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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.
793Documented
19In custody
706Released
9Awaiting trial
Eras of repression in California
Where California’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.
1910s 164
1970s 123
1930s 97
1960s 85
2000s 72
1950s 66
Documented cases
793 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
Steve Kelly SJ
Released
Father Steve Kelly SJ is an American Jesuit priest and one of the most prolific Plowshares activists in U.S. h...
Matthew Keys
Released
Matthew Keys is a journalist and social media editor who in 2010 allegedly provided members of the hacktivist...
Nicole Kissane
Released
Nicole Kissane is an animal rights activist from Southern California who, along with Joseph Buddenberg, was in...
Katya Komisaruk
Released
Anti-nuclear activist who, on June 2, 1987, single-handedly destroyed a NAVSTAR satellite ground-control compu...
Fred Korematsu
Released
Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was a Japanese-American welder in Oakland, California who refused to comply with Civ...
Ron Kovic
Released
Ron Kovic is a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who was paralyzed from the chest down in the Vietnam War and became...
Tyler Lang
Released
Tyler Lang is a animal rights activist from Los Angeles, CA. He went vegan at the age of 14 and has been an ac...
Ring Lardner Jr.
Released
Ring Lardner Jr., a screenwriter and son of the humorist Ring Lardner, who had already won an Academy Award fo...
John Howard Lawson
Released
John Howard Lawson, a screenwriter and playwright who had been the first president of the Screen Writers Guild...
Ryan Daniel Lewis
Released
Ryan Daniel Lewis, age 21, was convicted of conspiracy and attempted arson in connection with the December 200...
Brian Cortez Lightfoot Jr.
Released
Brian Cortez Lightfoot Jr. was one of the eleven defendants in the San Diego County District Attorney's prosec...
Charles Liteky
Released
Roman Catholic Army chaplain in Vietnam, awarded the Medal of Honor for carrying 20+ wounded soldiers through...
William Longstreth
Released
William Longstreth, an IWW member from Eureka, received a three-year prison sentence, which he served in San Q...
Fernando Lopez
Released
Fernando Lopez, 44, Justice 8 defendant; September 2023 Victorville street-vendor protest. 24 months Californi...
Wendy Lujan
Released
Wendy Lujan, 40, one of the Justice 8 (Edin Alex Enamorado et al.) defendants for a September 24, 2023 Victorv...
Peter Lumsdaine
Released
Peter Lumsdaine is associated with direct-action peace protest that sought to interrupt weapons development th...
Daniel Michael Lynem
Released
Daniel Michael Lynem helped organize the Santa Ana Black Panthers. He was jailed in the Nelson Sasscer investi...
Gina Lynn
Released
Gina Lynn organized with the Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition and volunteered for No Compromise. Her resi...
Ruchell Magee
Released
Ruchell "Cinque" Magee (born Ruchell Lewis, 1939–2023) was one of the longest-held prisoners in U.S. history,...
Ricardo Flores Magón
Released
Ricardo Flores Magón was a Mexican anarchist journalist and revolutionary organizer whose writing and organizi...
Chuck Malone
Released
Chuck Malone was a San Francisco-based Irish republican activist who became a long-running figure in U.S. inve...
Albert Maltz
Released
Albert Maltz, an award-winning short-story writer, novelist and screenwriter was one of the “Hollywood Ten,” t...
Adrian Andrew Martinez
Awaiting Trial
Adrian Andrew Martinez was a 20-year-old United States citizen and Walmart employee in Pico Rivera, California...
Eric McDavid
Released
Eric McDavid is a green anarchist who organized as part of an environmentalist group consisting of Zach Jenso...
Institutions in California
Prisons, jails, and detention centers in California that appear in the census’s case files.
San Quentin State PrisonSan Quentin, California
150 cases
Federal Bureau of Prisons
59 cases
San Quentin Rehabilitation CenterSan Quentin, California
23 cases
Presidio StockadeSan Francisco, California
22 cases
Los Angeles County JailLos Angeles, California
21 cases
Metropolitan Detention Center, Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
14 cases
San Francisco County JailSan Francisco, California
13 cases
Alameda County JailOakland, California
10 cases