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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

Documented cases

1,527 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

H
Harry Carlisle
Released
Harry Carlisle was an English-born novelist, journalist, and lecturer held without bail on Terminal Island und...
C
Carl Carlson (San Pedro longshoreman, 1934)
Carl Carlson was a fifty-nine-year-old longshoreman arrested on a picket line during the 1934 California marit...
F
Frank Carlson
Released
Frank Carlson was a trade unionist held without bail on Terminal Island under the McCarran Act, one of the Los...
S
Sandra Carmona Samane
Sandra Carmona Samane was prosecuted with Ashleigh Brown and Cynthia Raygoza following an August 28, 2025 enco...
J
James Carr
James “Jimmy” Carr was a former California prisoner associated with George Jackson and Huey Newton who became...
P
Pedro Carrillo
Pedro Carrillo was a California prisoner, identified as K-63918, whose participation in the 2011 prison hunger...
M
Mini Carson
Mini Carson, a Communist congressional candidate, was named with Charles White, Lillian Lewis, Mark Thornton,...
J
J. A. Casdorf
Released
J. A. Casdorf was an IWW member from Sacramento. J. A. Casdorf received a five-year prison sentence, which he...
P
Pat Casey
Released
Pat Casey was an IWW member from Oakland. Pat Casey received a five-year prison sentence, which he served in S...
R
Richard Casimir
The July 9 Western Worker names Richard Casimir among San Francisco maritime-strike supporters arrested after...
A
Alexander Jacob Castro
Released
Alexander Jacob Castro, 23, Riverside Historic Courthouse green-handprint defendant, July 30 2022. Felony redu...
H
Hugo Cederholm
Released
Hugo Cederholm was an IWW member from Los Angeles. Hugo Cederholm received a four-year prison sentence, which...
M
Mario Chacón
Released
Mario Chacón was prosecuted after a 2025 protest in Los Angeles. Chacón pleaded guilty on October 22, 2025 to...
W
Walter Chaffee
Released
Walter Chaffee was a California art instructor and participant in the CNVA Everyman voyage opposing nuclear te...
G
George Chamorro
George Chamorro was arrested in San Francisco during police raids on radical meeting places in the July 1934 g...
E
Ezra Chase
Ezra Chase was named among approximately twenty arrested with William Z. Foster at the Los Angeles Plaza demon...
F
Felix Chavez
Released
Felix Chavez was identified in contemporary rosters of prisoners confined for conscientious or antiwar resista...
J
J. B. Childs
Released
J. B. Childs was from Los Angeles. J. B. Childs received a four-year prison sentence, which he served in San Q...
C
Christopher Chitwood
Christopher Chitwood was arrested by Department of Homeland Security officers on November 4, 2025, near 650 Ca...
H
Hector Cifuentes
Hector Cifuentes was a California prisoner, identified as J-02643, whose participation in the 2011 prison hung...
J
Joe Clohessy
Released
Joe Clohessy was imprisoned at Folsom State Prison during the era of California's criminal-syndicalism prosecu...
N
Nic Clyde
Released
Nic Clyde was a Australian Greenpeace participant jailed in California following the 2001 Vandenberg anti-miss...
C
Curtis Coggins
Released
Curtis Coggins was a conscientious objector from California imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed for...
J
Jeremiah Dean Colcleasure
Released
Jeremiah Dean Colcleasure, age 24, was convicted of conspiracy and attempted arson in connection with the Dece...

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