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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
J. H. Shintz
Released
J. H. Shintz was listed in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecutions...
A
Abraham Shocker
Abraham Shocker was an IWW member convicted of violating the California criminal syndicalism law on December 9...
J
John Shoemaker (San Francisco longshore strike)
John Shoemaker was a San Francisco longshore strike-committee member whom police took to the station on a riot...
F
Frank Shuford
Released
Frank Norris Shuford was a 22-year-old Black community organizer in Santa Ana, California. Prosecutors charged...
R
Rachel Siemons
Rachel Siemons, a physician and observer of immigration operations, was taken into custody during a September...
H
Harry Simon
Harry Simon was one of the named defendants arrested in the September14, 1931 San Francisco City Hall unemploy...
S
Simonov (San Diego anti-fascist film, 1934)
The July 16 Western Worker’s July 4 San Diego dispatch names Simonov among arrested audience members after pol...
S
Sims (Los Angeles milk-strike picket, 1934)
Sims was identified by surname only among twenty-two people arrested for picketing the Adohr Dairy during the...
B
Buchan Singh
Released
Buchan Singh was named among the political prisoners jailed in Los Angeles in 1932 who sent revolutionary gree...
F
Francis Sirocho
Released
Francis Sirocho was a U.S. Army prisoner and one of the Presidio 27. On October 14, 1968, twenty-seven prisone...
W
Walt Skinner
Released
Walt Skinner was a Vietnam-era war objector imprisoned at Lompoc. Friends Journal later reported his release a...
M
Marilyn Skyhorse
Released
Marilyn Skyhorse was the wife of Paul Skyhorse, the American Indian Movement activist held nearly four years a...
R
Russell Smart
Russell Smart, nineteen, of Belvedere Gardens, was prosecuted during the Los Angeles-area agricultural strike....
C
C. J. Smith
Released
C. J. Smith was an IWW member from Los Angeles. C. J. Smith received a four-year prison sentence, which he ser...
C
Cornelius Smith
Released
Cornelius Smith was one of four Black Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees arrested after a racist attack at...
E
Edward J. Smith
Baltimore agent for this newspaper and maritime unionist is explicitly reported arrested several times during...
M
Marvin Smith
Released
Marvin Smith was a California prisoner, transferred from Soledad to San Quentin, who became a figure in the pr...
R
Robert Smith
Released
Robert Smith was arrested at Beale Air Force Base for protesting unmanned aerial vehicle operations.
S
Steven Soliah
Released
House painter and brother of Kathleen Soliah, a member of the SLA's second formation and a roommate of Michael...
F
Frederick Franklin Solkind
Frederick Franklin Solkind was among six people arrested in a Richmond, California house raid on February21,19...
A
Antonio Solorzano
Released
Antonio Solorzano was an organizer of the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union. In its October 13...
N
Nesrey Sood
Released
Nesrey Sood, then 26 and from Oakland, California, was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the...
M
M. Sornaman
M. Sornaman is individually listed in the January 1931 Labor Defender political-prisoner directory under Angel...
R
Rose Spector
Page 3's November 11 Los Angeles report individually names Rose Spector among those arrested in the preceding...
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