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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.

C
Cleveland Edwards
Cleveland Edwards was a Black prisoner killed in the Soledad prison exercise-yard shootings on January 13, 197...
D
Dean Edwards
Released
Corporal Dean Edwards, 20, of Colfax, Louisiana, was one of the Camp Pendleton 14, Black Marines arrested afte...
E
Ernesto Cebada Eichwald
Ernesto Cebada Eichwald was an Educational Clearinghouse counselor and student identified among the ten defend...
K
Katherine Ekerle
Katherine Ekerle is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Detention...
J
John Elias
John Elias is individually listed in the January 1931 Labor Defender political-prisoner directory under Angel...
G
George E. Elstun
Released
George E. Elstun was a conscientious objector from California imprisoned during World War I. Court-martialed f...
L
Laura Payne Emerson
Laura Payne Emerson was a labor organizer and speaker for the Industrial Workers of the World. On February 8,...
S
Sol Erenberg
Sol Erenberg was named with Frank Spector as having actually been arrested earlier in the Los Angeles politica...
E
Ernest Erickson
Released
Ernest Erickson was an IWW member from Los Angeles. Ernest Erickson received a four-year prison sentence, whic...
C
Claude Erwin
Claude Erwin was individually identified as an imprisoned labor or political prisoner at San Quentin State Pri...
E
Erin Petra Escobar
Released
Erin Petra Escobar was detained and arrested during a July 17, 2025 protest against federal immigration-enforc...
A
Alfonso Esparza
Alfonso Esparza was a Soledad prisoner who testified for Robert Charles Jordan Jr. in the 1966 civil-rights ch...
E
Elias Espinoza
Released
Elias Espinoza was a Mexican-born Orange County packinghouse worker and veteran labor activist. Immigration ag...
J
Jose Espinoza
Jose Espinoza was identified as local labor leader during the 1936 Orange County orange-grove strike. The July...
P
Pablo Espinoza (Ship Scalers defendant)
Pablo Espinoza was held on an assault-with-a-deadly-weapon accusation arising from the San Francisco Ship Scal...
E
Enrique Estrada
General Enrique Estrada was held in the United States after a mobilization aimed at an attack on Tijuana was t...
A
Andre Evans
Released
Los Angeles man, brother of a 17-year-old fatally shot by LAPD officers, arrested and charged with conspiring...
H
Henry C. Evans
Released
Henry C. Evans was among the Industrial Workers of the World defendants arrested in the Sacramento crackdown t...
E
E. F. Chase
E. F. Chase, identified as the driver of Foster’s automobile, was individually named among those arrested with...
R
R. Farrel
R. Farrel was a union man whom the September 6, 1935 Voice of the Federation describes as actually in custody...
A
A. Feinberg
Released
A. Feinberg was listed among the class-war prisoners on the International Labor Defense's 1930 Winter Relief r...
G
Gregory Felix
Released
Gregory Felix was arrested by Oakland police vice-squad officers inside an NAACP office in 1979 in connection...
L
Larry Ferlazzo
Larry Ferlazzo was a Bay Area anti-nuclear activist who participated in the March 11, 1981 blood-pouring actio...
J
Juan Fernandez
Released
Juan Fernandez was a member of La Casa de Carnalismo, a Chicano community organization in East Los Angeles tha...

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