California’s death row inmates relocating
The wheels of government move slowly sometimes, not unlike the wheels of the publishing world. (My Privileged Killers is finally out.) I’ve not been posting about California’s death row, but been posting about rehabilitation and other prison matters for some time now.
This recent story about the speeded up emptying of California’s death row is a case in point (my summary and headings based on LA Times story):
According to California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOC), condemned death row prisoners will be transferred elsewhere by this summer as California moves to overhaul its oldest prison. The state plans to transfer the last 457 condemned men to the general population of 24 hi-security state prisons.
San Quentin’s death row
The move comes 5 years after Governor Gavin Newsom signed an order that imposed a moratorium on the death penalty and closed the prison’s execution chamber. It coincides with his broader initiative to transform San Quentin into a Scandinavian-style prison with a focus on rehabilitation, treatment, education and job training.
Nothing changes except the prisoner’s environment
The changes do not modify anyone’s sentences or convictions.
The plan for California’s death row
The plan unveiled recently builds on a pilot program that experimented with the transfer of 104 death row prisoners from January 2020 to January 2022. An additional 70 people on death row have been moved from the legendary men’s facility in Marin County over the last month, the DOC said.
What about women condemned to die?
The 20 condemned women incarcerated at Chowchilla’s Central California Women’s Facility will remain there, but will be rehoused in the general population.
The purpose of shutting down California’s death row
DOC Secretary Jeffrey Macomber said, “This transfer enables death-sentenced people to pay court-ordered restitution through work programs. Participants are placed in institutions with an electrified secured perimeter while still integrating with the general population.”
The changes align, in part, with Proposition 66, a statewide ballot measure approved in 2016 that allows for condemned prisoners to be housed in institutions other than San Quentin, requiring them to work and pay 70% of their income to victims.
A legendary facility that’s held men made famous by Hollywood and the media.
A variety of notorious prisoners have passed through or currently reside in California’s death row.
California’s death row inmates
What do you think about all of this?
There’s some controversy over Newsom’s plan: a main goal of Proposition 66 was to speed up executions by setting time limits on legal challenges and expanding the pool of attorneys authorized to represent defendants sentenced to death. Interestingly, California voters defeated a rival ballot measure that would have repealed capital punishment.
Your thoughts?
– Long overdue.
– Another indication that California’s lost its way?
– Other?
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