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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
Michael E. Spencer
Michael E. Spencer was a California prisoner represented in the March 20, 2012 public petition to the United N...
M
Michael Sprague
Released
Michael Sprague was imprisoned at Lompoc as a draft or conscientious resister during the 1960s.
H
Harold Stallings
Released
Harold Stallings was an Everyman I crew member jailed after the CNVA voyage opposing Pacific nuclear weapons t...
F
Frank Stanek
The July 23 Western Worker’s July 11 San Jose dispatch reports Frank Stanek released from San Jose jail after...
K
Kayla Starr
Kayla Starr was individually reported as sentenced July 21, 1983 to ten jail days and seventy community-servic...
N
Nick Steelik
Released
Nick Steelik was an IWW organizer from Los Angeles. Nick Steelik was arrested on September 19, 1919, for ''wil...
W
William Stein
Released
William Stein was an IWW member from Los Angeles. William Stein received a one- to fourteen-year prison senten...
C
C. C. Stemler
Released
C. C. Stemler was listed in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecution...
B
Brook Stevens
Brook Stevens was convicted of trespass following the April 23, 1984 protest against Diablo Canyon licensing a...
R
Ricky Stevens
Released
Ricky Stevens was a U.S. Army prisoner and one of the Presidio 27. On October 14, 1968, twenty-seven prisoners...
M
Miriam Stevenson
Released
Miriam Stevenson was a former union organizer held without bail on Terminal Island under the McCarran Act — on...
S
Stewart (Riverside strike defendant)
Stewart was arrested while sitting with Winters in a car outside the union meeting hall. The April issue ident...
B
Baldy Stewart (San Quentin IWW prisoner)
Thompson recalls an older IWW prospector known as Baldy Stewart actually imprisoned with him in San Quentin du...
S
Scott D. Stoner
Scott D. Stoner was a California prisoner represented in the March 20, 2012 public petition to the United Nati...
R
Robert P. Stover
Released
Robert P. Stover, better known to friends and fellow workers as "Ed" Stover, was an Industrial Workers of the...
J
Jack Strivers
Released
Jack Strivers was a Sacramento City College student, athlete and Black community organizer. A former Black Pan...
J
Jymbo Sudan
Released
Jymbo Sudan was a Black Panther Party member jailed for contempt during a California court appearance by Bobby...
T
Tuchi Suguki
Tuchi Suguki was a California Japanese Labor Union leader from the Garden Grove workers’ camp arrested by depu...
F
Fred Suttle
Released
Fred Suttle was given a five- to ten-year prison sentence for violating the state's criminal syndicalism law b...
H
Harold Swanson
Released
Harold Swanson was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the stockade prisoners at the Presidio o...
A
Augustus Swift
Released
Augustus Swift was one of four Black Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees arrested at the Cohasset camp near...
G
Gus Swift
Released
Gus Swift was listed in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecutions an...
J
Joshua Sykes
Released
Joshua Sykes was a pacifist pastor associated with the Church of the Living God in Berkeley, California. His f...
S
Sylvester Sylva
The July 9, 1934 Western Worker identifies Sylvester Sylva as a PuertoRican Marine Workers Industrial Union se...

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