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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.

H
Henry Schoen
Henry Schoen was one of the named defendants arrested in the September14, 1931 San Francisco City Hall unemplo...
S
Steve Schoenfeld
Steve Schoenfeld was individually reported as sentenced July 21, 1983 for the June MX launch blockade at Vande...
P
Paul Schultes
Paul Schultes is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Detention Ca...
C
Charles G. Schulze
Released
Charles G. Schulze’s clemency recommendation reports more than one year actually held in San Diego County Jail...
J
Julian Schuman
Released
Julian Schuman was a correspondent and staff writer for the China Monthly Review. A federal grand jury indicte...
L
Laos Schuman
Laos Schuman was incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville and organized for HIV medical ca...
E
Elaine W. Schwartz
Elaine W. Schwartz was arrested September 6, 1984, initially released that day, then refused probation and act...
S
Stephen Robert Sciepes
Stephen Robert Sciepes was among six people arrested in a Richmond, California house raid on February21,1976 a...
S
Steve Scipes
New Dawn Party member identified in Dragon’s Richmond explosives prosecution report. The defendants pleaded gu...
C
Charles Scott
Released
New Afrikan political prisoner held at San Quentin State Prison in California, listed as a North American poli...
J
John L. Scott
Released
John L. Scott was a member of the Black Panther Party and the eighth person indicted over the April 6, 1968 We...
D
Danny Seals
Released
Danny Seals, then 21 and from Auburn, California, was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the s...
K
Katelyn Skye Seitz
Released
Katelyn Skye Seitz, who publicly identifies themself as Skye Jones, was arrested during a January 9, 2026 demo...
J
James Seymour
Released
James Seymour appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft and...
Z
Zayd-Malik Shakur
Zayd-Malik Shakur was a New York Black Panther Party member reportedly detained by FBI and local police after...
J
Jess Shapiro
Revolt, October 1932, pages 5-6, individually names the six August 14 Los Angeles Olympic Stadium demonstrator...
M
Martin Shapiro
Released
Martin Shapiro was one of the workers arrested at the Los Angeles May Day demonstration of 1 May 1930 — on cha...
T
Thomas Sharp
Released
Thomas Sharp was arrested during the July 1934 crackdown surrounding the San Francisco general strike. Police...
B
Buddy Shaw
Released
Buddy Shaw was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the stockade prisoners at the Presidio of Sa...
L
Lintonia Sheppard
Released
Lintonia Sheppard was responsible for health care for more than one hundred children at the Black Panther Part...
G
Gerald Sherman
Gerald Sherman was arrested at the edge of a May Day meeting in Compton, California, in 1934 after police fail...
S
Shin Shibata
Shin Shibata is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at San Pedro Detention Stat...
G
Gloria Shields
Gloria Shields was individually named among San Diego Black Panthers arrested July 16, 1969 on the way to a br...
S
Seiei Shima
Seiei Shima was an Okinawan gardener and labor activist. Yushi Yamazaki's 2020 study, printed p. 102 and notes...

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