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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.
M
Michael Henry Marcus
Released
Michael Henry Marcus was an anti-nuclear protester and Berkeley Free Speech Movement participant who later bec...
J
James Martin
Released
James Martin, an IWW member, received a five-year prison sentence, which he served in San Quentin from March 1...
A
Adrian Andrew Martinez
Awaiting Trial
Adrian Andrew Martinez was a 20-year-old United States citizen and Walmart employee in Pico Rivera, California...
C
Christian Martinez
Released
Christian Martinez was one of the eleven defendants in the San Diego County District Attorney's prosecution of...
G
Gines Martinez
Released
Gines Martinez was one of five Spanish sailors who deserted Franco's navy and sought asylum in the United Stat...
M
Mario Martinez
Released
Mario Martinez was one of Los Siete de la Raza, a group of young Latino men from the Mission District of San F...
T
Tony Martinez
Released
Tony Martinez was one of Los Siete de la Raza, a group of young Latino men from the Mission District of San Fr...
F
Fred Masson
Released
Fred Masson appears in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecutions and...
K
Keith Mather
Released
Keith Mather was a U.S. Army private and one of the leaders of the "Presidio 27," the stockade prisoners at th...
H
Henry Matlin
Released
Henry Matlin was imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison in the mid-1920s, during the era of California's crimi...
C
Clarence G. Maurer
Released
Clarence G. Maurer was a Quaker conscientious objector from California imprisoned during World War I. Court-ma...
J
James McClain
San Quentin prisoner on trial for allegedly assaulting a guard when Jonathan Jackson entered the Marin County...
F
Francis E. McClennigan
Released
F. E. McClennigan, from Los Angeles, served a prison sentence at San Quentin under California state syndicalis...
T
Thomas McDermott
Released
Thomas McDermott was charged with "feloniously circulating and publicly displaying certain books" in violation...
R
Ricky McGivery
Black Marine, one of the 'Camp Pendleton 14' charged with assault and conspiracy over an alleged Nov. 13, 1976...
E
E. D. McNassor
Released
E. D. McNassor, an IWW member from Portola, received a four-year prison sentence, which he served in San Quent...
J
John McRae
Released
John McRae, an IWW member from Eureka, received a three-year prison sentence for having an IWW membership card...
J
Jose Medina
Chicano activist who spoke in support of the Camp Pendleton 14 and was himself fighting deportation to Mexico....
E
Enrique Medina Fernandez
Released
Enrique Medina Fernandez was one of five Spanish sailors who deserted a Franco naval vessel and crossed into t...
R
Robert Meisenbach
Released
Robert Meisenbach was a University of California student charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon — ac...
J
Julian Renee Mejia
Released
On September 10, 2020 Julian Renee Mejia, 35, of Los Angeles, CA pled "no contest" to a charge of looting. He...
D
Danilo Melendez
Released
Danilo Melendez was one of Los Siete de la Raza, a group of young Latino men from the Mission District of San...
P
Phillip Mellman
Released
Phillip Mellman, an IWW member from Sacramento, received a four-year prison sentence, which he served in San Q...
A
Arthur G. Melville
Released
A former Maryknoll priest who, with his brother Thomas Melville, had been a missionary among the Maya in Guate...
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