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California

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 California.

1,526Documented
39In custody
898Released
17Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in California

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

1930s 354 1970s 205 1960s 198 1910s 174 2020s 131 1980s 90

Documented cases

1,526 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

Luke Anson Hinman
Released
Luke Anson Hinman, whose full name was Loyal Anson Hinman, was a California labor organizer and veteran of the...
Luis Dalhet Hipolito
Luis Dalhet Hipolito is a U.S. citizen arrested during a federal immigration enforcement operation in downtown...
Willie Roger Holder
Released
Willie Roger Holder was a Black Panther and Vietnam veteran who went AWOL after being seriously wounded by a l...
William Hood
Released
William Hood was a painter from San Francisco convicted in the Sacramento IWW mass trial and sentenced to ten...
Tetsuji Horiuchi
Released
Tetsuji Horiuchi was a Trade Union Unity League organizer and leader of Japanese workers in the Imperial Valle...
Albert Hougardy
Released
Albert Hougardy was an organizer with the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (CAWIU), which led...
Isaih Houston
Isaih Houston, called Ike in contemporary reporting, was arrested after the raid on the Toure Community Center...
Elbert Howard
Released
Elbert “Big Man” Howard was a founding member of the Black Panther Party and the first editor of its newspaper...
Wayne Hsiung
Released
Wayne Hsiung is an American lawyer, animal rights organizer, and the co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere (D...
Nikki Hubbard
Released
Nikki Hubbard was one of eleven anti-fascist counter-protesters prosecuted after confrontations with supporter...
David Huerta
Released
President of SEIU California and Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West, the union...
Henry Hutto
Henry Hutto was an activist jailed for resisting a federal grand jury in Sacramento in 1990. The National Acti...
Bobby Hutton
Released
Bobby Hutton was the first recruit and treasurer of the Black Panther Party, among those arrested at the May 2...
David Hyun
Released
David Hyun was a Korean-American architect held without bail on Terminal Island from the McCarran Act midnight...
Patricia Iiyama
Released
Patricia “Patti” Iiyama was a civil-rights activist and member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement executive...
Luxey Irvin
Luxey Irvin, whose surname also appears as Irwin, was a Southern California Black Panther active in the childr...
George Jackson
Released
George Lester Jackson was a Black revolutionary, author, and Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party — and th...
José Jacques Medina
Released
José Jacques Medina was a Mexican political exile, attorney and labor organizer in Los Angeles and a leader of...
Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa
Released
Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, also known as Ronnie N. Dewberry, is a California prison organizer and a principal nego...
Otto Janson
Released
Otto Janson was an Oakland, California businessman prosecuted for sedition during World War I. He was overhear...
Katherine Jashinski
Released
Katherine Jashinski was a Texas Army National Guard member who publicly sought conscientious-objector status a...
Zachary Jenson
Released
Zachary Jenson was an environmental activist prosecuted with Eric McDavid and Lauren Weiner in a Northern Cali...
Carlos Jimenez
Carlos Jimenez is a U.S. citizen arrested after an encounter with federal immigration agents in Ontario, Calif...
David Johnson
Released
David Johnson was one of the San Quentin Six prosecuted for the events of August 21, 1971 at San Quentin. He w...

Institutions in California

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

San Quentin State PrisonSan Quentin, California
171 cases
Federal Bureau of Prisons
60 cases
Sharp Park Detention CampSharp Park, California
33 cases
Presidio StockadeSan Francisco, California
27 cases
Los Angeles County JailLos Angeles, California
26 cases
Folsom State PrisonFolsom, California
22 cases
San Quentin Rehabilitation CenterSan Quentin, California
16 cases
San Diego County JailSan Diego, California
13 cases