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San Quentin Rehabilitation Center
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Established in 1852, and opening in 1854, San Quentin is the oldest prison in California. The state's only death row for male inmates, the largest in the United States, was located at the prison. Its gas chamber has not been used since 1993, and its lethal injection chamber was last used in 2006. The prison has been featured on film, radio drama, video, podcast, and television; is the subject of many books; has hosted concerts; and has housed many notorious inmates.
The correctional complex sits on Point San Quentin, which consists of 432 acres (1.75 square kilometers) on the north side of San Francisco Bay. The prison complex itself occupies 275 acres (1.11 km2), valued in a 2001 study at between $129 million and $664 million.
As of July 31, 2022, San Quentin was incarcerating people at 105% of its design capacity, with 3,239 occupants.
Men condemned to death in California were, in general, formerly held at San Quentin. Most of the former death row population, with some exceptions, have been moved to general population in other California institutions as of May 28, 2024. These transfers have been arranged to comply with Proposition 66 and are being managed by the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Of the 598 condemned inmates in California as of February 5, 2025, only 9 remained at San Quentin, with the last 9 inmates expected to also be transferred after completing needed medical or psychiatric care. Despite the transfers, the condemned inmates remain under sentence of death at their new institutions.
Condemned women are held at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. As of December 2015, San Quentin held almost 700 male inmates in its Condemned Unit, or "death row". As of 2001, San Quentin's death row was described as "the largest in the Western Hemisphere"; as of 2005, it was called "the most populous execution antechamber in the United States." The states of Florida and Texas had fewer death row inmates in 2008 (397 and 451 respectively) than San Quentin.
The death row at San Quentin was divided into three sections: the quiet "North-Segregation" or "North-Seg", built in 1934, for prisoners who "don't cause trouble"; the "East Block", a "crumbling, leaky maze of a place built in 1927"; and the "Adjustment Center" for the "worst of the worst". Most of the prison's death row inmates resided in the East Block. The fourth floor of the North Block was the prison's first death row facility, but additional death row space opened after executions resumed in the U.S. in 1978. The adjustment center received solid doors, preventing "gunning-down" or attacking persons with bodily waste. As of 2016[update] it housed 81 death row inmates and four non-death row inmates. A dedicated psychiatric facility serves the prisoners. A converted shower bay in the East Block hosted religious services. Many prison programs available for most inmates were unavailable for death row inmates.
Although $395 million was allocated in the 2008–2009 state budget for new death row facilities at San Quentin, in December 2008 two legislators introduced bills to eliminate the funding. The state had planned to build a new death row facility, but Governor Jerry Brown canceled those plans in 2011. In 2015 Brown asked the Legislature for funds for a new death row as the current death row facilities were becoming filled. At the time the non-death row prison population was decreasing, opening room for death row inmates. As of 2015[update] the San Quentin death row had a capacity of 715 prisoners.
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San Quentin Rehabilitation Center
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Established in 1852, and opening in 1854, San Quentin is the oldest prison in California. The state's only death row for male inmates, the largest in the United States, was located at the prison. Its gas chamber has not been used since 1993, and its lethal injection chamber was last used in 2006. The prison has been featured on film, radio drama, video, podcast, and television; is the subject of many books; has hosted concerts; and has housed many notorious inmates.
The correctional complex sits on Point San Quentin, which consists of 432 acres (1.75 square kilometers) on the north side of San Francisco Bay. The prison complex itself occupies 275 acres (1.11 km2), valued in a 2001 study at between $129 million and $664 million.
As of July 31, 2022, San Quentin was incarcerating people at 105% of its design capacity, with 3,239 occupants.
Men condemned to death in California were, in general, formerly held at San Quentin. Most of the former death row population, with some exceptions, have been moved to general population in other California institutions as of May 28, 2024. These transfers have been arranged to comply with Proposition 66 and are being managed by the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Of the 598 condemned inmates in California as of February 5, 2025, only 9 remained at San Quentin, with the last 9 inmates expected to also be transferred after completing needed medical or psychiatric care. Despite the transfers, the condemned inmates remain under sentence of death at their new institutions.
Condemned women are held at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. As of December 2015, San Quentin held almost 700 male inmates in its Condemned Unit, or "death row". As of 2001, San Quentin's death row was described as "the largest in the Western Hemisphere"; as of 2005, it was called "the most populous execution antechamber in the United States." The states of Florida and Texas had fewer death row inmates in 2008 (397 and 451 respectively) than San Quentin.
The death row at San Quentin was divided into three sections: the quiet "North-Segregation" or "North-Seg", built in 1934, for prisoners who "don't cause trouble"; the "East Block", a "crumbling, leaky maze of a place built in 1927"; and the "Adjustment Center" for the "worst of the worst". Most of the prison's death row inmates resided in the East Block. The fourth floor of the North Block was the prison's first death row facility, but additional death row space opened after executions resumed in the U.S. in 1978. The adjustment center received solid doors, preventing "gunning-down" or attacking persons with bodily waste. As of 2016[update] it housed 81 death row inmates and four non-death row inmates. A dedicated psychiatric facility serves the prisoners. A converted shower bay in the East Block hosted religious services. Many prison programs available for most inmates were unavailable for death row inmates.
Although $395 million was allocated in the 2008–2009 state budget for new death row facilities at San Quentin, in December 2008 two legislators introduced bills to eliminate the funding. The state had planned to build a new death row facility, but Governor Jerry Brown canceled those plans in 2011. In 2015 Brown asked the Legislature for funds for a new death row as the current death row facilities were becoming filled. At the time the non-death row prison population was decreasing, opening room for death row inmates. As of 2015[update] the San Quentin death row had a capacity of 715 prisoners.