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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.
M
Mathias Pendzialek
Released
Mathias Pendzialek was a German Greenpeace participant jailed in California following the 2001 Vandenberg anti...
M
Marcial Peralta
Marcial Peralta was a Local 7 union member arrested while working on a Delano farm during the February–March 1...
C
Charles W. Perry
Released
Charles W. Perry was incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville and organized for HIV medica...
F
Frank Perry
Frank Perry is identified in the July 9, 1934 Western Worker continuation among Marine Workers Industrial Unio...
M
Marc Perry
Released
Marc was a White anti-imperialist activist arrested in November 1977 in Los Angeles as one of the PFOC/LA 5 on...
G
George Pesce
Released
George Pesce was a class-war prisoner held at San Quentin (inmate no. 44462), listed on the ILD's roster of Am...
C
Clarence Peters
Released
Clarence Peters was one of three young Black men who, on September 13, 1972, gave a ride to two white hitch-hi...
E
Edward R. Peters
Released
Edward R. Peters was a Los Angeles member of the Industrial Workers of the World, prosecuted under California'...
O
Olaf Peterson
Olaf Peterson was one of the named defendants arrested in the September14, 1931 San Francisco City Hall unempl...
J
Joe Pettis
Released
Joe Pettis was secretary of the Marine Workers Industrial Union in San Francisco during the 1934 waterfront an...
J
Jesse Phillips
Jesse Phillips was one of the Soledad Seven defendants whose conspiracy charges were dropped while murder char...
T
Terry Phillips
Released
Terry was a White Panther Party member convicted with Tom Stevens and sentenced to 5½ years-to-life over the J...
M
Mike Plesh
Released
Mike Plesh was a defendant in the Sacramento criminal-syndicalism prosecution arising from the organizing camp...
K
Karl Ploog
Karl Ploog is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Detention Camp,...
T
Theodora Pollok
Released
Theodora Pollok was a social worker and the only woman among the "Sacramento 46" IWW defendants tried in early...
G
Gerald Post
Released
Gerald Post appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’1969 current-prisoner lists of draft...
S
Sam Povff
Released
Sam Povff was born in Poltava, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Immigrated to the United States in 1910.
An anar...
H
Henry Powell
Released
Henry Powell was from Eureka. Henry Powell received a three-year prison sentence, which he served in San Quent...
L
Larry Pratt
Released
Larry Pratt was identified in contemporary rosters of prisoners confined for conscientious or antiwar resistan...
B
Brenda Joyce Presley
Released
Brenda Joyce Presley worked on The Black Panther newspaper. On September 17, 1970, a federal judge ordered her...
J
James Price
Released
James Price was an IWW member from Los Angeles. James Price received a one- to fourteen-year prison sentence,...
A
A. M. Pruett
A. M. Pruett signed a first-person letter from Sacramento County Jail, published November 15, 1934, identifyin...
R
Roy Pulley
Released
Roy Pulley, then 19 and from Lakeport, California, was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the...
W
William Quinn
Released
William Joseph Quinn, an American-born member of the Provisional IRA, was sought by the United Kingdom for the...
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