Emptying CA's Death Row Picks Up Pace At San Quentin

SAN QUENTIN, CA — Prison officials are ramping up work to move condemned inmates out of death row and into other facilities where they can work to pay restitution to the victims' families.

On Monday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shared an update on its progress to phase out segregated death row units at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and Central California Women's Facility under the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program (CITP).

The move marks the latest step in Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan to dismantle the nation's largest death row system and meet requirements put in place by Proposition 66, which voters approved in 2016. Officials said part of the measure mandates that inmates on death row work in prison and pay 70 percent of their earnings toward restitution.

"This transfer enables death-sentenced people to pay court-ordered restitution through work programs," said CDCR Secretary Jeffrey Macomber. "Participants are placed in institutions with an electrified secured perimeter while still integrating with the general population."

The CDCR transferred 104 men from San Quentin to other state prisons under a pilot program between 2020 and 2022. Late last month, officials said another 70 death row inmates were moved from San Quentin to one of 24 other institutions, along with 20 women moved out of death row facilities at the CCWF. According to the Los Angeles Times, the acceleration aims to see San Quentin's remaining 457 death row inmates moved to other prisons by late summer.

Corrections officials said the plan is consistent with its work toward implementing a "behavior-based system," and incarcerated people will be housed based on "individual case factors" after on a thorough review by a transfer committee. According to the CDCR, death row transfers will be moved to institutions with at least Level II security equipped with lethal electrified fences.

Even as they begin to mix with the general prison population, CDCR officials told Patch that transferred inmates would be held in "Close Custody" — the highest security level — for at least the first five years.

"Activities will be permitted only during daylight hours and will be limited to designated areas with high security at non-walled institutions and to the main security areas in walled institutions," said Pedro Calderon Michel, CDCR Deputy Press Secretary. "The population under consideration is under constant and direct supervision. Close Custody provides the highest security level for [the] condemned population while still allowing them to be integrated into the general population. Housing units will be designated and maintained for individuals with higher security needs within the general population."

According to the Los Angeles Times, keeping condemned prisoners at the newly rehabilitation-focused San Quentin facility was not feasible, since the institution lacks the level of security needed in areas outside of death row.

California last executed a death row inmate in 2006, and Gov. Gavin Newsom placed a moratorium on capital punishment in 2019. There are 644 condemned people in California's prison system.