SAN QUENTIN STATE PRISON

SUMMARY:

San Quentin State Prison (SQ)

is a California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation state prison for men,
located north of San Francisco in
the unincorporated town of San
Quentin in Marin County, U.S.

Opened in July 1852, San

Quentin is the oldest prison in California.
The state's only death row for male
inmates, the largest in the United States,
is located at the prison. It has a gas
chamber, but since 1996, executions at Figure 1 SITE PERSPECTIVE OF SAN QUENTIN PRISON

the prison have been carried out by lethal injection, though the prison hasn't performed an execution since
2006. The prison has been featured on film, video, and television; is the subject of many books; has
hosted concerts; and has housed many notorious inmates.

In the 1930’s, San Quentin was rife with corruption by management, until a new director,
Clinton Truman Duffy, appalled at the inhumane conditions at the prison, decided to implement reforms
in the 1940’s. Prior to his appointment, prisoners made counterfeit currency in the prison shops, had their
heads shaved and were forced to wear numbered uniforms, while eating out of pails and enduring solitary
confinement in poured-concrete
cells that had little air and no
light. Even a petty offense to
prison regulations would land an
inmate in solitary, and race riots
would put inmate lives at risk on
a regular basis. San Quentin is
still a harsh environment, filled
with California’s most violent
offenders, and the high ratio of
Figure 2 A CELL IN A PRISON
guards to general population, just barely keeps the prison system from spiraling out of control.

EARLY HISTORY

The prison’s origins date to the California Gold Rush, a period that roughly spanned from 1848 to 1852.
The influx of fortune seekers to the San Francisco area also brought an increase in crime. When the city’s
jail proved inadequate, prisoners were briefly held on ships until the state opted to build a prison. In 1852
some 20 acres (8 hectares) of land were acquired at San Quentin, overlooking San Francisco Bay.
Convicts began constructing the building later that year, and the cell blocks were completed in 1854. San
Quentin State Prison originally featured 48 windowless cells, which were designed to hold 250 inmates,
though that number was quickly exceeded. In addition to male inmates, the prison housed female
prisoners until 1933.

Initially, San Quentin was under private management. Individuals were awarded contracts to run the
facility, and in return they were allowed to hire out the inmates. The arrangement proved ripe for abuse.
Lessors were accused of profiteering and mismanagement, as prisoners were subjected to inhumane living
conditions and brutal punishments. Standard disciplinary measures included floggings and “shower
baths,” in which inmates were stripped and sprayed with a high-pressure water hose. In addition, lax
security allowed for frequent prison escapes; in 1854 more than 80 prisoners broke out of San Quentin.
Complaints increased during the lease of John F. McCauley, and the state used “force” to assume control
of the prison in 1858. The following year McCauley successfully sued to reclaim the seized property.
However, his return to San Quentin proved short-lived as he accepted a settlement from California
in August 1860 to end his contract.

POINT SAN QUENTIN CHOSEN AS LOCATION OF A PERMAMENT PRISON

Before San Quentin was built on

the outskirts of San Francisco, the
prisoners were kept on prison ships
such as the "Waban." The
California legal system decided to
create a more permanent structure
because of overcrowding and
frequent escapes aboard the ship.

They chose Point San Quentin and

purchased 20 acres of land to begin Figure 3 LOCATION OF SITE
what would become the state's oldest prison: San Quentin. The construction of the facility began in 1852
with the use of prison labor and ended in 1854. The prison has had a storied past and continues to operate
today. Currently, it houses over 4,000 criminals, considerably more than its stated capacity of 3,082.

In addition, it houses the majority of criminals on death row in the state of California.

FACILITIES:

The correctional complex

sits on Point San Quentin, which
comprises 432 acres (1.75 km2)
on the north side of San Francisco
Bay. The prison complex itself
occupies 275 acres (1.11 km2),
valued in a 2001 study at between
$129 million (6,714,127,500.00
PHP) and $664 million
(34,559,540,000.00 PHP) Figure 4 ANOTHER VIEW OF SAN QUENTIN PRISON

The prison complex has its own ZIP code for mail sent to inmates, 94974; the ZIP code of the
adjacent community of Point San Quentin Village is 94964. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay to the
south and west and by Interstate 580 to the north and east, near the northern terminus of the Richmond-
San Rafael Bridge.

As of October 30, 2013 the prison had a design capacity of 3,082 but a total institution population
of 4,223, for an occupancy rate of 137 percent. It has Level I ("Open dormitories without a secure
perimeter") housing; Level II ("Open dormitories with secure perimeter fences and armed coverage")
housing; a Reception Center (RC) which "provides short term housing to process, classify and evaluate
incoming inmates"; and a Condemned unit.

As of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, the prison had 1,718 staff and an annual budget of $210 million
(10,929,975,000.00 PHP). It is one of the largest prisons in the United States with a population of 4,223
inmates as of October 30, 2013. By December 2016, the population had declined to 3,774 inmates.

