From 42 years on Death Row to SQ’s Earned Living Unit
A formerly condemned incarcerated individual is alive and thriving in San Quentin State Prison’s mainline population. After serving 42 years on death row, Marvin Walker, a.k.a. “Shaka,” is currently residing in one of SQ’s Earned Living Units. This specialized housing is reserved for residents who have demonstrated exceptional programming and behavior.
Walker, 64, was born in Los Angeles as the sixth of ten children, and was raised in poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Walker’s parents separated when he was 10. His teenage summers were spent with his aunt in the small farming community of Tulare, California. There, Walker worked with his father and uncle in the recycling business.
He dropped out of school in the tenth grade and got into the drug scene. “During my teen years, I started stealing everything that wasn’t nailed down,” he remembered, due to family poverty.
“One night mom came home and said there was no food. We kids picked walnuts in a local grove and ate them for dinner in front of the fireplace,” he lamented. “Mom was crying and promised that there would never be a time again when there was no food. I promised myself that mom would never cry again because she couldn’t feed us. I would steal to buy food and help support the family.”
Walker committed a string of robberies over the next several years. He was still a teenager when one robbery went bad, ending in the killing of a young man. Walker had previous arrests, but this one led to prison and the death penalty.
Sitting alone in a cell on death row, Walker felt like he was in “no man’s land,” knowing what he left behind but unsure about what the future held. “I was angry and bitter because I thought I didn’t get a fair trial, and that I was the latest victim of a kangaroo court,” he said.
“It was rough for me because I was raised in a house full of love. Then I had to come here in a place surrounded by hate.”
The repetitious days on Death Row seemed endless. Positive programming was minimal because of limited space. The day’s highlight was going to one of six small, caged-in yards with about 70 other people.
The yard was sometimes offered in the mornings if it wasn’t locked down. “Yard was chaos,” Walker recalled. He always wondered if there was going to be an “incident,” expecting the worst but hoping for the best.
Shower time came after the yard, which took place in one of two single showers per tier. However, these were only offered every other morning. After 2 p.m., Walker was locked in a cell until the next day.
Other activities were limited. Sometimes he could play cards or dominos on benches on the tier with other residents. In his cell, Walker could watch TV or listen to his radio.
“Three brothers [on the tier] and I were the four musketeers,” he said. “We looked out for each other and became an extended family.”
Initially, Walker felt like had no reason to be good, since he was on Death Row fighting for his life. Eventually though, he decided to make amends.
“I was blessed to have people in my life that cared about me. I wanted to honor those blessings by striving to be a better person. I started in my heart and in my head.”
Walker did not lose hope. “I never felt that I would be executed because of two dreams I had at county jail,” he explained. He and his stepfather were together in jail with no bail. One night he dreamt he saw his stepfather in the court audience wearing street clothes. The next day all charges against his stepfather were dropped. That night, he dreamt that he was in a prison surrounded by water [SQ]. Walker was taken to court, and a judge released him.
It seems his dreams were prophetic. Four decades later, Walker is no longer a “condemed person.”
The court ruled that Walker’s conviction was unconstitutional and that he did not get a fair trial because three Black jurors were dismissed unlawfully. However, for political reasons, the district attorney decided to retry the case. Walker took a plea deal for life with the possibility of parole, being eligible for parole in six months.
When asked what it felt like to get off Death Row he replied, “I’m still coming to terms, still trying to adjust to the possibility of going home. I don’t want to be too high on the possibility, because I’ve been down that road before.”
In regards to his future plans, Walker said, “I’ve learned that planning is wishful thinking. Somebody once said that the best way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans. God has a plan for me and all of us. I am ready to do my part in it.”
