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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.

M
Marc Perry
Released
White anti-imperialist activist arrested in November 1977 in Los Angeles as one of the PFOC/LA 5 on conspiracy...
G
George Pesce
Released
George Pesce was a class-war prisoner held at San Quentin (inmate no. 44462), listed on the ILD's roster of Am...
C
Clarence Peters
Released
Clarence Peters was one of three young Black men who, on September 13, 1972, gave a ride to two white hitch-hi...
E
Edward R. Peters
Released
Edward R. Peters was a Los Angeles member of the Industrial Workers of the World, prosecuted under California'...
O
Olaf Peterson
Olaf Peterson was one of the named defendants arrested in the September14, 1931 San Francisco City Hall unempl...
J
Joe Pettis
Released
Joe Pettis was secretary of the Marine Workers Industrial Union in San Francisco during the 1934 waterfront an...
J
Jesse Phillips
The Soledad Seven report states that on February 1, 1971 the court dropped conspiracy counts against Jesse Phi...
T
Terry Phillips
Released
White Panther Party member convicted with Tom Stevens and sentenced to 5½ years-to-life over the July 1974 pol...
M
Mike Plesh
Released
Mike Plesh was a defendant in the Sacramento criminal-syndicalism prosecution arising from the organizing camp...
K
Karl Ploog
Karl Ploog is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Detention Camp,...
T
Theodora Pollok
Released
Theodora Pollok was a social worker and the only woman among the "Sacramento 46" IWW defendants tried in early...
G
Gerald Post
Released
Gerald Post appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’1969 current-prisoner lists of draft...
H
Henry Powell
Released
Henry Powell was from Eureka. Henry Powell received a three-year prison sentence, which he served in San Quent...
L
Larry Pratt
Released
Larry Pratt was identified in contemporary rosters of prisoners confined for conscientious or antiwar resistan...
B
Brenda Joyce Presley
Released
Brenda Joyce Presley worked on The Black Panther newspaper. On September 17, 1970, a federal judge ordered her...
J
James Price
Released
James Price was an IWW member from Los Angeles. James Price received a one- to fourteen-year prison sentence,...
A
A. M. Pruett
A. M. Pruett signed a first-person letter from Sacramento County Jail, published November 15, 1934, identifyin...
R
Roy Pulley
Released
Roy Pulley, then 19 and from Lakeport, California, was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the...
W
William Quinn
Released
William Joseph Quinn, an American-born member of the Provisional IRA, was sought by the United Kingdom for the...
R
Ramirez (Riverside strike defendant)
Ramirez was arrested with Guerrero while standing on a street corner carrying leaflets for a union meeting; th...
J
Javier Ramirez
Javier Ramirez was arrested on June 12, 2025, at an auto body shop in Montebello, California. A November 2025...
H
Hector Daniel Ramos
Released
Hector Daniel Ramos of Alhambra was taken into federal custody in a prosecution arising from the June 8, 2025...
R
Ricardo Ramos
Ricardo Ramos was a Los Angeles marine striker defended by ILD attorney Jack Frankel. Page 3’s July 16 report...
J
Joseph Ranchioni
Released
Joseph Ranchioni was a conscientious objector sentenced to three years for refusing to go to Korea on religiou...

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