie Character by Empire Magazine. He is partly based on Tony Camonte, the main character of the 1932 movie of the same name. According to Oliver Stone, Tony's last name was inspired by former NFL quarterback, Joe Montana, Stone's favorite player. His net worth is $1 billion. A prequel novel of the same name was also written.

In May 1980, Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro opens Mariel Harbor in Mariel, Cuba allowing departing Cubans, former convicts, and criminals to emigrate to Miami, Florida on boats. Tony is one of the many 125,000 Cubans on the Mariel Boatlift to Miami, an estimated 25,000 of whom had a criminal record. When he gets to Miami, he is questioned by U.S. officials; he lies about his whole life, telling them that his entire family is dead or stayed behind in Cuba and that he was a "political prisoner". However, because of a tattoo on his left hand, which indicates that he was an assassin in prison, he is not granted a green card.