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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.

Carl Lambert
Released
Carl Lambert was a California Communist Party organizer arrested in the July 1951 Smith Act roundup. High bail...
Charles L. Lambert
Released
Charles L. Lambert was from Sacramento, California. Charles L. Lambert was convicted at the mass IWW trial in...
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...
Chris Laury
Released
Chris Laury was a member of the Black Liberation Front in East Palo Alto, California. Police arrested him on M...
John Howard Lawson
Released
John Howard Lawson, a screenwriter and playwright who had been the first president of the Screen Writers Guild...
Gary Lawton
Released
Gary Lawton was a Black community activist in Riverside, California, one of two men charged with the April 197...
Arthur DeWitte League
Released
Arthur League was a Santa Ana Panther convicted and imprisoned in the Nelson Sasscer case. Supporters disputed...
Gary Lescallett
Released
Gary Lescallett was one of Los Siete de la Raza, a group of young Latino men from the Mission District of San...
Raymond Lewis
Released
Raymond Lewis was a San Francisco Black Panther who served as managing editor of the party newspaper and deput...
Ryan Daniel Lewis
Released
Ryan Daniel Lewis was convicted of conspiracy and attempted arson in connection with the December 2004 ELF-cla...
Henry Leyvas
Released
Henry Leyvas was the lead defendant in the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial, accused by Los Angeles County prosecuto...
Brian Cortez Lightfoot Jr.
Released
Brian Cortez Lightfoot Jr. was one of the eleven defendants in the San Diego County District Attorney's prosec...
Albert Lima
Released
Albert 'Mickey' Lima was a Northern California Communist Party leader arrested in San Francisco in the July 19...
Charlie Liteky
Released
Charles Liteky was a Roman Catholic Army chaplain in Vietnam, awarded the Medal of Honor for carrying 20+ woun...
Russell Little
Released
Russell Jack Little, known in the Symbionese Liberation Army as Osceola or Osi, grew up in Pensacola, Florida,...
Robin Long
Released
Robin Long was arrested on July 14, 2008. Specialist Robin Long was a U.S. Army soldier who refused deploymen...
William Longstreth
Released
William Longstreth was an IWW member from Eureka. William Longstreth received a three-year prison sentence, wh...
Mark Loo
Released
Mark Loo, a Chinese-American member of the Communist Workers Party, was one of the "NASSCO 3," three San Diego...
Fernando Lopez
Released
Fernando Lopez was one of the Justice Eight street-vendor advocates prosecuted over three September 2023 confr...
Wendy Lujan
Released
Wendy Lujan was one of the Justice Eight street-vendor advocates prosecuted over three September 2023 confront...
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...

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