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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
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
1,526 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
J
Julian Renee Mejia
Released
On September 10, 2020 Julian Renee Mejia, 35, of Los Angeles, CA pled "no contest" to a charge of looting. He...
P
Phillip Mellman
Released
Phillip Mellman was an IWW member from Sacramento. Phillip Mellman received a four-year prison sentence, which...
R
Ruby Mendoza
Page 5 names Ruby Mendoza among five Fish Cannery Workers' Union members arrested during a San Pedro-area stri...
W
Willie Mendoza
Willie Mendoza was an East Los Angeles College student and chairman of La Vida Nueva, identified in contempora...
F
Fred Mermon
Released
Fred Mermon was one of the railway shopmen convicted in the frame-up that grew out of the 1922 nationwide shop...
C
Claude Merritt
Released
Claude Merritt was imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison during the era of California's criminal-syndicalism...
J
John Metsaranta
John Metsaranta, printed in Finnish inflected form Metsärannan, was a janitor at the San Francisco Finnish wor...
B
Brian Thomas Mettenbrink
Released
Brian Thomas Mettenbrink is an Anonymous hacktivist who was charged as part of a group who conducted a DDoS at...
R
Robert Middaugh
Released
Robert Middaugh was an anarchist who served a three-year sentence stemming from a clash with police during the...
A
Alvin Miller
Alvin Miller was a Black prisoner killed in the Soledad prison exercise-yard shootings on January 13, 1970. Co...
G
Gene Miller (Eureka lumber striker)
Gene Miller was an Eureka lumber striker held amid the 1935 Sawmill and Timber Workers Union campaign. The Aug...
O
Oscar Miller (San Diego Black Panther)
Oscar Miller was identified as a San Diego Black Panther arrested while walking down the street with a sawed-o...
A
Arthur Milton
Page 3 identifies Arthur Milton, 69, as the sixth worker arrested after the June 1 Los Angeles unemployed reli...
L
Lloyd Mims
Lloyd Mims had taken over distribution of the Panther newspaper shortly before the Central Avenue raid. Contem...
L
Luther Mincy
Released
Luther Mincy was a Cannery and Agricultural Workers’ Industrial Union organizer prosecuted in two California l...
A
Arthur Mini
Released
Arthur Mini was a CAWIU organizer, one of the eighteen indicted at Sacramento in July 1934 for criminal syndic...
R
Robert W. Minton
Released
Robert W. Minton was an IWW member from Sacramento. Robert W. Minton received a five-year prison sentence, whi...
M
Mike Miskich
Released
Mike Miskich was a self-identified class-war prisoner writing to the ILD from San Quentin Prison, California i...
E
Edo Mita
Released
Edo Mita was a Japanese-born Los Angeles resident and husband of wartime-incarceration survivor Chiye Mori. Th...
H
Henry Mitchell
Henry Mitchell was a New York Black Panther Party member reportedly detained by FBI and local police after arr...
Y
Yosaburo Miyagi
Yosaburo Miyagi was an Okinawan gardener and labor activist, identified as Yotoku Miyagi's cousin. Yushi Yamaz...
O
Omar Abdi Mohamed
Released
Omar Abdi Mohamed was a Somali preacher paid $1,700 a month by the Saudi government to promote Wahhabism at a...
C
Cresensiano Montes
Cresensiano Montes, reported as 25 years old and living in Wilmington, was named among defendants in the Los A...
E
Edward Montley
Edward Montley was a Black prisoner at San Quentin State Penitentiary who wrote about racial discrimination an...
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