The walls of San Quentin’s chow halls are a fantastic display of history. Begun in 1953 by Alfredo Santos and two fellow prisoners, these twelve-foot-high murals document the early days of California’s statehood all the way through the second World War and the beginning of the space age. Contrary to popular myth, the murals were not painted with coffee grounds or shoe polish; rather, prison officials only allowed the artists a single color to work with — sienna — out of fear that prisoners would dye their clothes and use them to escape.