DEATH ROW

Men condemned to death in California (with some exceptions) must be held at San Quentin,
while condemned women are held at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. As of December
2015, San Quentin held almost 700 male inmates in its Condemned Unit, or "death row." As of 2001, San
Quentin's death row was described as "the largest in the Western Hemisphere"; as of 2005, it was called
"the most populous execution antechamber in the United States." The states of Florida and Texas had
fewer death row inmates in 2008 (397 and 451 respectively) than San Quentin.

The death row at San Quentin is divided into three sections: the quiet "North-Segregation" or
"North-Seg," built in 1934, for prisoners who "don't cause trouble"; the "East Block," a "crumbling, leaky
maze of a place built in 1927"; and the "Adjustment Center" for the "worst of the worst". Most of the
prison's death row inmates reside in the East Block. The fourth floor of the North Block was the prison's
first death row facility, but additional death row space opened after executions resumed in the U.S. in
1978. The adjustment center received solid doors, preventing "gunning-down" or attacking persons with
bodily waste. As of 2016 it housed 81 death row inmates and four non-death row inmates. A dedicated
psychiatric facility serves the prisoners. A converted shower bay in the East Block hosts religious
services. Many prison programs available for most inmates are unavailable for death row inmates.

Although $395 million (20,558,762,500.00 PHP) was allocated in the 2008–2009 state budget for
new death row facilities at San Quentin, in December 2008 two legislators introduced bills to eliminate
the funding. The state had planned to build a new death row facility, but Governor Jerry Brown canceled
those plans in 2011. In 2015 Brown asked the Legislature for funds for a new death row as the current
death row facilities were becoming filled. At the time the non-death row prison population was
decreasing, opening room for death row inmates. As of 2015 the San Quentin death row has a capacity of
715 prisoners.

EXECUTIONS

As noted above, all executions in California, of

both male and female prisoners, must occur at
San Quentin. The execution chamber is located in
a one-story addition in proximity to the East
Block. Women executed in California would be
transported to San Quentin by bus before being
put to death.

The methods for execution at San Quentin have

changed over time. Prior to 1893, the counties
executed convicts. Between 1893 and 1937, 215 Figure 5 LETHAL INJECTION ROOM IN SAN QUENTIN

people were executed at San Quentin by hanging,

after which 196 prisoners died in the gas chamber. In 1995, the use of gas for execution was ruled "cruel
and unusual punishment", which led to executions inside the gas chamber by lethal injection. Between
1996 and 2006, 11 people were executed at San Quentin by lethal injection.

In April 2007, staff of the California Legislative Analyst's Office discovered that a new execution
chamber was being built at San Quentin; legislators subsequently "accused the governor of hiding the
project from the Legislature and the public." The old lethal injection facility had included an injection
room of 43 square feet (4.0 m2) and a single viewing area; the facility that was being built included an
injection chamber of 230 square feet (21 m2) and three viewing areas for family, victim, and
press. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped construction of the facility the next week. The
legislature later approved $180,000 (9,368,550.00 PHP) to finish the project, and the facility was
completed.

In addition to state executions, three federal executions have been carried out at San Quentin. Samuel
Richard Shockley and Miran Edgar Thompson had been incarcerated at Alcatraz Island federal
penitentiary and were executed on December 3, 1948, for the murder of two prison guards during
the Battle of Alcatraz. Carlos Romero Ochoa had murdered a federal immigration officer after he was
caught smuggling Mexicans across the border near El Centro, California. He was executed at San
Quentin's gas chamber on December 10, 1948.

REFORMS AND RENOVATIONS

After the state resumed control of the

prison, lieutenant governors were
initially appointed to also serve as
wardens. However, this practice ended
in 1880 with J.P. Ames, who became
the first warden whose sole job was to
run the prison. Under his oversight,
floggings and whippings were banned.
Figure 6 SAN QUENTIN UP CLOSE
Other notable wardens include James
A. Johnston, whose tenure (1913–25) brought improved medical treatment and the creation of educational
and vocational training. He also replaced corporal punishment with solitary confinement. During this
time, the inmates also began publishing Wall City News, called “the only newspaper in the world
published within the walls of a prison.” Although it ceased publication in the mid-1930s, the paper was
revived (as San Quentin News) under Clinton Duffy, warden from 1940 to 1951; the newspaper was
suspended periodically in the ensuing years. Duffy also discontinued the use of solitary confinement,
though the practice was later reinstated. San Quentin’s first female warden, Jeanne Woodford, served
from 1999 to 2004. A vocal advocate of rehabilitation, she instituted a wide range of programs.

The various wardens also oversaw numerous expansions and renovations of San Quentin. Construction in
the 1880s included several factory-type structures, a wall surrounding the complex, and a second hospital.
A dramatic increase in the inmate population in the early 20th century necessitated additional buildings.
Notably, in the 1920s and ’30s, four cell blocks, each of which featured multiple tiers, were built. With
these expansions, the grounds also increased and eventually covered some 432 acres (175 hectares).

POPULAR CULTURE

As one of the oldest prisons in the United States, San Quentin was among the country’s most well-known,
referenced in numerous movies, television shows, songs, and books. It gained additional prominence after
country singers Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, a former inmate, performed there in 1969 and 1971,
respectively. In addition, San Quentin inmates were regularly featured in episodes of the TV documentary
series Lockup.

CONCLUSION