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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
Recent dashboard entries from California
The newest published events and reporting located in California, updated automatically from the live dashboard.
Other
Whistleblower alleges FBI targeted Los Angeles anti-ICE protesters
Prosecution
Charges dropped against five Stanford students over pro-Palestine protest
Prosecution
Judge dismisses all charges against the Stud Alley 18 arrested during San Francisco Pride weekend
Protest
Two injured at Teamsters protest outside Amazon warehouse; sheriff says motorcyclist intentionally struck crowd
Other
Five invited reporters held at gunpoint by Vandenberg Space Force Base security
Other
Photojournalist Steven Berumen shoved by federal officers while covering an LA immigration protest
Prosecution
Anti-ICE protester accused of pouring lighter fluid on CHP car is sentenced to prison
Prosecution
Westlake man sentenced for anti-ICE protest actions
Documented cases
1,533 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.
J
James Lacy
Released
James Lacy was arrested in a hall raid during the 1934 crackdown on California maritime strikers and their sup...
M
Mike Lamm
Mike Lamm was arrested with Bay Area IWW and antiwar organizer Ed Stover in the 1970 raids described by the Ch...
M
Matthew Lamont
Released
Matthew Lamont is a California anarchist who, according to the Anarchist Black Cross (2003), was imprisoned ov...
F
Fred Landis
Released
Fred Landis was an author and critic of CIA psychological warfare and media operations. Returning from Mexico...
C
Charleen Lane
Charleen Lane was a New York Black Panther Party member reportedly detained by FBI and local police after arri...
D
Donnell Langford
Donnell was a defendant held awaiting trial in the prosecution arising from the April 6, 1968 Oakland shootout...
W
W. H. Langley
Released
W. H. Langley was arrested with W. Howard in San Pedro, California, on May 11, 1932, on suspicion of criminal...
D
Donnell Lankford
Released
Donnell Lankford was a member of the Black Panther Party arrested in the April 6, 1968 gun battle between Pant...
L
Larry Larson
Larry Larson was a Progressive Labor Party member whose arrest in January 1969 was reported by The Militant....
L
Louis Lavine
Released
Louis Lavine was an IWW member arrested near Hornbrook, California in early 1917. A March 1917 IWW account tit...
R
Robert Lawrence
Released
Robert Lawrence was imprisoned at Lompoc as a draft or conscientious resister during the 1960s.
S
Stanley Laycock
Stanley Laycock is individually named in the Justice in America column with Anna Robbins, Bill Cerp and Jim Re...
J
Joanna LeDeaux
Joanna LeDeaux was a Wounded Knee legal defense assistant imprisoned for refusing to testify before a grand ju...
O
Odin Lee
Odin Lee is identified in the July 16 Western Worker, in a San Francisco dispatch dated July 7, as a Chinese w...
C
Charles Leese
Charles Leese is individually identified in the California defense report as convicted at Eureka and sentenced...
L
L. N. Legendre
Released
L. N. Legendre was from Los Angeles, California. L. N. Legendre began serving a two-year prison sentence on Ju...
S
Stuart Lennox
Released
Stuart Lennox was a Australian Greenpeace participant jailed in California following the 2001 Vandenberg anti-...
G
Guy Levecher
Released
Guy Levecher was a Canadian Greenpeace participant jailed in California following the 2001 Vandenberg anti-mis...
E
Eugene Levin
Released
Eugene Levin was a physician drafted into the Army under the Doctors Draft Law and denied a commission after i...
G
George Levison
Released
George Levison was beaten and arrested on a vagrancy charge in the July 1934 vigilante raid on the Internation...
J
Jim Leweke
Jim Leweke was individually named among the four men kept in jail over the Good Friday April 1, 1983 Livermore...
L
Lillian Lewis
Lillian Lewis was named in the November 22, 1934 Western Worker continuation listing San Francisco Jefferson P...
R
R. V. Lewis
Released
R. V. Lewis was given a one- to fourteen-year prison sentence for violating the California Criminal Syndicalis...
R
Roger Lewis
Roger “Blue” Lewis was a member of the Southern California Black Panther Party. He was held in Los Angeles Cou...
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