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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.

1,533Documented
32In custody
958Released
13Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in California

Where California’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1930s 361 1970s 206 1960s 205 1910s 176 2020s 125 1980s 90

Documented cases

1,533 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

Samir Ousman Alsheikh
In Custody
Samir Ousman Alsheikh, a former director of Syria's Adra Prison and provincial governor under Bashar al-Assad,...
Todd Lewis Ashker
In Custody
Todd Lewis Ashker is a California prison organizer who helped build the movement against indefinite solitary c...
Audrey Carroll
In Custody
Audrey Illeene Carroll, of South Los Angeles, is one of four people charged in the alleged Turtle Island Liber...
Michael Zaharibu Dorrough
In Custody
Michael Zaharibu Dorrough, legally Michael Reed Dorrough, is a California prison writer and organizer against...
Mutope Duguma
In Custody
Mutope Duguma, identified by CDCR as James Daren Crawford, is a New Afrikan writer and participant in Californ...
Edin Alex Enamorado
In Custody
Edin Alex Enamorado, of Upland, California, is a street-vendor-rights activist known for viral social-media vi...
Yachua Mauricio Flores
In Custody
Yachua Mauricio Flores pleaded guilty to interfering with law enforcement during the June 8, 2025 anti-immigra...
Dante Gaffield
In Custody
Dante Gaffield, of South Los Angeles, is one of four people charged in the alleged Turtle Island Liberation Fr...
Casey Goonan
In Custody
Casey Robert Goonan is a Bay Area Palestine-solidarity activist convicted in a federal prosecution arising fro...
Haki Malik Abdullah
In Custody
Haki Malik Abdullah was detained on November 10, 1982. New Afrikan political prisoner held in California pris...
Emiliano Garduño Gálvez
In Custody
Emiliano Garduño Gálvez was arrested after a June 7, 2025 anti-immigration-enforcement protest in Paramount, C...
Seyed Eissa Hashemi
In Custody
Seyed Eissa Hashemi is an Iranian-born psychology and business professor who had lived in the United States fo...
James “Doc” Holiday
In Custody
James “Doc” Holiday is a longtime Black liberation and prison organizer associated with the Black Guerrilla Fa...
Joka Heshima Jinsai
In Custody
Joka Heshima Jinsai, legally Shannon Lemar Denham, is an incarcerated writer and community organizer associate...
Tina Lai
In Custody
Tina Lai, of Glendale, California, is one of four people charged in the alleged Turtle Island Liberation Front...
Shamim Mafi
In Custody
Shamim Mafi is an Iranian national, a lawful permanent resident of the United States since 2016, who lived in...
Zachary Page
In Custody
Zachary Aaron Page, of Torrance, California, is one of four people charged in the alleged Turtle Island Libera...
Adam Charles Palermo
In Custody
Adam Charles Palermo was federally detained in August 2025 over conduct during the June 8 anti-immigration-enf...
Elpidio Reyna
In Custody
Elpidio Reyna participated in the June 7, 2025 confrontation between anti-ICE protesters and federal officers...
Eric Anthony Rodriguez
In Custody
Eric Anthony Rodriguez was an anti-ICE protestor arrested on June 21, 2025 for allegedly throwing a Molotov co...
Jennifer Rose
In Custody
Jennifer Amelia Rose — formerly known as Jennifer Gann, and called "Babygirl" by supporters — is a transgender...
Sophie Roske
In Custody
Sophie Roske was a California substitute teacher who in June 2022, called police and reported they were experi...
Daniel Andreas San Diego
In Custody
Daniel Andreas San Diego is a straight-edge vegan animal-liberation activist from the San Francisco Bay Area w...
Abdul Olugbala Shakur
In Custody
Abdul Olugbala Shakur, whose legal name is James Earl Harvey, is a New Afrikan revolutionary nationalist, writ...

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
28 cases
Los Angeles County JailLos Angeles, California
26 cases
Folsom State PrisonFolsom, California
22 cases
San Quentin Rehabilitation CenterSan Quentin, California
16 cases
Metropolitan Detention Center, Los AngelesLos Angeles, California
15 cases