By Ben Greenspon
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center sports brings community together by building positive relationships and creating healthy environments that promote personal growth and good mental health. All of this happens while playing on an unsafe field.
“Interested [incarcerated persons] shall be provided an equal opportunity to participate in constructive recreational and physical education programs under safe and secure conditions,” reads Calif. Code of Regulations Title 15 — Rules and Regulations section 3220(a).
“This year alone there were nine injuries from dealing with that crappy field and player morale has definitely gone down,” said SQRC All-In flag football coach Carlos Smith. “Lot of guys don’t like playing on the field, but put up with it because it’s all we got.”
California’s $239 million investment towards rebuilding SQ into a rehabilitation center has ignored the athletic field, even as it has become a safety risk.
Resident San Quentin Giants player Patrick Poteat said residents dream of a nice field. “Poor field conditions create low player morale due to fear of injury and the disintegration of the field does not diminish what sports means for rehabilitation,” said Poteat.
Although Poteat recalls outside teams and sponsors making good comments about the field in the past, he said they now comment on deteriorating field conditions. “Basically, the field gets used all the time now between all the sports, so there’s no chance for the grass to grow back and without water it’s pointless.”
Poteat doubles as the lead groundskeeper for baseball. He remembers how nice the field was when he arrived at SQ in 2016. “The grass was thick and there was good coverage, the sprinklers came on in the mornings and the grass was mowed regularly. Now, none of the sprinklers work and the grass is uneven, patchy and full of weeds.”
In December 2025, SQNews reported the prison has the oldest, longest-running amateur baseball program in the nation; a minimum of 15 outside baseball teams come from around the country to play the SQ Giants every season.
According to SQRC soccer player Ronald Luna, the outside group of players that come in monthly feel they’re at a disadvantage. “They aren’t used to playing on uneven, bumpy fields,” said Luna.
Luna said he has injured both of his ankles playing on the uneven field, and every player has tripped or fallen because they don’t look at the ground while playing.
“It’s not natural,” said Luna. “Soccer for me is everything [and] exercise is the only way to release my stress. I can’t stop because its part of my mental health, I gotta have it.”
Luna said that if the field was fixed and a plan was in place to keep it maintained, there would be plenty of free resident labor to do upkeep.
“Basically, it comes down to having a solid plan and some funding and a little help from above,” said Luna. “It’s not hard to have a nice field.”
Recreational staff member K. Bhatt said basic maintenance like moving some of the dirt from the edges back onto the field occurs regularly, but there are no current plans in place to reseed the field.
Bhatt said there was a plan to replace the field with artificial turf, but it fell through. He also said the irrigation system consists of copper pipes that no longer have replacement parts.
Bhatt added that as the SQ population has changed over the years, there has been less consideration for letting the field rest as residents play regardless of the schedule. “Trust me, I know the importance of sports, [but] the sheer amount of usage the field gets illustrates the need for artificial grass, but there’s no funds available.”
Bhatt said the current warden is big on sports, leaving the door open to change.