Skip to content
Learn More → State by State

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
Lawrence Varella
Lawrence Varella was arrested in San Francisco during police raids on radical meeting places in the July 1934...
J
Joe Vargo
Released
Joe Vargo was imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison during the era of California's criminal-syndicalism prose...
A
Alexandras Raudon Varis
Alexandras Raudon Varis is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park De...
W
William Velarde
William Velarde was identified as permanent strike chairman of the Confederation of Mexican Unions during the...
A
Andrea Guadalupe Velez
Released
Andrea Guadalupe Velez, a shoe-company production coordinator, was arrested near her workplace in Los Angeles...
A
Anthony Victoria
Released
Anthony Victoria appears in the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors’ 1968 lists of imprisoned draft...
R
Richard Vigil
Richard Vigil, identified as an activist, was one of the East L.A. Thirteen arrested in the 1968 prosecution o...
J
John Vilarino
Released
John Vilarino was born in La Coruña, Spain, and first came to the United States in 1903. A Los Angeles restaur...
J
John Vilerino
John Vilerino was a Los Angeles worker facing deportation in the January 1931 Labor Defender account. It descr...
I
Isaac Antonio Villegas Molina
Released
Isaac Antonio Villegas Molina is a Los Angeles day laborer and a named plaintiff in Vasquez-Perdomo v. Noem, t...
N
Natalio Villi
Released
Natalio Villi was a member of San Francisco Ship Scalers Union Local 38-100 during its 1935 strike. After an e...
J
John Hubert Vogt
John Hubert Vogt is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at Sharp Park Detention...
I
Ivan Von Staich
Ivan Von Staich was a California prisoner who pursued relief for himself and similarly situated San Quentin pr...
F
Frank Waldron
Frank was a marine unionist arrested at San Pedro during a crackdown on strike and organizing activity. The D...
L
Lawrence Walker
Released
Lawrence Walker was a Black former Air Force sergeant convicted of a double murder near Riverside, California...
G
George Wallace
Released
George Wallace was a seaman and member of the Marine Firemen, Oilers, Watertenders and Wipers Union prosecuted...
G
Gerisch Walter
Gerisch Walter is individually listed in the INS civilian custody roster as confined at San Pedro Detention St...
P
Paul Walton
Released
Paul Walton was a Black worker arrested after protesting police interference with a James W. Ford meeting in L...
J
Jack Warnick
Released
Jack Warnick was a defendant in the Sacramento criminal-syndicalism prosecution arising from the organizing ca...
S
Stanley Warren
Stanley Warren, identified as the International Labor Defense representative, was individually named among tho...
G
Gertrude Warwick
Gertrude Warwick was an Oakland labor and unemployment organizer who worked with SoniaKaross and AnitaWhitney....
W
Walter Watson
Walter Watson was a Black prisoner at Soledad State Prison and one of the Soledad Seven, a group the Black Pan...
C
Constance Webb
Released
Constance Webb was a Black Panther Party member who was six months pregnant when police arrested her during th...
B
Britt Webster
Britt Webster is named in Page 1 and Joe Figureroa as defense-squad leaders at the Los Angeles Marine Workers...

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