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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.

L
Limpricht
Released
Limpricht was among six workers arrested and held in San Pedro on assault, riot and arson charges during the M...
B
Bear Lincoln
Released
Eugene Bear Lincoln, a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, was charged with murder after...
G
G. Lindfors
Released
G. Lindfors was from Los Angeles. G. Lindfors received a three-year prison sentence, which he served in San Qu...
E
Ethel Linn
Released
Ethel Linn was brought from Canada to the United States at age six. Immigration authorities arrested her in Lo...
E
Ella Lively
Released
Ella Lively was jailed December 10–14, 1982 after an anti-nuclear blockade at Mather Air Force Base.
V
Vincent Lombardo
Released
Vincent Lombardo was arrested during a May 22, 2002 antiwar demonstration in Santa Cruz, California, that conf...
J
James La Londe
Released
James La Londe was an IWW member from Sacramento. James La Londe received a four-year prison sentence, which h...
D
David Lopez
David Lopez was one of four cantaloupe-strike prisoners denied habeas relief by Judge A. C. Finney in El Centr...
F
Fred Lopez
Fred Lopez, identified as the Brown Berets’ minister of communication, was one of the East L.A. Thirteen arres...
G
Gregorio Lopez
Gregorio Lopez, reported as 57 years old and living in El Monte, was named among defendants in the Los Angeles...
R
Roberto Campa Lopez
Roberto Campa Lopez was a California prisoner represented in the March 20, 2012 public petition to the United...
S
Sandra Loranger
Released
Sandra (Sandy) Loranger was a Santa Cruz food-sharing activist. Contemporary reporting places the soup-distrib...
M
Max Lucas
Max Lucas was a juvenile anarchist activist jailed in California in 2002.
R
Raymond Lugo
Raymond Lugo was named among approximately twenty arrested with William Z. Foster at the Los Angeles Plaza dem...
P
Peter Lynch
Released
Peter Lynch was an IWW delegate organizing agricultural laborers around Calipatria, in California's Imperial V...
A
Anna Lyons
Anna Lyons led a Los Angeles Young Pioneers group. The June 1 dispatch on page 5 of the Daily Worker, June 3,...
T
Thomas Lyons
Released
Thomas Lyons was an IWW member from Los Angeles. Thomas Lyons received a three-year prison sentence, which he...
J
James MacInnis
Released
James MacInnis was a defense lawyer for labor leader Harry Bridges who was cited for contempt of court during...
C
Charles MacLauchlan
Charles MacLauchlan, Communist candidate for Congress in California’s Nineteenth District, was individually...
F
F. C. Macias
F. C. Macias is one of EIGHT separately printed signatures; Miguel N. The July 23 Western Worker prints the J...
P
Pete Madis
Pete Madis was detained on Angel Island in a deportation proceeding alleging subversive activities. The June 1...
G
Gus Madsen
Released
Gus Madsen was a class-war prisoner held at San Quentin (inmate no. 44461), listed on the ILD's roster of Amer...
R
Robert Majors
Released
Robert Majors is an anti-drone activist arrested at U.S. drone bases.
F
Frank Malizia
Frank Malizia is identified in the San Pedro dispatch dated July 5, 1934 as a picket jailed on suspicion of bu...

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