City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles, 1771-1965

312 Pages·2017·4.07 MB·English

by  Kelly Lytle Hernandez

City of Inmates
Justice, Power, and Politics
Coeditors
Heather Ann Thompson
Rhonda Y. Williams
Editorial Advisory Board
Peniel E. Joseph Barbara Ransby
Matthew D. Lassiter Vicki L. Ruiz
Daryl Maeda Marc Stein
The Justice, Power, and Politics series publishes new works in history
that explore the myriad struggles for justice, battles for power, and shifts
in politics that have shaped the United States over time. Through the
lenses of justice, power, and politics, the series seeks to broaden scholarly
debates about America’s past as well as to inform public discussions
about its future.
More information on the series, including a complete list of books
published, is available at http://justicepowerandpolitics.com/.
City of Inmates

Conquest, Rebellion, and the Rise
of Human Caging in Los Angeles,
1771–1965
Kelly Lytle Hernández
The UniversiTy of norTh Carolina Press
Chapel Hill
This book was published with the assistance
of the ThornTon h. Brooks fUnd of the
University of North Carolina Press.
© 2017 Kelly Lytle Hernández
All rights reserved
Set in Miller, TheSerif, and Egiziano types
by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member
of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Chapter 2 is largely based upon an article previously published
by the Pacific Coast Branch American Historical Association and the
University of California Press, Kelly Lytle Hernández, “Hobos in Heaven:
Race, Incarceration, and the Rise of Los Angeles, 1880–1910,”
Pacific Historical Review 83, no. 3 (August 2014): 410–47.
Cover illustration: Mexican men incarcerated in the Los Angeles County
Jail in the early 1930s. The Pedro J. González Papers (1915–1978), Collection
0060, courtesy of the UCla Chicano Studies Research Center.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hernández, Kelly Lytle, author.
Title: City of inmates : conquest, rebellion, and the rise of human caging in Los Angeles,
1771–1965 / by Kelly Lytle Hernández.
Other titles: Justice, power, and politics.
Description: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2017] |
Series: Justice, power, and politics | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lCCn 2016039788| isBn 9781469631189 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isBn 9781469631196 (ebook)
Subjects: lCsh: Imprisonment—California—Los Angeles—History. | Discrimination in
criminal justice administration—California—Los Angeles—History. | Criminal justice,
Administration of—California—Los Angeles—History.
Classification: lCC hv9956.l67 h47 2017 | ddC 365/.97949409—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016039788
Contents
Introduction. Conquest and Incarceration 1
1 An Eliminatory Option 16
2 Hobos in Heaven 45
3 Not Imprisonment in a Legal Sense 64
4 Scorpion’s Tale 92
5 Caged Birds 131
6 Justice for Samuel Faulkner 158
Conclusion. Upriver in the Age of Mass Incarceration 195
The Rebel Archive 199
Notes 221
Bibliography 269
Acknowledgments 291
Index 293
Illustrations
John Gast, American Progress 11
Los Angeles County sheriff’s office and jail 35
Cut made on Broadway (Fort Street), 1871 38
“Tramps Sleeping on Park Bench” 48
Chinese massacre victims in the Los Angeles County Jail yard, 1871 67
Officers of the Chinese Six Companies 74
Narcisa Higuera, 1905 95
President Porfirio Díaz, 1907 97
Ricardo Flores Magón 99
Credential for inductees into the PlM army 108
Magonista secret code key 114
Magonista coded correspondence 115
Los Angeles County Jail, 1904 121
Ricardo Flores Magón and María Talavera Broussé 122
La Tuna Detention Farm, 1932 140
Escapee reward notice, Tucson Prison Camp #10, 1930s 142
Housing quarters at Tucson Prison Camp #10, 1933 143
Pedro J. González and Los Madrugadores 152
Los Angeles County Jail, early 1930s 155
The Downbeat Club, ca. 1941 166
Florence Hicks, San Quentin booking photo 171
Jessie Waters, San Quentin booking photo 173
Maizie de la Cruz, San Quentin booking photo 173
Corrias Hillard, San Quentin booking photo 173
“Officers Raid Home, Kill Man” 176
“With or without papers, we will always be illegal” 212
Maps and Tables
MaPs
Territorial Expansion of the United States, 1783–1848 13
The Tongva Basin 18
TaBles
Total Arrests by laPd, 1887–1906 53
Arrests, by Race and Gender, for the Los Angeles City Jail, 1894–1906 56
Average Length of Sentence for Immigration Offenders, 1931–1936 145
Number of Mexicans Arrested by laPd, 1928–1939 149
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City of Inmates