The ship Waban, California’s first official prison, docked at San Quentin Point in 1852. But it was not the first place that housed inmates. Years before the Waban, there was the Euphemia.
The Euphemia was the city brig of San Francisco from October 1849 to May 1851. In November 1971, the San Quentin News mistakenly reported that the Euphemia was used to house the first state prisoners who built San Quentin. It wasn’t the Euphemia; it was the Waban.
On the Waban, the conditions were brutal. As state laws made it profitable for county sheriffs to transport their prisoners to this prison, the population exploded.
Many think that California prison overcrowding is a new problem, but the problem existed from the very beginning.
Aboard the Waban, four men would be locked up in an eight- by eight-foot space. Guards refused to stay aboard this dangerous ship overnight and the prisoners were left to their own devices every night.
If a prisoner died during the night, no questions asked, and the dead man was taken ashore and buried.
Originally purchased by the city for $3,500, it was sold for $75 to pay off a debt. After being sold, the ship disappeared from history annuals until it was unearthed in 1921.
The Waban is still part of San Quentin today. Some of the ship’s timber remains a part of the new hospital structure.
The timber was originally preserved in the structure that was torn down in 2007 to make room for the new medical services building.
During construction of the new structure, the timber was moved to the atrium that sits atop the building today.
