CDCR is in the process of phasing out its Death Row units at San Quentin and the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF). San Quentin’s Condemned Row residents are housed in the rehabilitation center’s East Block. These residents are locked up in a 4-by-10- foot cell for 20 to 24 hours a day and are handcuffed every time they came out of their cell.
Some condemned residents welcome the transfers, where they would be able go to the recreational yard, get a job, receive regular visits from family, and go to the chow hall. But also some victim advocates are against the transfers, saying the condemned individuals are still a threat and could hurt other residents in general population, reported NBC Bay Area news.
Currently, there are 644 people serving a condemned sentence within CDCR, according to a CDCR memorandum. There are still some San Quentin condemned residents waiting to be transferred, but transportation buses are leaving weekly. The youngest condemned person is 24 and the oldest is 93. The 20 condemned women at CCWF have been place within there general population, notes the memo.
The transfers is aligned in part, with Proposition 66, a statewide ballot measure approved in 2016 that allows for the transfers of said residents.
The Condemned Inmate Transfer Pilot Program (CITP) has transferred at least 104 people sentenced to death from San Quentin to eight other institutions. The CITP was expanded in Jan. 2024 after regulations was approved by the California Office of Administrative Law.
In late Feb., CDCR began transferring condemned residents to different prisons based on their individual case factor, said the memorandum. There have been more then 100 condemned residents transferred from San Quentin to other institutions.
As per the regulations, the CITP residents will be transferred to other prisons with at least a Level II security level and an electrified fence. The condemned residents will be designated as “Close Custody” for a minimum of five years, while being integrated into general population, noted the memo.
Each individual will be assigned to different security levels based on a behavior-based system and the risk they pose to others. The Institution Classification Committee will review each person’s case before a transfer location can be recommended. The transfers are scheduled to be completed by late summer.
Santa Clara County’s District Attorney Jeff Rosen has petitioned the Superior Court to resentence 14 San Quentin condemned residents to the terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Also in the motions, one filed for every condemned man convicted in Santa Clara County has to agree to being taken off death row, only one has refuse and has opted out to continue to challenge their case as a capital defendant, reported to Bay Area News Group.
The next phase for San Quentin’s East Block is to be transforming into a rehabilitative housing unit.
