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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.

D
Donald Craig
Released
Donald Craig, identified as Donald (2X) Craig, was a Nation of Islam member detained following a January 25, 1...
J
John Craig
Released
John Craig was an IWW member from Sacramento. John Craig received a one- to fourteen-year prison sentence, whi...
D
Dale Crandall-Bear
Dale Crandall-Bear was jailed December 10–14, 1982 after an anti-nuclear blockade at Mather Air Force Base.
A
Archie Crawford
Released
Archie Crawford was a nineteen-year-old jailed during the San Francisco general-strike crackdown in 1934. He t...
C
Charles Crowley
Released
Charles Crowley was an IWW member from Portola. Charles Crowley received a three-year prison sentence, which h...
P
Patrick Croy
Released
Patrick Hooty Croy was a Shasta Indian sentenced to death for the 1978 shooting death of a Yreka, California p...
B
Benjamin Cruz
Released
Benjamin Cruz was a Guatemalan-born Los Angeles labor organizer and officer of the Furniture Workers Union who...
C
Csaba John Csukas
Released
Csaba John Csukas, 39, of Daly City CA, naturalized US citizen who arrived as a refugee of the Bosnian war, wa...
J
Joe Cuba
The newspaper reports that Joe Cuba, described as a white Black Panther member, was beaten and taken into poli...
E
Emma Cutler
Released
Emma Cutler was a Los Angeles Communist organizer and secretary of the Los Angeles Workers’ School. She was se...
W
Waldemar Czapanski
Released
Waldemar Czapanski was listed in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosec...
D
Dutch Czernatsky
The July 16 Western Worker reports Dutch Czernatsky, chairman of the Joint Strike Committee at San Pedro, arre...
L
Lynn Daniels
Don Cox identifies this woman among people actually arrested in the April 23, 1969 San Francisco Panther offic...
M
Michael Daniels
Released
Michael ('Mike') Daniels was a Greek-born co-editor of the left-wing Greek Tribune. In May 1959, though mental...
L
Lonnie Darden
Released
Lonnie Darden was a Black Panther Party member arrested outside Oakland’s Lamp Post Bar and Restaurant on Dece...
A
Ann Davis
Revolt, October 1932, pages 5-6, individually names the six August 14 Los Angeles Olympic Stadium demonstrator...
R
Ronnie Davis
The Liberated Guardian reports that San Francisco Mime Troupe founder Ronnie Davis was handcuffed and arrested...
E
Ed Dawe
Released
Ed Dawe was an IWW member from Marysville. Ed Dawe received a four-year prison sentence, which he served in Sa...
D
Dawes (Marysville IWW defendant, 1923)
Fred W. Thompson’s memoir identifies a fellow IWW defendant only as Dawes. After Thompson’s first trial ended...
N
Nidu Day
Nidu Day was arrested with Bob Duren in Los Angeles on October 27, 1977 after police stopped their car while t...
B
Basil Dell
Basil Dell was named in the June22 LosAngeles dispatch about the previous night’s police raid on an unemployme...
R
Russell Dell
Russell Dell was named in the June22 LosAngeles dispatch about the previous night’s police raid on an unemploy...
F
Francisco Diaz
The San Pedro dispatch dated July 5, 1934 identifies Francisco Diaz as a picket held in jail without charges....
J
Joe Diaz
Joe Diaz was one of four cantaloupe-strike prisoners denied habeas relief by Judge A. C. Finney in El Centro o...

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