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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.

R
Ramirez
Ramirez was arrested with Guerrero while standing on a street corner carrying leaflets for a union meeting; th...
J
Javier Ramirez
Released
Javier Ramirez was arrested on June 12, 2025, at an auto body shop in Montebello, California. A November 2025...
H
Hector Daniel Ramos
Released
Hector Daniel Ramos of Alhambra was taken into federal custody in a prosecution arising from the June 8, 2025...
R
Ricardo Ramos
Ricardo Ramos was a Los Angeles marine striker defended by ILD attorney Jack Frankel. Page 3’s July 16 report...
J
Joseph Ranchioni
Released
Joseph Ranchioni was a conscientious objector sentenced to three years for refusing to go to Korea on religiou...
R
Rauch
Rauch was identified by surname only among twenty-two people arrested for picketing the Adohr Dairy during the...
T
Tom Ray
Tom was a marine unionist arrested at San Pedro during a crackdown on strike and organizing activity. The Dec...
J
Joe Razo
Released
Joe Razo, identified in contemporary reporting as member of the La Raza editorial group, was jailed in the 196...
C
Charles Reamey
Charles Reamey is identified in the San Pedro dispatch dated July 5, 1934 as a Marine Workers Industrial Union...
J
Jim Reed
Jim Reed is identified in a July 1932 Labor Defender column among people arrested in Oakland after an unemploy...
L
Lawrence Reidel
Released
Lawrence Reidel, then 20, was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the stockade prisoners at the...
G
George Retes
Released
George Retes, a disabled Army veteran working as a security guard at Glass House Farms, was detained on July 1...
G
Gabriel Reyes
Gabriel Reyes was a Pelican Bay prisoner and plaintiff in Ashker v. Brown, challenging indefinite solitary con...
B
Bruce Richards
Bruce Richards was a Los Angeles Black Panther wounded in the October 18, 1969 confrontation in which fellow P...
J
Juanita Rieloss
Juanita Rieloss, a Chilean exile, served five days for a 1986 anti-military-space-project protest in Sunnyvale...
M
Mark T. Riley
Released
Mark T. Riley was a Vietnam-era war tax resister associated with Sacramento Meeting who was imprisoned at Term...
R
R. Rio
Released
R. Rio was secretary of the new Mexican union in the Imperial Valley cantaloupe strike. The June 1, 1928 Daily...
E
Eliezer Risco
Released
Eliezer Risco, identified in contemporary reporting as editor of La Raza, was jailed in the 1968 prosecution o...
R
Robbie Riva
Robbie Riva was a California prisoner represented in the March 20, 2012 public petition to the United Nations...
B
Bryan Rivera
Released
Bryan Rivera was one of the eleven defendants in the San Diego County District Attorney's prosecution of anti-...
J
John Rivers
John Rivers was arrested twice during the preceding week in San Francisco: once while putting a rally poster o...
B
Bob Robbins
Released
Robert Robbins, a San Francisco picture framer, participated in the CNVA Everyman anti-nuclear voyage. He was...
J
J. C. Robinson
Released
J. C. Robinson was a Los Angeles member of the Industrial Workers of the World, prosecuted under California's...
S
Stuart Robinson
Stuart Robinson was detained on Angel Island in a deportation proceeding alleging subversive activities. The J...

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