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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

Documented cases

1,526 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

J
John Orlando
Released
John Orlando was an IWW member from Sacramento. John Orlando received a four-year prison sentence, which he se...
J
Janice Marianne Orson
Janice Marianne Orson was among six people arrested in a Richmond, California house raid on February21,1976 an...
A
Alberto Ortiz
Released
Alberto Ortiz was a member of La Casa de Carnalismo, a Chicano community organization in East Los Angeles that...
J
Jack Osborn
Jack Osborn was a Communist assembly candidate in California’s sixty-first district. A Los Angeles report publ...
L
Louis Osczepinski
Released
Louis Osczepinski, then 21, was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the stockade prisoners at t...
R
Ryusuke Oshiro
Ryusuke Oshiro is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Agnews State Hospital,...
O
Owens (San Francisco speaker, 1928)
Owens (San Francisco speaker, 1928) was an unemployment-meeting speaker described on March 8, 1928 as twice ar...
J
John Owens (Los Angeles anniversary defendant)
Page 3 individually identifies Black worker John Owens among those arrested with attorney Leo Gallagher, Jose...
E
Ernest Palmer
Released
Ernest Palmer was one of six demonstrators who ran onto the track at the closing ceremony of the 1932 Los Ange...
W
William Palmer
William Palmer was a Riverside, California community activist and defense supporter whose imprisonment was des...
J
John Palmisano
Released
John Palmisano appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft an...
P
Peter Panagopoulos
Released
Peter Panagopoulos was a Greek worker and bookseller prosecuted in California for criminal syndicalism and thr...
S
Sang Ryup Park
Released
Sang Ryup Park was the English-language editor of Korean Independence and an outspoken opponent of South Korea...
J
Jim Parkhurst
Released
Jim Parkhurst was a Los Angeles Catholic Worker who participated in the Ash Wednesday March 5, 2003 blockade o...
J
Joyce Parkhurst
Released
Joyce Parkhurst was a Los Angeles Catholic Worker who participated in the Ash Wednesday March 5, 2003 blockade...
L
Lindsay Parme
Animal-rights activist Lindsay Parme was detained June 12–July 2, 2003 for a federal grand-jury appearance.
L
L. Paterson
L. Paterson, a labor juror at the El Centro trial, was arrested and subsequently released, according to the Ju...
E
E. Pavini
Vecellio records Pavini’s actual January 26, 1918 arrest at Eureka on vagrancy, next-day release and immediate...
R
Roy Pearson
The July 9, 1934 Western Worker names Roy Pearson among four visitors the International Labor Defense sent to...
C
Cris Pedersen
Released
Cris Pedersen was an IWW member from Sacramento. Cris Pedersen received a five-year prison sentence, which he...
M
Mathias Pendzialek
Released
Mathias Pendzialek was a German Greenpeace participant jailed in California following the 2001 Vandenberg anti...
M
Marcial Peralta
Marcial Peralta was a Local 7 union member arrested while working on a Delano farm during the February–March 1...
C
Charles W. Perry
Released
Charles W. Perry was incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville and organized for HIV medica...
F
Frank Perry
The July 9, 1934 Western Worker continuation identifies Frank Perry among Marine Workers Industrial Union memb...

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