California will remake San Quentin prison, emphasizing rehab

California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to transform San Quentin State Prison, a facility in the San Francisco Bay Area known for maintaining the highest number of prisoners on death row in the country

The infamous state prison on San Francisco Bay that has been home to the largest death row population in the United States will be transformed into a lockup where less-dangerous prisoners will receive education, training and rehabilitation under a new plan from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Democratic governor will discuss his proposed transformation of San Quentin State Prison during a visit on Friday.

The facility will be renamed the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and the inmates serving prison sentences there will be moved elsewhere in the California penitentiary system. The state has 668 prisoners facing death sentences, almost all of them male, and about 100 have already been moved, state prison officials said.

“Today, we take the next step in our pursuit of true rehabilitation, justice, and safer communities through this evidenced-backed investment, creating a new model for safety and justice — the California Model — that will lead the nation,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday about the coming changes.

The move by Newsom, who recently began his second term, follows his 2019 moratorium on executions and dismantling of the prison's gas chamber, as well as his 2022 announcement that some inmates would be moved from San Quentin to other prisons.

Full details of the plan were not immediately made public, though officials said the facility would concentrate on “education, rehabilitation and breaking cycles of crime.”

San Quentin, California's oldest prison, has housed high-profile criminals such as cult leader Charles Manson, convicted murderers and serial killers, and was the site of violent uprisings in the 1960s and 1970s. But it's also been the site of some of the nation's most innovative inmate programs.

Newsom's office cited as a model Norway’s approach to incarceration, which focuses on preparing people to return to society, as inspiration for the program. Oregon and North Dakota have also taken inspiration from the Scandinavian country's policies.

In maximum-security Norwegian prisons, cells often look more like dorm rooms with additional furniture such as chairs, desks, even TVs, and prisoners have kitchen access and activities like basketball. The nation has a low recidivism rate.

At the overhauled San Quentin, vocational training programs would set people up to land good-paying jobs as plumbers, electricians or truck drivers after they're released, Newsom told the Los Angeles Times.

A group made up public safety experts, crime victims and formerly incarcerated people will advise the state on the transformation. Newsom is allocating $20 million to launch the plan.

Republican Assemblymember Tom Lackey criticized Newsom's criminal justice priorities, saying the governor and state Democratic lawmakers should spend more time focusing their efforts on supporting the victims of crime.

“Communities win when we have rehabilitative efforts, but yet, how about victims?” Lackey said. “Have we rehabilitated them?”

Meanwhile Taina Vargas, executive director of Initiate Justice Action, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, said she is pleased the state is moving toward rehabilitating incarcerated people but more drastic changes are needed to transform the criminal justice system that imprisons so many people.

“Over the long term, I think we want to prevent people from going to prison in the first place, which means that we want to offer more opportunities for high paying jobs in the community,” she said.

California voters upheld the death penalty in 2016 and voted to speed up executions. Newsom’s decision to halt them in one of his first major acts as governor drew swift pushback from critics including district attorneys who said he was ignoring the voters.

But Californians have also supported easing certain criminal penalties in an attempt to reduce mass incarceration as part of a more recent movement away from tough-on-crime policies that once dominated the state.

San Quentin north of San Francisco has also been home to some of the most innovative inmate programs in the country, reflecting the politically liberal beliefs of the Bay Area.

Among other such programs, San Quentin houses Mount Tamalpais College, the first accredited junior college in the country based entirely behind bars. The school offers inmates classes in literature, astronomy, U.S. government and others to earn an Associate of Arts degree.

The college’s $5 million annual budget is funded by private donations with volunteer faculty from top nearby universities, including Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley.

The prison also runs a newspaper called the San Quentin News, and several prisoners recorded and produced the hugely popular podcast “ Ear Hustle ” while serving time.

Newsom's announcement came during a four-day policy tour across California in lieu of a traditional State of the State address.

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Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @sophieadanna