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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.

769Documented
19In custody
682Released
9Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in California

Where California’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1910s 164 1970s 121 1930s 97 1960s 80 1950s 66 2020s 61

Documented cases

769 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

Wayne Hsiung
Released
Wayne Hsiung is an American lawyer, animal rights organizer, and the co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere (D...
David Huerta
Released
President of SEIU California and Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West, the union...
Bobby Hutton
The first recruit and treasurer of the Black Panther Party, among those arrested at the May 2, 1967 armed prot...
George Jackson
Released
George Lester Jackson was a Black revolutionary, author, and Field Marshal of the Black Panther Party — and th...
Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa
Released
Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, also known as Ronnie N. Dewberry, is a California prison organizer and a principal nego...
Otto Janson
Released
Otto Janson was an Oakland, California businessman prosecuted for sedition during World War I. He was overhear...
David Johnson
Released
David Johnson was one of the San Quentin Six prosecuted for the events of August 21, 1971 at San Quentin. He w...
Gary Johnson
Released
Gary Johnson was a homeless rights activist who in 2010 slept on the steps outside Santa Cruz City Hall in pro...
Hank Jones
Jones was active in the late-1960s/early-1970s Black Power milieu as a former Black Panther and later became k...
Zachary Karas
Released
Possession of Molotov cocktails at the La Mesa police-HQ protest, May 30 2020. Sentence: 33 months federal pri...
Samuel H. Kashinowitz
Released
Samuel H. Kashinowitz was a Los Angeles Communist who, together with Ben Dobbs and Henry Steinberg, was senten...
Steve Kelly SJ
Released
Father Steve Kelly SJ is an American Jesuit priest and one of the most prolific Plowshares activists in U.S. h...
Matthew Keys
Released
Matthew Keys is a journalist and social media editor who in 2010 allegedly provided members of the hacktivist...
Nicole Kissane
Released
Nicole Kissane is an animal rights activist from Southern California who, along with Joseph Buddenberg, was in...
Fred Korematsu
Released
Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu was a Japanese-American welder in Oakland, California who refused to comply with Civ...
Ron Kovic
Released
Ron Kovic is a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who was paralyzed from the chest down in the Vietnam War and became...
Tyler Lang
Released
Tyler Lang is a animal rights activist from Los Angeles, CA. He went vegan at the age of 14 and has been an ac...
Ring Lardner Jr.
Released
Ring Lardner Jr., a screenwriter and son of the humorist Ring Lardner, who had already won an Academy Award fo...
John Howard Lawson
Released
John Howard Lawson, a screenwriter and playwright who had been the first president of the Screen Writers Guild...
Brian Cortez Lightfoot Jr.
Released
Brian Cortez Lightfoot Jr. was one of the eleven defendants in the San Diego County District Attorney's prosec...
Charles Liteky
Released
Roman Catholic Army chaplain in Vietnam, awarded the Medal of Honor for carrying 20+ wounded soldiers through...
William Longstreth
Released
William Longstreth, an IWW member from Eureka, received a three-year prison sentence, which he served in San Q...
Fernando Lopez
Released
Fernando Lopez, 44, Justice 8 defendant; September 2023 Victorville street-vendor protest. 24 months Californi...
Wendy Lujan
Released
Wendy Lujan, 40, one of the Justice 8 (Edin Alex Enamorado et al.) defendants for a September 24, 2023 Victorv...

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