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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.
1,527Documented
39In custody
899Released
17Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in California
Where California’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1930s 354
1970s 205
1960s 199
1910s 174
2020s 131
1980s 90
Recent dashboard entries from California
The newest published events and reporting located in California, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Other
Whistleblower alleges FBI targeted Los Angeles anti-ICE protesters
Prosecution
Charges dropped against five Stanford students over pro-Palestine protest
Prosecution
Judge dismisses all charges against the Stud Alley 18 arrested during San Francisco Pride weekend
Protest
Two injured at Teamsters protest outside Amazon warehouse; sheriff says motorcyclist intentionally struck crowd
Other
Five invited reporters held at gunpoint by Vandenberg Space Force Base security
Other
Photojournalist Steven Berumen shoved by federal officers while covering an LA immigration protest
Prosecution
Anti-ICE protester accused of pouring lighter fluid on CHP car is sentenced to prison
Prosecution
Westlake man sentenced for anti-ICE protest actions
Documented cases
1,527 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
B
Bouke Blom
Released
Bouke Blom was a Church of the Brethren conscientious objector from California imprisoned during World War I....
V
Victor Bolanos
Victor Bolanos was arrested in San Francisco during police raids on radical meeting places in the July 1934 ge...
M
M. J. Bolotin
Released
M. J. Bolotin was a naturalized Molokan conscientious objector whose separate WWI case ended in a twelve-year...
N
Nellie Bongye
The July 9 Western Worker’s June 29 Compton report identifies MrsNellie Bongye arrested after a June 8 protest...
D
Deltha Booker
Don Cox identifies this woman among people actually arrested in the April 23, 1969 San Francisco Panther offic...
E
Esaw Booker
Released
Esaw Booker was wrongfully imprisoned in a Los Angeles drug case later overturned during the investigation of...
B
Bill Booth (San Francisco, 1934)
Bill Booth is individually named among workers arrested at a Communist election meeting in San Francisco’s Jef...
B
Ben Boots
Released
Ben Boots was a Young Communist League member raised in Chicago by his mother, Regina Boots, who worked as a t...
D
Donald Boston
The Black Panther reports that Richmond police jailed Donald Boston after he shot landlord Jack Swaim in a con...
B
Bowlby (San Pedro maritime striker)
Released
A maritime striker identified only as Bowlby was among six workers arrested and held in San Pedro on assault,...
J
John Bowman
John Bowman was a former Black Panther whom the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement submission identifies alongside...
J
John Boyd
Released
John Boyd was one of four Black Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees at the Cohasset camp near Chico, Califor...
A
A. Bratland
Released
A. Bratland was imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison during the era of California's criminal-syndicalism pro...
A
Albin Bratland
Released
Albin Bratland was from Sacramento. Albin Bratland received a four-year prison sentence, which he served in Sa...
H
Heshimu Lloyd Brice
Released
New Afrikan political prisoner held in Santa Clara County, California, listed as a North American political pr...
M
Michael J. Brodheim
Michael J. Brodheim was a California prisoner and plaintiff in litigation protecting prisoners’ right to file...
C
Claude Brohn
Claude Brohn is individually named in the International Labor Defense political-prisoner directory reproduced...
R
Robert Brooks
Released
Robert Brooks was convicted in the Eastern District of California for making false statements to a grand jury...
D
Delbert Brown
Released
Delbert Brown appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft and...
J
John Brown (San Francisco Black Panther)
John Brown was a San Francisco Black Panther, Liberation School teacher and assistant coordinator of the break...
H
Hans Theodor W. Bruger
Hans Theodor W. Bruger is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Det...
E
Eugene Brunner
Released
Eugene M. Brunner was prosecuted for contempt for refusing to say whether he had belonged to the Communist Par...
J
John Bruns
Released
John Bruns, also recorded as Brunes, was an IWW lumber worker arrested in 1924 and held in Lassen County Jail....
I
Isaiah Bryant
Released
On June 30, 2020 Isaiah Bryant, 24, was arrested in Los Angeles, CA by the "Safe LA Task Force" after the Geor...
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
Metropolitan Detention Center, Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
14 cases