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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.

F
Fred Suttle
Released
Fred Suttle was given a five- to ten-year prison sentence for violating the state's criminal syndicalism law b...
H
Harold Swanson
Released
Harold Swanson was a U.S. Army soldier and one of the "Presidio 27" — the stockade prisoners at the Presidio o...
A
Augustus Swift
Released
Augustus Swift was one of four Black Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees arrested at the Cohasset camp near...
G
Gus Swift
Released
Gus Swift was listed in the National Civil Liberties Bureau's March 1919 compilation "War-Time Prosecutions an...
J
Joshua Sykes
Released
Joshua Sykes was a pacifist pastor associated with the Church of the Living God in Berkeley, California. His f...
S
Sylvester Sylva
Sylvester Sylva is identified in the July 9, 1934 Western Worker as a PuertoRican Marine Workers Industrial Un...
R
Reiji Taira
Reiji Taira, a gardener, is named by Yushi Yamazaki (2020), printed p. 103 and note 42, among Japanese labor a...
Y
Yuki Takashima
Yuki Takashima is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Detention C...
N
Noboru Tani
Noboru Tani, a gardener, is named by Yushi Yamazaki (2020), printed p. 103 and note 42, among Japanese labor a...
J
Jim Tanimoto
Released
Jim Tanimoto was a Japanese American incarcerated at Tule Lake who refused the 1943 loyalty questionnaire in p...
M
Masashi Tanimoto
Released
Masashi Tanimoto was a Japanese American incarcerated at Tule Lake who refused the 1943 loyalty questionnaire...
M
Mori Tanimoto
Released
Mori Tanimoto was a Japanese American incarcerated at Tule Lake who refused the 1943 loyalty questionnaire in...
M
Mrs. Jess Tanner
Mrs. Jess Tanner was reported seized by vigilantes in San Jose and forcibly sent to Los Angeles. The woman id...
J
Jess Tanner
Jess Tanner and his wife were seized by vigilantes at San Jose and forcibly sent to Los Angeles during the 193...
A
Arthur Tarkam
Arthur Tarkam was a SERA worker assigned to the Presidio in San Francisco. A November 25, 1934 report and cont...
H
H. V. Taylor
Released
H. V. Taylor was an IWW member from Eureka. H. V. Taylor received a four-year prison sentence, which he served...
J
James M. Taylor
Released
James M. Taylor was an Army conscientious objector imprisoned at Fort Ord after refusing military orders on re...
J
John C. Taylor
Released
John C. Taylor was a Communist Labor Party member from Oakland. John C. Taylor received a one- to fourteen-yea...
K
Kirk Taylor
Released
Kirk Taylor was a member of the San Francisco Black Caucus, arrested with co-chairman Larry Pinkney in 1972 wh...
R
R. V. Taylor
Released
R. V. Taylor was imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison during the era of California's criminal-syndicalism pr...
S
Sam Telford
Sam Telford is identified in the July 2, 1934 Western Worker’s San Francisco June 26 report as chairman of the...
J
José Tellez
Released
José Tellez was arrested on August 2, 1942. Mexican-American youth nicknamed Smiling who was among the twelve...
R
Roy Tennant
Roy Tennant was a union man whom the September 6, 1935 Voice of the Federation describes as actually in custod...
G
G. J. Terrill
Released
G. J. Terrill was one of the Los Angeles Industrial Workers of the World defendants known as the "Twenty-Seven...

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