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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.

Daniel Andreas San Diego
In Custody
Daniel Andreas San Diego is a straight-edge vegan animal-liberation activist from the San Francisco Bay Area w...
Abdul Olugbala Shakur
In Custody
Abdul Olugbala Shakur, whose legal name is James Earl Harvey, is a New Afrikan revolutionary nationalist, writ...
Mike Sun
In Custody
Chino Hills, California political operative and operator of the Chinese-language outlet U.S. News Center, pros...
Maryam Tahmasebi
In Custody
Maryam Tahmasebi is an Iranian-born psychology and statistics professor who had lived in the United States for...
Michael Alan Thomas
In Custody
Michael Alan Thomas was arrested on June 13, 2026 and accused of helping plan and advise an anti-government at...
Ismael Vega
In Custody
Ismael Vega pleaded guilty to interfering with law enforcement during the June 8, 2025 anti-immigration-enforc...
José Bello
Released
José Bello is a Bakersfield College student, farmworker and immigrant-rights advocate. ICE arrested him on May...
Claudia Rueda
Released
Claudia Rueda is a student and immigrant-rights organizer associated with the Immigrant Youth Coalition. Borde...
Sam Jones
Sam Jones was a Communist organizer of unemployed workers in Los Angeles. A November 19, 1934 report described...
James Branch
James Branch was the circulation director of the Western Worker and an instructor at the Workers’ School in Sa...
Helen Meyers
Helen Meyers (also printed as Helen Myers) was a San Francisco State College student, Young Socialist Alliance...
Richard Hongisto
Richard Hongisto, San Francisco sheriff, spent five days in jail for contempt of court after failing to carry...
Victor H. Johnson
Victor H. Johnson was one of eight striking tanker workers convicted in the Modesto dynamite prosecution in St...
Gullit Eder Acevedo
Released
Gullit Eder Acevedo, known as Jaguar, is an educator and street-vendor advocate associated with the Justice 8....
Artie Adanandus
Released
Artie Adanandus was seventeen when Richmond, California, police shot him in the back while arresting him on Se...
David Agranoff
Released
San Diego animal-liberation and Earth Liberation Front activist and author imprisoned during the Green Scare f...
Agustin Aguayo
Released
Agustin Aguayo was a US Army combat medic who sought release as a conscientious objector and refused a second...
Cesar Aguirre
Released
Cesar Aguirre, then 24 and from Elk Grove, California, was prosecuted for actions during the November 2-3, 201...
Stew Albert
Released
Stew Albert was an early member of the Yippies (Youth International Party) and a key figure in the 1960s New L...
Leonard Alexander
Released
Leonard Alexander was a Black inmate at the Correctional Training Facility at Soledad who, in a letter publish...
Eugene Allen
Released
One of the 'San Quentin Two,' convicted with Eugene 'Ernest' Graham of killing a guard at the Deuel Vocational...
River Allen
River Allen protested U.S. support for Israel by blocking the Golden Gate Bridge in April 2024. A jury convict...
Emilio Alonzo
Emilio Alonzo was an Argentine agricultural worker prosecuted after the April 14, 1930 raid on the Agricultura...
Stephanie Amesquita
Released
Stephanie Amesquita was one of the Justice Eight street-vendor advocates prosecuted over three September 2023...

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