 While waiting for their legal appeals to be heard , the CPUSA leaders became convinced that the government would undertake the prosecution of many additional Party officers . To ensure continuity of their leadership , they decided that four of the defendants should go into hiding and lead the CPUSA from outside prison . The defendants were ordered to report to prison on July 2 , 1951 , after the Supreme Court upheld their convictions and their legal appeals were exhausted . When July arrived , only seven defendants reported to prison , and four ( Winston , Green , Thompson , and Hall ) went into hiding , forfeiting $ 80 @,@ 000 bail ( $ 795 @,@ 636 in 2016 dollars ) . Hall was captured in Mexico in 1951 , trying to flee to the Soviet Union . Thompson was captured in California in 1952 . Both had three years added to their five @-@ year sentences . Winston and Green surrendered voluntarily in 1956 after they felt that anti @-@ communist hysteria had diminished . Some of the defendants did not fare well in prison : Thompson was attacked by an anti @-@ communist inmate ; Winston became blind because a brain tumor was not treated promptly ; Gates was put into solitary confinement because he refused to lock the cells of fellow inmates ; and Davis was ordered to mop floors because he protested against racial segregation in prison . 
