San Quentin- A Brief History

There's been a lot of talk lately about selling San Quentin to raise some money for our beleaguered state.  Some politicians have suggested that upwards of $2 billion dollars could be raised by selling the land which the prison sits on.

     

But what to do with the thousands of inmates who are housed there?  And what ever possessed planners to build the facility on such beautiful, ocean front property in the first place?  (click photos to enlarge)

San Quentin is often described as the oldest prison in California, but it actually wasn't the first prison.  That was the floating prison ship, the Waban, which opened in 1851 and could accommodate 30 inmates.  Those inmates constructed another prison nearby on a spit of land sticking out into the bay, Point Quentin in Marin County.  That prison, San Quentin (SQ), opened a couple years later with nearly 70 inmates.

Male and female inmates were housed at SQ until 1932 when the women were dispatched to an all-female facility in California.  It is the only facility that currently performs executions for California death row inmates.  Over 420 inmates have been executed and current infamous inmates awaiting death include, David Carpenter the so-called "Trailside Killer", Richard Allen Davis the murderer of Polly Klaas and Scott Peterson convicted of killing his wife, Laci and their unborn child.

In 2007 one inmate who was due to be executed, challenged the method- lethal injection- of execution saying it was cruel and unusual. That execution was put on hold while the courts reviewed.  Now, prison officials have proposed a different injection procedure and have completed a new facility in which to conduct the injection executions.  The new facility can be seen here on a virtual tour provided by SQ, and the public can review the new procedures here.  A public hearing on injection execution will be held on June 30, 2009 in Sacramento.

The prison complex sits on over 400 acres of prime oceanfront real estate overlooking the San Francisco Bay.  When the prison was built, it was situated on the shore for easy access to prison boats and transport by train.  And back a hundred years ago, there was a lot more available coastline.

The prison itself- which has not been significantly enlarged or remodeled in recent years- houses more than 5,200 inmates for a facility designed to hold 3,300.  This has resulted in vast overcrowding such that several hundred inmates bunk down in the gym. In 2005, the court ordered a report on conditions at SQ and it detailed "antiquated, poorly maintained with inadequate medical space and overcrowding."  

Even though conditions are San Quentin are less than desireable, the prison does sponsor vocational and academic programs including the only college degree granting program in any prison in the U.S.

Still, the facility has been roundly criticized in the media and by social service groups as being nothing more than a place where hardened criminals can become more hardened.  And the overcrowded conditions could result in early release of criminals back onto the streets.  Proponents of selling SQ say a newer, more secure and more humane facility can be built in another, not-so-quite beautiful place in the state.

But according to a recent poll taken by CBS5, residents in the Bay Area weren't quite so taken with the sale idea.  However, in the end, it might be the most fiscally smart thing to do.

(Historical photos courtesy of Anne T Kent California Room at the Marin County Free Library. Photo of SQ gym courtesy of CNN.  All other photos are MoreMarin.com.)