PLACE: San Quentin’s Upper Yard
A condemned prisoner, under escort and with hands cuffed behind him, is returned to San Quentin’s Death Row housing unit, East Block. This covered lane is the main thoroughfare through which all South, West and East Block residents must pass on their way to any other area of the prison. Education programs, self-help groups, religious services, medical services and the Lower Yard lie at various corners of the 170-year-old facility. To the left, a covered fence hides the recreation cages used by segregated prisoners. Many prisoners will traverse this avenue thousands of times in their decades-long incarceration.