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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.

R
Reiji Taira
Reiji Taira, a gardener, is named by Yushi Yamazaki (2020), printed p. 103 and note 42, among Japanese labor a...
Y
Yuki Takashima
Yuki Takashima is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Detention C...
N
Noboru Tani
Noboru Tani, a gardener, is named by Yushi Yamazaki (2020), printed p. 103 and note 42, among Japanese labor a...
J
Jim Tanimoto
Released
Jim Tanimoto was a Japanese American incarcerated at Tule Lake who refused the 1943 loyalty questionnaire in p...
M
Masashi Tanimoto
Released
Masashi Tanimoto was a Japanese American incarcerated at Tule Lake who refused the 1943 loyalty questionnaire...
M
Mori Tanimoto
Released
Mori Tanimoto was a Japanese American incarcerated at Tule Lake who refused the 1943 loyalty questionnaire in...
M
Mrs. Jess Tanner (San Jose, 1934)
The woman identified only as Jess Tanner’s wife were seized by vigilantes at San Jose and forcibly sent to Los...
J
Jess Tanner
Jess Tanner and his wife were seized by vigilantes at San Jose and forcibly sent to Los Angeles during the 193...
A
Arthur Tarkam
Arthur Tarkam was a SERA worker assigned to the Presidio in San Francisco. A November 25, 1934 report and cont...
H
H. V. Taylor
Released
H. V. Taylor was an IWW member from Eureka. H. V. Taylor received a four-year prison sentence, which he served...
J
James M. Taylor
Released
James M. Taylor was an Army conscientious objector imprisoned at Fort Ord after refusing military orders on re...
J
John C. Taylor
Released
John C. Taylor was a Communist Labor Party member from Oakland. John C. Taylor received a one- to fourteen-yea...
K
Kirk Taylor
Released
Kirk Taylor was a member of the San Francisco Black Caucus, arrested with co-chairman Larry Pinkney in 1972 wh...
R
R. V. Taylor
Released
R. V. Taylor was imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison during the era of California's criminal-syndicalism pr...
S
Sam Telford
The July 2, 1934 Western Worker’s San Francisco June 26 report identifies Sam Telford as chairman of the Marin...
J
José Tellez
Released
Mexican-American youth nicknamed Smiling who was among the twelve defendants convicted in the January 1943 Sle...
R
Roy Tennant
Roy Tennant was a union man whom the September 6, 1935 Voice of the Federation describes as actually in custod...
G
G. J. Terrill
Released
G. J. Terrill was one of the Los Angeles Industrial Workers of the World defendants known as the "Twenty-Seven...
C
Chusei Teruya
Chusei Teruya was an Okinawan gardener and labor activist. Yushi Yamazaki's 2020 study, printed p. 102 and not...
E
Ed Theriault
Ed Theriault and his brother were held incommunicado for a week in the Oroville, California jail on a criminal...
B
Brendan Munro Thompson
Awaiting Trial
Brendan Munro Thompson, publicly identified as Bella Thompson and Bella Castillo, was arrested after an immigr...
J
James Thornton
James Thornton was a motorman involved in the Los Angeles Railway strike. A December 7 dispatch in the Daily W...
M
Mark Thornton
Mark Thornton was named in the November 22, 1934 Western Worker continuation listing San Francisco Jefferson P...
H
Hans Tidow
Hans Tidow is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Detention Camp,...

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