Absent actual or threatened violence, false imprisonment is a usually a misdemeanor under California Penal Code §237. False imprisonment may be charged in a domestic violence case when one person knowingly forces another to remain in place against their will.People have the right under California law to be protected from bodily restraint. California PC 236 defines false imprisonment as unlawfully detaining or restraining someone without their consent, depriving them of their liberty. In California, Penal Code 236 defines false imprisonment as the wrongful restraining, confining, or detaining of a person without their consent. The prosecutor can charge false imprisonment as a misdemeanor or felony. It is to be noted that, there is no necessity in a false imprisonment case to prove that a person used physical violence or laid hands on another person. 236. False imprisonment is the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another. (Enacted 1872.) 236.1. In the events when violence is used such as the use of a firearm or a knife to restrain the victim, it is charged as a felony.