In summary
Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended the death penalty and ordered the dismantling of death row. He unveiled changes at San Quentin that include a new education center.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday showed off one of his marquee criminal justice reform efforts inside what was formerly called San Quentin State Prison, a $239 million transformation that’s meant to help the site better prepare incarcerated people for release.
The 81,000 square-foot San Quentin Learning Center, built over 18 months, completes the first in a series of updates to remake California’s oldest prisons into what Newsom has described as “the nation’s most innovative rehabilitation facility.”
The three interconnected buildings consist of a technology and media center, an education hub, and a community and workforce space. Their features include a café, recording studios, reading spaces, as well as indoor and outdoor classrooms with views of the San Francisco Bay.
“It was always about public safety,” said Newsom at a press conference. “It was about dealing with the fundamental fact that 95% of people in this system are going to go back into your neighborhood. And what kind of neighbors do you want them to be?”
The buildings also put Newsom’s stamp on the 174-year-old prison, which until recently housed the state’s death chamber. Newsom in 2019 suspended the death penalty and in 2022 ordered the dismantling of the building that held condemned prisoners. Today, 580 people have death sentences in California prisons; they are now housed elsewhere throughout the state.
More work is underway at San Quentin, including construction of new housing, expanded recreation areas and the installation of art projects.
Darrell Steinberg, the former state Senate president pro tempore, said the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center “represents an even broader definition of justice.”
“When people commit a crime, accountability is appropriate,” said Steinberg. “At the same time, no human being who serves time should ever be forgotten or forsaken. This is not partisan, soft or ideological. What you created here is effective public safety.”
Tinisch Hollins, executive director of the nonprofit organization Californians for Safety and Justice, called the learning center a smart investment.
“It is an investment that will pay off in the future in perpetuity,” she said. “This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate — not just here in California but to the rest of the country — how we improve public safety over time: by giving people access to the education, to the support and the resources that they deserve. And they shouldn’t have to come to state prison to get it, but I’m glad that it’s here.”
Cayla Mihalovich is a California Local News fellow.
